throet

Congrats man! EWS awaits!

A nice plan would be to start out with the Womble and other trails in the Lake Ouachita area, which could consume a few days easily. Then head NE to the Syllamo trails (60+ miles of trail) near Mountain View in NE AR for several more days before cutting across the Ozarks to Fayetville to spend a couple of weeks riding there, Bentonville, and other spots in NW AR. If I can manage to stay retired, this would be a great near-by, month-long getaway. I've ridden in AR both Spring and Fall, and both have been super pleasant.

And then the Kessler Mountain Jam the following week. Between the Oz Off-road, Outerbike, and the Mountain Jam, there appears to be plenty of Fall Fun in NW AR for 2018. I remember last year somebody pointing out how nice the fall foliage was up there, but I suppose it's hard to know when it would be at it's peak. As RA and others have noted, there are plenty of great opportunities to ride all around NW AR, and probably the best bet would be to spend an entire week checking it all out. http://fayetteville-ar.gov/3416/Kessler-Mountain-Jam

Will be interested to get a report back on your ride today. I started checking the radar this morning to see if driving out there would be worthwhile. Riding in wet conditions out there is fine, but I just didn't want to risk driving out there only to get drenched while out on the trails. Looks like some storm systems are definitely moving through there today.

Did you get drenched? It was coming down in buckets along S. Bell on the YMCA end of the trails.

We're swamped here a mile from the trail, and I saw a post from HoneyBadger stating that it was raining at Peddlers just a little while ago. I'm thinking no chance of riding in the morning but if anybody knows differently, please post up.

Looks like possibility of more rain today and tomorrow anyway; so not sure if anybody will be riding this week. Hopefully by next week we see a reduction in the damn humidity.

I still roll it on the far right with a tight turn in, but between the ever present scree and the leaves from that pesky palm bush, it can get sketchy sometimes. Can we consider that palm an invasive species and just remove it?

I wasn't even trying to speculate on what would cause them to break - just what scenarios could lead to the worst crashes, regardless of the exact cause. And "landing some hella air" would definitely be one of those, especially for people doing it above their pay grade.

Yeah I got that too, but like others, he seems to be using a very horrific experience to scare others into action. My point, which probably should have been more concise, is that nobody I've seen has presented real statistical data showing what the likelihood is of getting seriously injured due to a carbon failure. Even the author noted that he will never know what exactly caused the failure. If you employ a system of date stamping, what is the probability of failure 1 week prior to the replacement date vs. 1 week after? Guess I'm just not convinced yet to run out and replace my 2-yr old, banged up stuff, which of course will make me look really foolish if I end up seriously hurt as a result.

This seems insane to me given what the temp and humidity must have been on 8/25. Hopefully you didn't have any open wounds laying in that stream, or your biggest worry might be flesh-eating bacteria.

If clean and dry, could also be used to wipe goggles / glasses. This time of year there is never a dry spot on my shirt to accomplish that task, and I end up riding with obscured vision. I need to start carrying some sort of cloth for that purpose, and potentially other purposes as noted.

But don't you miss the ads ……

Nice! Were you able to "cook the books" to conceal your purchase?

I think the scariest part of this story is that you can get a traumatic brain injury falling from a seated biking position to the ground even with a helmet on (assume of course that he was wearing a helmet). People fall to the ground for any number of reasons, breaking handlebars probably being among the least frequent causes. The reality is that MTB is a sport that can cause you to fall to the ground, or worse off the side of a cliff, at almost anytime with potentially severe consequences. Fortunately most falls result in only superficial cuts and abrasions or non-threatening bumps to the helmet. Less frequently falls result in lacerations requiring treatment or broken bones (mostly clavicles and ribs) or joint injuries (mostly AC separations). And even less frequently falls result in traumatic injuries such as what is depicted here. Of those falls resulting in traumatic, life/limb threatening injuries, my guess is that going OTB or losing control while getting air is the prevailing cause, probably even exponentially more than failing carbon parts. I only say all of this to keep things in perspective, i.e. even if you run out and replace your carbon bars today, something else has a much more probable cause for killing or maiming you whilst riding your bike.

On the mobile interface, at least on my Android phone running Chrome, a warning pops up giving you a chance to cancel marking the thread as Read. How is that being invoked?

Remember you gave me a brand new pair a couple of years ago, and I did swear by them for a year or so. In fact they eliminated some of the arm issues I was having at the time. I even bought a pair of the GX1's that have a slightly smaller wing and used them on my new bike for a good while. As my riding evolved though, I found that the wing was getting in the way of getting the right grip for certain maneuvers and went back to using wide diameter, rounded grips. I'll probably try the Ergon GA3s next time I need new grips, since they have just a very slight wing on them. I still have the GS1 and GX1 grips as well though in case I decide to revert back to them.

Definitely something to consider. Also I've looked at the Revolution Grips but can't bring myself to spend $90 for them.

No worries man I'm learning a lot from reading about what works for everybody, and frankly I'm just glad to be active now in a sport that is so enjoyable for me. I have no interest in competing at MTB; so I can approach this stuff more casually than others. I think for me it's more a question of how I don't react. As long as I keep carbs at around 45 - 55 grams per meal, and mix those carbs with good fat and protein, I feel fine all the time. When I'm hungry between meals, I usually eat a protein bar or some almonds. If I were to eat a high-carb, high-glycemic meal followed by nothing else, within 90 minutes I'd feel like shit and would be heading for a big crash. The biggest thing I avoid are sugared drinks, even fruit juice, followed by cookies, cakes, etc. I try not to eat any bread at all, except for a high-fiber muffin or breakfast cereal, but will occasionally wrap up some fajitas in a flour tortilla. Probably the highest GI items I consume regularly are baked potatoes and white rice, although lately I've been substituting a sweet potato much of the time. I generally consume fruit either on top of my cereal or pre-ride / post-ride, which seems to work well for me, especially high-fiber stuff like apples.

Sounds like the same format as the Dirt Rag publication that comes with the ARR / IMBA membership.

Sweet! These scattered showers are really tricky like that, although even at my house things have dried up nicely from the earlier downpour.

Ouch..... and so unnecessary. I don't know about the rest of you but I've been losing my focus a lot in this horrid heat and humidity. I clipped a bar coming through that tree gate on Double Down (sure it has a name but I don't know it). It's the one that requires some good momentum riding E-W but that you can normally just fly through riding W-E. I was attempting to fly through it at high speed, as I normally do without incident, and clipped my bar, sending me flying forward. Somehow I managed to land on both feet though with an arm assist.

I live about a mile away and got a heavy downpour a couple of hours ago on top of whatever fell during the night. Guessing that the rain will soak in quickly but there's a chance of more being on the way.

Thanks. I see other references to carbon paste as well, and didn't even know it was a thing. I'm going to check into that for sure.