Chongo Loco

A friend that now lives in the Bay Area does canine SAR. They recently got access to E-bikes for training.  Besides the speed / distance advantage they lug 30 lbs of radio, gear, food & water thru every kind of terrain in whatever conditions heat/cold/hills/chaparral that’s in front of them. Anything that conserves energy and keeps them out there longer is a huge plus for them. 

On 11/13/2023 at 11:59 PM, AntonioGG said:

Where I grew up gardeners used machetes to edge lawns and trim weeds and such.  I have a fiskars machete I got for dealing with bamboo.  My first take is this is for clearing trail.  Now get me a mount for my Ryobi battery 10” chainsaw and I’m interested!

Around where I grew up people typically used a cane knife for yard work.  It’s light, thin, can be sharpened almost razor sharp, and have the hook to drag out what you cut. Not much heft so not a full swing implement of destruction like a machete. 😬

If you’re only experienced in trail work here I guess a machete makes less sense. Used to use a machete all the time when I did trail work in swampy areas and areas with a lot of undergrowth. Nothing better to clear out brush, briars, palmetto’s. Loppers aren’t useful on thick green leafy vegetation. Larger diameter woody stuff like cedar you can use it, but loppers are less work. I had a shorter machete that fit in a camelbak.  It was thin and easy to sharpen, much easier to transport by bike than loppers.  The longer thicker standard length one I have now cuts thicker stuff better but not as easy to sharpen or carry. 

On 11/7/2023 at 9:22 AM, AntonioGG said:

I think the places that will remain will be the ones that have consistent food, good ambiance.   Pinthouse Pizza has pizzas until closing time, while some have food trucks that change, or run out of food early, or close the kitchen very early.  Being adjacent to walkable neighborhoods is a plus as well.

That has always puzzled me about Oskar Blues.  I've been to the original restaurant in Lyons, CO dozens of times. He has a handful of other restaurants by different names/menus in nearby Longmont and Boulder. I think they expanded Oskar Blues to Denver and CO Springs.  He's originally a restauranteur, why not tie that in to the breweries?  I expected him to at least try a version of one of his restaurants like maybe the taco joint/bike shop combo Cyclehops in this area.  That they stuck to the haphazard food trucks seemed out of character.  Food/Beer/Music is his thing, why skip that when you expand?

Oskar Blues scale back probably has little to do with the Austin neighborhood brewery scene and more to do with their portfolio at large.  They went gangbusters 7-8 years ago putting in large facilities outside of Lyons/Longmont CO in Austin & Brevard, NC and did a bunch of stuff like their ranch in the Brevard/Asheville area with farm to table plans plus bike facilities to tie in with the REEB bike brand.  They closed up that ranch a while back, and seem to be shrinking their footprint in other business areas.  Their need for a large distribution hub in this area has probably declined and they'll pull back to just Longmont, CO and Asheville, NC.  Overall, I don't think their nationwide brand growth came close to what they expected, so they just don't need the 3rd production facility. A shame for this area because Dale's philanthropic outlets were great for kids in the area and the bike community.  Did a few of the bike builds at the brewery, amazing how much money he gives back.  I've been to the original Lyons location many times. They did amazing work for that community after a huge flood 5-6 years ago.  Good company, just feeling the competition for nation wide beers.

5 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

I had that booklet!  Picked it up at BSS on Toomey Rd.

 

Me too. Except mine has a green outer page instead of yellow. Ran across it a year or so ago. 

Biggest con job ever pulled on the outdoor community. They lobbied every group from MTB to horse with save it for “us” to help get the bill passed, then fucked them all and padlocked the place and claimed it as their own. 

18 minutes ago, mtb_jeremy said:

I feel like it was around 2006.  One of my fondest memories was with a Kona Demo event there in the late 90s.  I had the chance to ride a Stinky Deluxe up then down the trail.  At the time, 4" travel full suspension 26" bike felt like I was floating on a cloud as I dropped those ledges.

