RidingAgain

20 minutes ago, quixoft said:

It's certainly possible but I read it as more likely just a decrease in income from competing trails along with an increase in insurance costs because that's what insurance companies do. Increase costs on a regular basis.

I hear you, but they used a very specific phrase... "...litigation outcomes...". That sounds like experience talk.

6 hours ago, olddbrider said:

I didn't see anything in the article alluding to what you mention above.  While that seems to have been the case for Kingdom Trails, it seems like Welch Village was more a victim of competition from other trail systems than from being overrun with unruly bikers...

"The announcement stated that Welch feels that the mountain bike operation is not able to compete with the increased number of government-funded trail systems and publicly-funded downhill bike parks in the state of Minnesota. The resort has been unable to build a customer base that would justify investing more capital into the mountain bike trails."

What got my attention was this...

"The legal landscape has changed in recent years in the state of Minnesota, and it has created a situation of undue hardship for Welch Village, a privately-owned small business, to operate a downhill mountain bike park.  As you may know, all other downhill mountain bike parks in Minnesota are either a municipal or a non-profit entity in conjunction with a municipal entity.  As a privately held small business, Welch Village is at much more risk when it comes to litigation outcomes, and accordingly, this factor weighed heavy on our decision."

Specifically... 

"...Welch Village is at much more risk when it comes to litigation outcomes...".

Sounded to me like if they had a few lawsuits brought against them. If so, I don't think the older rider culture was big on bringing lawsuits against folks who were trying to use their land to help mountain bikers.

You can find it in the official message on the park website...

https://www.welchvillage.com/mountain-bike-message-.cfm

1 hour ago, Barry said:

In case you're wondering upon whom to blame the rain this week, well...it had to be done. 

That's one fine stealth looking ride. If you every think of going with front suspension, those Lauf forks would fit right in.

I think it's a bit of both... In surfing, you can't ride a short choppy wave that spikes quickly the same way you can a long clean wave that builds slowly. They're just two different waves that require two different approaches. And i think mtb trails are kind of the same... Some have more smooth flow, others more choppy and broken up. But your mindset when riding either can certainly have flow to it... I think this is what is called getting into the zone in sports... You're just so focused on what you doing it becomes like an extension of your body and nature.

I've found that riding in the evenings, at dusk — when you could use a light, but you can still kind of see even if you don't — has always been a favorite time for me to ride... Because the sun has gone down there are not the distinct shadows that help you distinguish shapes. This means that you have to ride even more by feel and intuition than you may while riding earlier in the day. Riding at dusk with no light was something I did often when I first started riding back in the mid-'90s... There was a park with a trail near to where I lived, so I was able to get home from work and quickly head out to it to get in a ride before sunset (when the park officially closed), but I knew the ranger and he'd let me finish my ride, so I'd be out there at dusk day after day. I think this influenced how I learned to ride even during the day... By getting into the zone, riding by feel. Which may be why I prefer to ride by myself, and without music.
 

It hasn't been long since we heard the news of the closing off of some of the land that made up the Kingdom Trails system in Vermont. Now this about a trail system just outside of Minneapolis...

I think it's just another indication of changing times... Mountain biking getting more popular, attracting a wider variety of people, many of whom do not hold the same core values and disposition towards the culture of mountain biking as those who've been around it longer may have.

As the lyrics in an Eagle song go... Call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.

Or in this case... A sporting activity and its original culture. Something I think also happened to some extent with surfing. It's just the nature of the beast.

https://mtbparks.com/Mountain-Bike-Park-News-Events/News-Events/Minnesota/Welch-Village/SAD-NEWS-FROM-MINNESOTA-Welch-Village-Ceases-Bike-Park-Operations-Moving-Forward.html?fbclid=IwAR0Gnz7ldvW-_Y_mFWKIQTozU1akabkp9Ot8Nmvw9aBdHe_zmPOQY6I29_k
 

14 hours ago, Sluggo said:

no reason to stay 

Ohhhh... What a burn.

You're the best man.

LOL.

Okay... Now run along.

1 hour ago, notyal said:

No. I don't really take any vitamins or supplements. 

🙂

Now off you go.

 

42 minutes ago, notyal said:

Sounds like a pretty big load to swallow.

Sounds like you're speaking from experience.

3 minutes ago, notyal said:

Do you take the D every day or just when you're feeling in need of some D?

:-)...

Dependable trollyal.

2,000 iu, daily.

Let me know if you need me to simplify it further for you.
 

Doing a build for someone... Thought the fork I had would work but the steerer is too short. Looking for something good but not expensive as I need to keep the cost down. Cash or barter... I've got all sorts of stuff that I could exchange so that you'd end up ahead in the deal. Let me know what you have. Thanks.

Been on D for years.

On 5/8/2020 at 9:12 PM, quixoft said:

If you need help going down curbs, this guy has great technique. He's 4 and better than me. 

