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When you live in montana most rides are gravel rides and I don't even have a "gravel bike"   
jamal fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Nov 6, 2019 |
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Nov 6, 2019 19:59
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Carbon fiber, 22lbs, 29x2.25" tires, 110mm front suspension fork with damping, 34x42 lowest gear, normal handlebars. The ultimate gravel bike?
jamal fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Nov 7, 2019 |
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Nov 7, 2019 20:58
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Oh I have one of that actually https://www.instagram.com/p/BnumUePhxL1/ Also went looking for the spirit of gravel today    
jamal fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Nov 9, 2019 |
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Nov 8, 2019 22:34
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Pretty much the same as yesterday On a different bike with more daylight this road is a good ride. Goes to the top of a mountain and there's some singletrack along the ridge that no one ever rides and then you can drop back into the south side of town.
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Nov 10, 2019 03:37
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Took the big tire, normal handlebar bike up to the ski hill. it was cold, but scenic. 
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Nov 12, 2019 03:17
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Probably one of the most important parts of the spirit of gravel is taking pictures so that people know you were riding on gravel. So much spirit of gravel right here 
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Nov 17, 2019 03:04
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Woah those gravel grinders look huge. Have you stuck a caliper on them? What's more spirit of gravel- MTB, or going and teaching the children cyclocross skills? We did ride on some gravel and trails and stuff. Here's a picture from today.  and an instagram from yesterday https://www.instagram.com/p/B5G7iIGngRA/
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Nov 22, 2019 07:01
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Got real fuckin spirit of graveley today  https://www.strava.com/activities/2886377269 jamal fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Nov 24, 2019 |
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Nov 24, 2019 00:41
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Here are some turkeys i saw the other day on a ride they're all over the place around here. One time on a mtb ride I almost ran into some on two separate occasions. Also wild turkeys can fly. I've seen it with my own eyes. Here are some in a tree 
jamal fucked around with this message at 06:47 on Nov 29, 2019 |
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Nov 29, 2019 06:45
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It's winter in Montana, plus I've spent like 2 of the last 3 months in Canada, without a bike. So way too much running and some indoor riding and spin classes. Got out for a solid ride today and the rest of the week looks pretty good so my plan is to ride a lot more. I was on my road bike, but did go down a good amount of dirt for some reason. This time of year it's not very smart and I got things fairly muddy. https://www.strava.com/activities/3132414556
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Feb 26, 2020 06:28
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Been getting out on the new bicheal a bit. Like today i took it to DQ for a blizzard It was $100 canadian, with the racks and fenders. I got that bag recently for like $20 and didn't like how it fit any of my other bikes. Works good on here. Needs: new bars and stem some cable and housing replacements and adjustments some way to carry beer on the front rack mini frame bag for 3rd triangle maybe fewer chainrings jamal fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Mar 2, 2020 |
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Mar 2, 2020 03:35
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Until I get some straight wheels for my cx bike and do a bunch of maintenance to the mtb I'm just riding road bikes right now. Also my shoe covers don't fit over my mtb shoes and it's been cold. 
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Mar 19, 2020 05:45
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More of the same today. getting moderately annoyed that my bike winds up like this after every ride though  But much cleaner than yesterday. jamal fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Mar 20, 2020 |
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Mar 20, 2020 02:55
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And just going to keep this up.  
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Mar 21, 2020 04:19
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New tires are pretty good Should have some less lovely wheels next week, just waiting for a freehub to show up.
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Mar 27, 2020 01:51
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Shelter in place order goes into effect tomorrow night for two weeks. But here in montana going outside to recreate and exercise is still ok. Maybe if this gets completely out of control and the hospitals are full of people with covid I will stop riding outside but until that possibly happens I don't see a good reason to not keep getting out. Today was kind of windy and rainy but a little warmer than yesterday. We're also doing an "internet stage race" with a strava segment every two days. But times don't technically count, prizes are randomly drawn gift cards bought with donations from local businesses. Stage 1 was 5 $50 gift cards to a beer and wine tap room. There's like 3k in the fund right now which is pretty cool.