A little earlier I think. Moved into the city in 99 and it was maybe 2 years after that at the most I think. We rode the hell out of it the last 6 mos. Fun sketchy night rides with our 10W halogens. 🙄

5 hours ago, WhoAmI said:

My first bike was a Univega Alpina 5.0 with toe clips.  I think I went to clipless pedals, Onzas specifically, around 94.  The Onzas had different color elastomers you swapped out to increase or decrease the tension.  If you smacked a rock or root, the elastomer could break off, rendering one side of the pedal useless, which did happen more than once.

Bought my first spd’s with my first full suspension rig, proflex 856. Still got those Shimano 636’s with the red platforms. They’re freakin indestructible.  They’re also pretty heavy so I switched to 747’s a year or so later.  Been using the 636’s on my backup bike or SS since around ‘00.  Easy to hop on it with any shoes for neighborhood runs. 

A few of us came to camp & race at bluff creek / Warda around 95. A few months later came back with my wife to visit her family and rode BCGB and City Park and maybe the old rifle range by Reimer’s. Loved it all but dabbed tons. Second time ever riding city park was on a visit in 97 riding with a friend from home. we got caught in a storm midway thru a lap. It was the storm that had the tornado that wiped out 183/1431 in cedar park then hit Jarrell.  We had no cellphones and no idea til we got back to our hotel. CP in the rain on a hardtail for 2 techie beginners was nutz!

I think the TVA may have done in the initial build at Raccoon as general hiking trails but the MTB club there has gotten bigger and more capable and added to it. Been years since I knew anyone local. There’s supposed to be some great stuff in town now. Can’t remember the name of the trails up by Ocoee I rode with them back in the 90’s. All the old litespeed bike names, unicoi was another. 

I absolutely can’t stand the trend towards 3’ wide machine built trails.  Berms in flat curves and random huge dirt piles are for BMX tracks to me. Singletrack that’s single or I think the term I heard is scratch and run trails are my favorites.  Some of my favorite trails in not so much bigger elevation were in the SE. Tsali and several in Pisgah in WNC, Racoon Mtn in Chattanooga, Oak Mtn in Birmingham, Clear Springs in central MS, etc. Locally probably flat creek crossing was the best example of narrow and techie but not too much of the hairpin switching like brushy or BCGB. AJ and the crew on ninja rejecting people wanting to add berms and machine stuff, that’s why I ride there over WC and WC is 15 min by bike from my house. 
 

Now I love BCGB and brushy, but I’d ride flat creek over them if given the choice every time. 

Also a good idea to push them out a bit further then clean pistons with alcohol and a qtip so they’re easier to push back in. I’ve had to push them out a 2nd time and reclean before they’d retract easily.  

11 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Just point your sausage at the sun.

Hey…r&I isn’t burning man! 😳

The original bike with the rohloff he had was an old racer-x I think. Wasn’t it him with the chain of half links…freakin apocalypse setup!

5 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

It's taking what's exposed to the elements and is finicky and easily damaged and puts it inside a container.  My understanding is that e-bikes are also harder on a regular drivetrain.  If I were to get a commuter e-bike, I would get one with the internal Shimano 7-speed hub and a drive belt.  Both have been proven to be reliable for people that ride long distances.  I would expect (don't know that it is, but I expect it) similar reliability from this integrated transmission.

I always thought a 9 or 10 speed rohloff hub with belt was the perfect setup for a hardtail or commuter. Had a few at the handmade bike show here years ago I was drooling over but they were a bit out my price range at the time. Like AB said the issue of buying it was always servicing. Doubt there’s 2 mechanics in the whole area that have taken a rohloff apart.  The Shimano’s are pretty good if you don’t grind on it too hard. Had a few, still got some Electra’s with the 3 speed hubs.  

20 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

Fire is now 100% contained.  Does anyone know where/how it started?  What I've read said it jumped 1431 them jumped over the houses, but the winds recently are southerly winds, so that doesn't make sense to me.

