shame this riders on muddy trails?

[mack_turtle]

yeah, i want to try some of those boney headsets. any particular recommendation? I did have more fun with some music pumping in my head some days, but I can't find an earbud that stays in my ear but does not block out sound from outside.

[csmceuen]

4 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

yeah, i want to try some of those boney headsets. any particular recommendation? I did have more fun with some music pumping in my head some days, but I can't find an earbud that stays in my ear but does not block out sound from outside.

I got the this pair just to give them a shot and really like them alot. They stay on my head well and the sound quality is decent. If you like music with heavier bass you do have to get used to feeling it as much as your hear it, but otherwise I have no complaints. I did get these half off to review them so I would say that they are perfect for 25, but if would spend a bit more to get a nicer pair if you are paying full price. I have tried some of the more expensive pairs and they hug your face a little tighter so the sound transfer is a bit better.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DL5PLP5/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is the link for the coupon I used for half off in case you are interested in reviewing for a discount as well.

https://www.vipon.com/product/5219818-NEWEST-2018-Bluetooth-Bone-Conduction-Aiprov-Wireless-Bone?ref=ss_5219818_0_title

[HoneyBadger]

10 hours ago, crazyt said:

if I was riding a muddy trail to inspect it and someone confronted me about it I would tell them they are 100% right and good on them for working to protect the trail.

I call BS on them "checking" the trail. I've had a few people say the same thing to me when I ask them not to ride muddy trails. It always seems like they are quickly coming up with an excuse for something they know they shouldn't have done. Anyone that is going to take the time to check on the trail is most likely more than a beginner and would know it's not ridable with the amount of rain we have had. Also, if you think the trail is muddy why would you ride your bike on it, just walk in and check it out. 

[Yosmithy]

well, I don't wear earbuds for music, but I am stone deaf. If I'm wearing my hearing aid and I still tell everyone to fuck off that tries to talk to me, would I be considered a doofus?

🙂

[throet]

32 minutes ago, Yosmithy said:

but I am stone deaf

Does that mean that you listened to too much Midnight Rambler and Gimme Shelter in the seventies? 

[Yosmithy]

8 minutes ago, throet said:

Does that mean that you listened to too much Midnight Rambler and Gimme Shelter in the seventies? 

You know damn well it's impossible to "listened to too much Midnight Rambler and Gimme Shelter".

Although, there might have been and excess of other things from the seventies that have caused my brain to no longer process human speech 🙂

[TheX]

10 minutes ago, Yosmithy said:

You know damn well it's impossible to "listened to too much Midnight Rambler and Gimme Shelter".

Although, there might have been and excess of other things from the seventies that have caused my brain to no longer process human speech 🙂

I graduated high school in '76...and spent pretty much every weekend at Winterland in SF going to amazing concerts.

 

What?

[throet]

17 minutes ago, TheX said:

I graduated high school in '76...and spent pretty much every weekend at Winterland in SF going to amazing concerts.

Another Class of '76er here - bi-centennial! Concert scene for me was primarily Cleveland, OH.  

[ATXZJ]

1 hour ago, mack_turtle said:

yeah, i want to try some of those boney headsets. any particular recommendation? I did have more fun with some music pumping in my head some days, but I can't find an earbud that stays in my ear but does not block out sound from outside.

There's a special place in hell for earbuds and ill never use a set again. With that in mind, i bought the bone conducting style for use at work for the same reason you'd use them for riding (listening to audio while still being able to hear your surroundings). One issue i had was how well the reproduced music. They were fine for podcasts etc but music was like an AM radio. The manufacturer provided earplugs so you could improve the sound quality, which defeats the purpose of me buying them. If you own a pair of these style of headphones, try plugging your ears, its a night and day difference. The overarching issue for me was dependability and comfort. To get the best sound quality and volume there needed to be sufficient pressure on your head for the drivers to work best. That results in fatigue and broken parts as the bands were never strong enough to last more than 3-4 months before breaking. 

https://www.amazon.com/Horizon-Conduction-Wireless-Bluetooth-Headphones/dp/B017VXP5EO

 

 

  

[ATXZJ]

1 hour ago, HoneyBadger said:

I call BS on them "checking" the trail. I've had a few people say the same thing to me when I ask them not to ride muddy trails. It always seems like they are quickly coming up with an excuse for something they know they shouldn't have done. Anyone that is going to take the time to check on the trail is most likely more than a beginner and would know it's not ridable with the amount of rain we have had. Also, if you think the trail is muddy why would you ride your bike on it, just walk in and check it out. 

