Chongo Loco

GCN+ has much more and better coverage. More cameras better camera operators though they need to work on the drone timing. The on air talent not so much.  Though Cedric Gracia is always a trip, Rob and Elliot on redbull are the best at calling MTB races. Idiots during men’s DH were trying to talk over the women’s DH award ceremony, which you could clearly hear in the background, vs being at the ceremony…bad planning poor audio work. 
 

Hopefully both GCN+ and UCI will tweak the format and coverage as the season progresses. Total BS that men’s DH is top 30 in final, women’s is 10…wtf?

6 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

Where will it continue from? The end at the RC/ trap & skeet clubs?

I’m pretty sure the trailhead at Johnny Morris across from Brown Distributing is where SWC ends. It’s the Manor trail from that point to the RC airfield IIRC. Not quite sure where it will swing north, possibly further back in the field???

Make sure the surface where the tooth was isn’t bent slightly in/out so it doesn’t grab chain.  They usually bend and snap so a little bit will be mushroomed over. You just file it so you have a nice flat vertical plane in line with the rest of the cassette. Doesn’t take much to hook the chain. 

REI used to be a hub. Lots of firsthand sport experience employees. Climbing wall to test gear, fake rock to try out hiking shoes, stuff like that. It was a niche. Then they got too freakin corporate 10-12 years ago and pulled out everything that was a lawsuit potential. Banned dogs all that crap. Everything that attracted hippies and climbing/hiking/camping bums with disposable income is gone. Now they’re almost upscale Academy. 
 

The only remaining attraction for me is what a friend always called it Return Everything Indefinitely. If I try something new it’s easy to return it used if I just don’t like it or it doesn’t work like I thought. No questions. Got my daughter a pricey rain jacket recently and after 4-5 uses she decided it wasn’t as waterproof as she wanted. No questions. That makes it infinitely better than Amazon. 

On 4/12/2023 at 7:51 PM, AustinBike said:

New Orleans is not much of a beer town.

Three different breweries, all of the IPAs were ok, one good one, the rest, just ok. Porter and ale choices were ok. Kinda mediocre, they love their big brand lagers, the microbrews weren’t much to write home about.

Good cocktail town.

Try some from Gnarly Barley out of Hammond. Only other near NOLA I like is Abita. It’s fun to ride the rail-to-trail from Mandeville up to their brewpub too. 😬

Some OG Spot love. 😬. 26” rim brake only original made in BC version. 

Damn. 85 bucks to run at the nut! But hey they say the parking fees are covered. 🙄

15 minutes ago, Mattlikesbikes said:

Personal opinion (not COA) I strongly dislike the pedestrian island as a traffic calming measure. It's ATD's new go-to but I'm not a fan of potentially pausing pedestrians in an area we already know has a speed issue. I get the point, just not in love with the execution.

 

Yeah, well those are the same people that said yes to putting traffic islands down the shoulders of shoal creek Blvd. then they put trees in the island that you had to go into traffic to avoid. Just because it’s new doesn’t mean better…no matter who’s in law came up with it. 🙄

I used to work in the office park at Riata & 183 and came in off McNeil. My drive went right by McNeil HS. Used to be pissed at the inconsiderate assholes that would take up the bike lane from parmer almost all the way back up McNeil to the HS to try to squeeze past the other traffic. Even saw school bus drivers doing it. Kids would ride and walk to school in the dirt and high weeds instead of in the bike lane because it was that dangerous. Drove thru there for the first time in 6+ mos last week and was glad to see they’ve finally installed the plastic pylons to keep cars in the traffic lanes. It’s no Man’s land at the edge of city & county borders so figured it was on nobody’s radar. Glad it was finally segregated all the way up to 183 it looks like. Now the stretch of McNeil from the concrete plant back to MOPAC…can’t believe the nuts bravely riding that stretch!

My on life support from snowpocalypse ash tree has been steadily losing big limbs all day. Seems to be getting worse in last 2 hours. The other ash that was in ok shape just started having limbs break and hang up in the last hour. It also has one big trunk that cracked and is pressing on another. Think they’re both goners now. 

On 1/30/2023 at 8:32 AM, AustinBike said:

Actually I have switched. You can go under Airport on that spur trail, then hit Mansell south (over the pedestrian bridge) and head east on Gonzales to pick up Shady. A little bit longer but no traffic lights or traffic to deal with.

Nice! Never saw that pedestrian bridge.  Good way to avoid all that glass by the convenience store on Shady/Airport. Have to give that a shot on my next loop.  Looks like it may be another hike & bike weekend if this weather persists. 😞 

Question. I headed over to that path a few months back and it had like 2' of water trapped on the path under Airport because the path was the low point. They resolve that?

44 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

I don't know if people of Reddit are going to really do anything, but this is terrifying to anyone who rides here. 

summary: people driving on bike path because a) they suck and b) the nearby roads don't have enough space for traffic.

 

 

Looks like that’s over on the new Mokan trail that runs from behind the apartment building across from Govalle along the RR tracks (mokan line) over to Springdale. I think most riders take Shady Lane towards the lake still. 