 

 

The way things are going... Someone is going to come remove that rock under the curb.

4 minutes ago, RidingAgain said:

 

 

Took off with some pop... Just didn't push the bike forward (I think... Maybe folks can say). It's like his body was going faster that the bike.

 

3 hours ago, WhoAmI said:

The only solution I have seen consistently work is providing a bypass and posting a sign pointing to it "Feature Bypass -->".   When I made bypasses for features, I made them slightly more inconvenient than the main line so the users bypassing the feature were not faster when they skipped the feature.  If it's perceived as too long of a bypass, people will keep tearing down the feature.  Also, I made sure that the lines of site for both the main trail and the bypass where they reconnected allowed for safe merging. YMMV

This is good... And leans towards the thought that urban trail building must include consideration of all who may use it... Within reason obviously. And when I say all who will use it... I mean considering trail needs from their POV. Which is what I think you're saying, WhoAmI.

29 minutes ago, GreenMTBrider said:

This has been done at some features. Hasn’t stopped people. 

So signage, continually  restoring trails that have been altered, speaking about it on websites, speaking about it to people on the trails... None seem to be helping alleviate the problems. 

I wonder if in Bentonville they have the same problem... Or are all the trail users there, mountain bikers?

1 hour ago, Chief said:

So... we're going to add curbs in the trail?

Troll alert... Troll alert... Danger, Will Robinson... Danger!

1 hour ago, ATXZJ said:

i tried it,but the only zoom i got was dudes rubbing chocolate syrup all over each other. is that the secret meeting?

 

🤣

Perhaps it's the meeting with the secret vaccine being applied.

Yes... Please... Don't feed the trolls.

 

1 minute ago, quixoft said:

Took me years to gain the confidence to attempt features like that and I still struggle.  You make it look easy. 

This is why Barry is one of my heroes... Along with Morris.

24 minutes ago, Barry said:

Just curious if I nailed the technique, or am I missing something? 

Absofukinglutely.

And damn... You beat me to it. I even went out and bought a GoPro to produce the video.

But note... You did choose the more difficult — and dangerous — technique. See, you left your bike hanging out in the paved area. If that was a road, then sorry to say... You may have been a goner if a vehicle had come along.

The safer technique is the parallel "...straddle technique..."... Where you pull up to the curb parallel to the sidewalk. That way you cut down on the potential threat of a passing car taking you out. Also... If you know what you're doing you can handle the entire lift procedure of the bike in one go... Holding to the center of the top tube and lifting the entire bike onto the sidewalk in one motion, thus saving energy for your trail riding.

Maybe I should make that training video.

 

22 minutes ago, Yosmithy said:

maybe instead of black diamonds, blue squares, and green circles, they should just rate trails on the Curb rating? 

Sounds more logical.

Curbs are something most people are familiar with, and understand require some extra effort to handle/overcome.

And the word "...curb..." also defines to restrain or keep in check... Which is definitely a disposition all (or most) mountain bikers should have when riding trails.

I dig it.

16 minutes ago, Cafeend said:

It is no higher than a curb, most people can clear a curb right?

 

While riding... You'd think so, right... Especially people who have been riding mountain bikes for 25 years. Even raced them and podiumed. But who really knows. Thankfully, as I said, there's always the "...straddle technique...". Just bringing it up in case anyone who moves logs didn't know they didn't have to, even if they couldn't ride over it.

Yet... Thinking about it... A curb is a little different, as it is like a step up. Whereas... A log is a step... over.

In the words of George Costanza... "Step up... Step over... Step up... Step over... See that... Two different things... Ya got that, Jerry?"

1 hour ago, Barry said:

At a responsible distance, I hope.  I am finding that it's pretty easy to give them dollars through a cracked window, so that works. I realize my comment made me come off like an asshole, but I was pretty depressed and pissed at humanity when I said it--I had just read the Plandemic video's comments section, and man people are stupid. 

It was before the whole virus thing started up in force, so we were fairly close, and shook hands. David, the homeless fella kind of fell off the map after that week — it happens with the homeless. The other person is still around. In fact I'll be seeing him today to give him his mail. He uses my PO box at the moment.

And just for the record... I didn't see your comment being like an asshole... Late last year we had a rash of car break-ins by some homeless folk in our apt. complex and my car got hit (thankfully a window had been left down so no damage was done). Stole a phone charger, a Lefty true stand axle I had borrowed and was returning, and a change cup. It turned me off of the homeless for the most part. I don't do dishonesty well I'm afraid. So I fully understand that it's not hard to come down on the homeless. It's kind of one of those catch-22 situations. I just had an opportunity to minister some scripture to him, so that's what I was there for.

1 hour ago, Browndog said:

I call BS on that. My corgi can clear that log easily.

 

And of course there's always the "...straddle bike..." technique.