Exactly. Guy was mad because you caught him doing something wrong and then makes excuses online afterwards *rolls eyes*

[Yosmithy]

12 minutes ago, throet said:

Another Class of '76er here - bi-centennial! Concert scene for me was primarily Cleveland, OH.  

Gawd you guys are old!

Perspective; We saw Phil Colliins last night in Brooklyn and he hobbled out on stage with a cane and sat in a chair the entire concert. The dude still sounded awesome!

 Now you kids get back to yelling at earbud wearing muddy trail riding hipsters 🙂 

[cody]

1 hour ago, HoneyBadger said:

I call BS on them "checking" the trail. I've had a few people say the same thing to me when I ask them not to ride muddy trails. It always seems like they are quickly coming up with an excuse for something they know they shouldn't have done. Anyone that is going to take the time to check on the trail is most likely more than a beginner and would know it's not ridable with the amount of rain we have had. Also, if you think the trail is muddy why would you ride your bike on it, just walk in and check it out. 

Seems believable to me... why do you think they would lie about it to a random stranger? I live near trails and ride from my garage. I've totally turned around when the trails were wetter than I predicted (rare).

Honestly y'all seem way too upset about this. If the trails are too muddy to ride, they cake into your chainstays, causing you to have to stop riding anyway. It's often actually worse to ride in Austin when the trails are bone dry because the dirt and rocks get loose and blown out. This extreme anger against wet trail riding probably originates from dirt roadies that face planted after hitting a rut once and caused them to go vendetta against anybody riding a sloppy bike. The attitude is pervasive enough that when the trails are in perfect shape 3-4 days after a rain, everybody still stays home because they think the trails are too wet. I went on a 3 hour ride on Friday night in the greenbelt. Hero dirt. Maybe saw one other mountain bike.

Honestly I haven't seen a single rut in the greenbelt in a while. Not defending riding in mud, just calling out the overly judgmental attitude that seems to actually detract mountain biking.

[Ay Chihuahua]

Bone conducting?  Y'all talking about these?

[WhoAmI]

11 minutes ago, cody said:

 

Honestly y'all seem way too upset about this. If the trails are too muddy to ride, they cake into your chainstays, causing you to have to stop riding anyway. It's often actually worse to ride in Austin when the trails are bone dry because the dirt and rocks get loose and blown out. This extreme anger against wet trail riding probably originates from dirt roadies that face planted after hitting a rut once and caused them to go vendetta against anybody riding a sloppy bike.

Nope, the reaction stems from 1.) knowing what work it takes to repair a trail after people used it when it was muddy, and 2.) knowing how land manager can use mountain bikers riding muddy trails to shut them down or limit their usage.  We shouldn't give them any reason to even think about banning or curtailing mountain bikers.

[mack_turtle]

59 minutes ago, cody said:

Honestly y'all seem way too upset about this.

no, ruts on trails suck and having access to trails yanked out from under us sucks even more. there's no "actual mountain biking" when the trails get shut down due to erosion and poor little birds. yes, I have seen plenty of areas where nasty, deep ruts form on trails near me. that's not a trail feature, that's asshattery.

Edited October 15, 2018 by mack_turtle

[St.Bernardo]

Hope that mud dude's bearing size up.

[Sluggo]

I can’t remember the last time I didn’t ride with buds. I hear most everything, but I’d rather chat back at the truck after rocking. 

[Bamwa]

Whenever I ride muddy trails with my bottle cage speaker rocking some Jerry bear I just tell others to have a Grateful day. Disaster averted!

[Chief]

My whole purpose for riding is to disconnect from all the crap we get subjected to everyday. Why would I want to bring some electronic device with me that keeps me connected to "the real world". I enjoy the peacefulness of just riding the trails.

[HoneyBadger]

20 hours ago, cody said:

Seems believable to me... why do you think they would lie about it to a random stranger? I live near trails and ride from my garage. I've totally turned around when the trails were wetter than I predicted (rare).

Honestly y'all seem way too upset about this. If the trails are too muddy to ride, they cake into your chainstays, causing you to have to stop riding anyway. It's often actually worse to ride in Austin when the trails are bone dry because the dirt and rocks get loose and blown out. This extreme anger against wet trail riding probably originates from dirt roadies that face planted after hitting a rut once and caused them to go vendetta against anybody riding a sloppy bike. The attitude is pervasive enough that when the trails are in perfect shape 3-4 days after a rain, everybody still stays home because they think the trails are too wet. I went on a 3 hour ride on Friday night in the greenbelt. Hero dirt. Maybe saw one other mountain bike.