From what I saw from the drone footage it got behind the apts on the side of Sonic. Got on the backside of them in the creek sort of north of where New Edition skirts the creek then burned along the creek north and followed it under 1431. It burned UNDER 1431 in the creek, it didn’t jump the road. Then got into the houses on the north side of 1431. 
 

The part I’m not sure of is how it got behind the apts in the creek. Saw some footage on FB of it burning by the Boy Scout bridge on the entrance to TLC. Don’t know if it went thru the yards in the complex straight east from TLC or did an end around on new edition to get back there. 

Thought that has been a done deal on this for several months. TXDoT is GIVING the park area adjacent to I-35 to the construction company for the duration of the I-35 redesign over townlake and thru downtown.  It's not some temporary closure while there's construction overhead, it's going to be their jobsite HQ for the duration of the project.

Ok, who the hell can figure out what service is streaming World Champs?  Doesn’t appear on the schedule for GCN+ or RedBullTV. Just keep reading it’s put out for a separate bid than the World Cup Series but nothing on who that service freakin’ is.  UCI could screw up a one car funeral procession!

53 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

I hate the horse flies too. I was bitten >20 times once at Emma Long through my bibs.  I had nightmares about that for a while.

Black shorts/bibs are the worse. I’ve gotten 3 or 4 huge welts on the ass from bites on rides…20 ouch!

Took the wife blackberry picking on the trails in Baton Rouge ONCE.  On a pipeline ROW about a mile back in the woods the briars get big enough to hide a school bus!  Tons of berries each summer. As we’re picking clouds roll in and it starts misting. Temps drop, sun gone, Horseflies come out, wife not amused. We’re walking a mile through the woods back to car as 20+ are swarming us, wife futilely spraying OFF, flailing arms, pissed at yours truly.  Blackberries are now purchased in our house  🙄

Yeah, DEET doesn’t repel horseflies. Literally tens of millions have been spent in the equine industry on horsefly repellents, none are very long term. They are horrendous where I grew up riding in S La this time of year. Best bet is to not wear dark clothes. They zone in on CO2 and dark colors and fly about 3 times as fast as you can ride. If you stop, stop in sun, they stick to shady areas when it’s this hot.  Hate those fuckers. Crashed once smacking one that has munching on my butt cheek and pulled the bar, bam right into a tree. 🙄

3 hours ago, WhoAmI said:

The trail I have ridden the most over the 30+ years I have been mountain biking in Austin is Walnut Creek....b/c of our Tuesday night R&I, which has been going on since 2001 or 2002.  My go-to tail is SN these days.

Same on both. Although for the dozen+ years I worked downtown I rode BCGB after work once or twice a week while the traffic died down. 

Watched Crankworks Innsbruck on RBTV last weekend...man Rob, Elliot, Tracey, et al just know their craft.  GCN personalities are just awkward and in the wrong place all the time.  Also, the Enduro coverage is just plain lame. 4 days after a 30min bad recap. 😕 

On 6/22/2023 at 9:59 AM, AntonioGG said:

I was wondering about cold items.  Does a regular cooler in the car keep stuff cool enough or is a yeti or powered cooler needed?

Best trick is to stuff a towel or something similar to take up all the air space.  I put stuff in bottom, ice pack on top, then fill up air space with towel/clothes.

1 hour ago, ATXZJ said:

Downloaded disco app and 7day trial to see if there was something i was doing wrong. Wouldn't be the first or last time that happened when it comes to tech with me. Multiple searches for coverage and came up with nothing. What an absolute mess.  

Cancelled (again) and subscribed to GCN. Are you guys able to download the GCN app on your streaming devices or just mobile and then cast to TV?

downloaded app to phone/pad/smart tv. all seem to work fine.  Even streamed from pad to chromecast on one tv.  know people that use it fine with Roku too.  

Yeah, I made the same Discovery+ SNAFU a few weeks back.  It's only in Europe that the D+ app covers cycling. 😕