He's on the rivet!!!

This thread is like borrowing your mom's Netflix password.  All the drama without actually costing you any money. Well most of us I guess. 😕 

With pedal assist I could probably make it from my bedroom up the stairs to my office much quicker!

On 11/17/2022 at 5:29 PM, AustinBike said:

Any frame can fail.

I have broken:

• Gary Fisher: 2X
• Hammerhead 1X
• Knolly 3X (maybe 4, can't remember exactly)
• Vassago 1X

I haven't broken:

• Santa Cruz
• Redline
• Vassago - yet  (different one, purple must be better)
• Kona - yet

Basically Austin eats frames. If you ride them long enough here, they will break.

Proflex 856 - hairline crack in bb shell about the time I decided it hated hill country drops

Trek Fuel(s) - 1 top tube failure at rear cable boss, 1 seat tube failure at weld by shock mount, 1 rear triangle on chainstay weld by wheel,  1 rear triangle failure on chain stay near bb. All in a 2 year period.  At this point the Trek rep upgraded me to a carbon frame, 2 years later broke another chainstay on the chunk of Al bonded to carbon stay. Sold it and went to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz Tallboy - after 5 years of beating the ever loving shit out of it a metal washer like bit bonded to the carbon stay on the shock mount cracked. They didn’t have 2 gen old parts so got a whole new frame which I promptly sold and went beefier.  

Santa Cruz Hightower - been beating this one for 5 years, metal bit no longer on the SC stay, still rollin.

Conclusion: metal has a fatigue life, aluminum is the shortest of bicycle materials. I have a knack for finding its limit. Carbon seems to take the abuse of 210 lbs running dead over everything better.  

I was watching a show on HGTV or something about the RV industry and almost all of them are built in like a 100 mi radius of each other.  They were interviewing a guy who they said was Amish I thought, could have been Hutterite.  The hilarious part was he said it was ok for him to use the power tools at work to build hundreds of them but he had never driven or been in an RV except in the factory since he couldn't operate or travel in a motor vehicle.  😕 

Ha! Bear broke some shit. Sounds oddly familiar!

Not in Hot Springs, but I've stayed at one on the east side of Mt Ida. there's a state park at Denby Point right on the lake that you are an easy ride to the western edge of the LOViT trail. 

Also a little south of Hot Springs on Lake DeGray you can camp right by the Iron Mountain trailhead I think. Never stayed at that one.

It came down pretty good at my house in Wells Branch at noon.  At dusk yesterday there were a lot of just barely rideable sections that are going to be soaked I'd guess. I'd wait for a boots on the ground assessment before heading there tomorrow.

3 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

My parents had a green Coleman metal cooler like that.  He’d strap it to the roof rack on whatever station wagon we had at the time (Renault R5 or Datsun 510 wagon, can’t remember which).  One time the kid wasn’t strapped and it blew off, some from there on, it had a nifty crafted EPS cover that actually worked very well.

Saw the knock-off one Yeti makes in the Domain store the other day.  WTF, like $700 or something ridiculous and it didn't even have the built in bottle opener like our old coleman did.  More accessories they want to sell you I guess. 🥺

Holy 80’s flashback!  WC is turning into a scene from Dallas!

That's a late 70's LUV I think! A friend had an early 80's one back in H.S, that he rolled on the way home after a few too many.  A bunch of us flipped it back over and towed it to his house. Then the next day after a couple more we got it fired up and decided to play a little Dukes of Hazzard with it in his dad's freshly plowed recently rained on field until it locked up.  Then we drug it back into his front yard with a tractor for the insurance adjuster have a look!  Teenage boredom in BFE! 😉 

Yes, Ninja starts on the east side of RedHorn brewery and was built by guys at Peddlers bike shop right next door to RH.  The southern end of it ends in a neighborhood at the tip of Kati Ln and you can hop on the street go south for about a mile down Walsh Hill Trail and there's a tunnel under hairy man rd that connects to the Brushy Creek hike & bike. The hike and bike is the hwy that connects it all. From there you can hook up to Gum Drop (Gnargasm drop is closed for now) then up & over the dam to Peddlers Pass, then passed the ball park to mulligan, picnic, deception, double down, rim, snail all the way out to the YMCA on 183.  Since it loosely follows the H&B you can bail to the concrete path every couple of miles depending on when you've had enough!  Ninja, Peddlers, Picnic are more WC than BCGB, Gumdrop, then everything from Mulligan west except Picnic are more BCGB in a very condensed footprint.  

BCGB...you won't recognize. It has 3+ times the techy trail than when you left and part they're turning into a multi-county walk for a week trail.  Definitely want a guide, it's easy to get turned around out there now. And if you want some techy climby stuff there's a few hidden gems not far from City Park now.  They recently started building on the old slinky trail but there's great stuff just across the street.

Don’t forget the Brushy Creek stuff (deception, double down, rim). You can add in Gum drop to Suburban Ninja to epic it!