Honestly I haven't seen a single rut in the greenbelt in a while. Not defending riding in mud, just calling out the overly judgmental attitude that seems to actually detract mountain biking.

3

As one of the builders at Brushy Creek, I have to respectfully disagree. I have to fix the damage caused by people riding muddy trails, it far exceeds the damage caused by riding dry trails. It's not even in the same ballpark. There is such a thin layer of dirt in Central Texas that we do everything we can to preserve it. The ruts caused by people riding muddy trails greatly increases the rate of erosion for many reasons and I don't have time to type them all out. But one example is the ruts allow water to pass through low diversion berms placed along the trail to control erosion. Ever noticed a low hump along the trail on a downslope or before a feature, those are there to stop water eroding the trail below it by slowing and directing it away from the trail below. Ruts blow these out and allow water to pass through. When it's dry people just roll right over them without a problem. That's just one of the erosion features put in by trail builders to preserve the trail for everyone. I could start talking about reverse grade break rollers, or the different kinds of bench cuts, or where to in-slope or out-slope the trail etc. etc. etc. I also haven't touched on how riding muddy trails screws up features such as berms, jumps, and rollers that we have to re-sculpt after someone decides their one single ride is more important than all the riders that use the trail after them and all the work the builders have put into the trail.

And a quick side note, these people that are seen "just checking the trail to see if it's muddy" have bikes that are usually caked in mud which doesn't happen in one muddy turn or low spot, It's from them riding the whole trail, not caring it's muddy, and coming up with an excuse when they are busted. The picture below is from a berm on Peddlers Pass at Brushy Creek taken a few weeks ago, it's ruts caused by just 2 riders not caring it muddy and the damage they are causing. Now, multiply that by 73 (the number of berms on just Peddlers Pass) and you will start to understand why people get upset when they see people riding muddy trails....rant done.

[cody]

Wow, thanks for sharing. That's inexcusable.

I've volunteered with ARR to help with drainage improvements at Walnut Creek a few times and it was really eye opening how small grade changes can make a huge impact on trail sustainability.

[throet]

44 minutes ago, HoneyBadger said:

And a quick side note, these people that are seen "just checking the trail to see if it's muddy" have bikes that are usually caked in mud which doesn't happen in one muddy turn or low spot, It's from them riding the whole trail, not caring it's muddy, and coming up with an excuse when they are busted.

I was afraid to learn how much damage has been done on Peddlers, but that picture tells a sad story. When I confronted a couple of guys at Brushy Creek Lake Park loading up their muddy bikes, they claimed not to know any better. I didn't even ask them which part of the trails they were on, but had to assume Peddlers given its proximity to where they were parked. After I told them that people would have to spend time to fix the damages they likely did, then one of them became remorseful and said he didn't know that. Perhaps he was sincere, although I just can't understand how anybody could think otherwise on a trail that is made up primarily of packed berms.  

Wish there was an easy way to make Peddlers strictly off limits under these conditions. I'd hate to think that this kind of damage is being done by any of the Brushy regulars. More than likely it's people who make a special trip out and are simply determined to hit everything they can. Who knows for sure. Also, I know some folks are just trying to be helpful, but I'd suggest not posting that East Peddlers is OK. Some people simply aren't going to differentiate East Peddlers from West Peddlers. Personally I don't ride it at all unless the entire trail is suitable for riding.  

[mack_turtle]

serious question- what would be an effective way to educate the public about not riding muddy trails? 99% of the people who ride are not on a message board like this or connected in any other to social media. how do we get the word out?

on some of the well-established trails like Walnut, Brushy, or the main trailheads for BCGB, it would be totally possible to put up signs. for the more dispersed stuff with unofficial trails, this is probably not an option.

[AntonioGG]

11 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

serious question- what would be an effective way to educate the public about not riding muddy trails? 99% of the people who ride are not on a message board like this or connected in any other to social media. how do we get the word out?

 

Bike shops.

Similarly with educating pet owners about leash laws and poop hygiene:  veterinary clinics and pet stores.

[Chardog]

On 10/15/2018 at 11:32 AM, WhoAmI said:

Nope, the reaction stems from 1.) knowing what work it takes to repair a trail after people used it when it was muddy, and 2.) knowing how land manager can use mountain bikers riding muddy trails to shut them down or limit their usage.  We shouldn't give them any reason to even think about banning or curtailing mountain bikers.

Absolutely!