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Mar 28, 2020 03:10
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keep seeing these weird fat birds when i go for rides. what does it mean?   
jamal fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Apr 26, 2020 |
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Apr 26, 2020 05:09
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May 9, 2020 17:40
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Decided to ride up a ski hill this evening   warmer gloves would have been nice. https://www.strava.com/activities/3442636064
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May 13, 2020 05:48
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I usually go up snowbowl rd because it's closer and more gradual. To come back down butler tends to be a lot smoother dirt. Butler creek can be pretty annoying to climb if you don't have like a 1:1 gear. Bike calc says my average cadence up tv mountain was 63 rpm. Once they get their summer stuff going I like to take my mtb all the way up to point 6 and then come down the singletrack and then stop at the bar. 
jamal fucked around with this message at 02:26 on May 16, 2020 |
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May 13, 2020 16:27
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Went on a ride. After about an hour and a half on pavement i stopped for supplies then got to the dirt and climbing It had a lot of area but was very thin. Fairly tasty for a $0.99 gas station cookie, would buy again.  Eventually I got to a pass, went down into a valley, then climbed back out. at some point i took another picture  then got a burger  Ride stats: 75mi, 5200 ft 35mi on dirt 1 apple pie lara bar 4 salted watermelon shot blocks 1 giant cookie 1 katarina nash edition pb banana clif bar 1 bag haribo peaches 3 waters 1 wally 1 ipa 1 kom https://www.strava.com/activities/3463432641/overview jamal fucked around with this message at 05:55 on May 24, 2020 |
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May 17, 2020 05:26
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Fairly short little loop near town but a place i've never been and pretty cool          
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May 27, 2020 20:48
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don't have a kick stand    
jamal fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Jun 14, 2020 |
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Jun 14, 2020 04:57
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    new frame bag exactly fits a 6 pack so that's nice.
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Jun 15, 2020 04:55
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Monday I sat there looking at dark rain clouds approaching but it wound up not actually raining. Yesterday I was looking at the same thing and said gently caress it I'm going and just stuck a rain coat in my bag. I have a couple of quick and easy rides I like to do, one of them being to go up to the ski hill. It takes about 50min, and from there I can come back down, go out the back of the parking lot and down the next valley, or keep going up/around the back of the ski area in various ways. On the way out the parking lot, and then farther down, there are gates on the road, and it's closed to general motorized traffic year round, but you can still ride bikes or hike on a "closed" forest service road. I didn't leave until like 7pm, but wanted to do a little more than come straight back down, so I did a little loop on the back side where there are two sort of parallel roads. One goes to the bottom of a chairlift and then switchbacks up to meet the other. From there you can keep going up, either to the top of that mountain, or up behind the rest of the ski hill and then to a higher, 8k foot mountain with a doppler radar. Pretty good way to get 5k feet of continuous vert right from my door when the road is clear of snow.   Kind of way out there by myself late. But I brought a jacket and gloves and a blinky rear light.  Couple of wildlife sightings on this one. Firstly a bear on the road right behind the parking lot. That's like 4 in the last week but I still haven't gotten a picture. Funny thing is that I had just put my bear spray in my back pocket instead of in the frame bag, and turned on my bell, and was thinking about playing some phone music. Once I got up to where I was going to start heading down, I see a big something on the road below me. Oh poo poo is that a moose? They can get pretty angry and unpredictable and we were both looking at each other from about 150 yards away for awhile. Then I realized it was an elk and started creeping forward to try to get a picture. There were actually two and they ran down the ski run.  Pretty solid for a quick evening ride https://www.strava.com/activities/3626941834 jamal fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Jun 17, 2020 |
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Jun 17, 2020 19:12
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Casual ride along the creek today, although I apparently didn't take any pictures of the actual creek    
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Jul 6, 2020 05:37
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Yesterday's ride was a lot like the day before. Essentially went to the same place but on different roads and trails. Also dragged my friend Meg up there. After 3k feet of climbing we're at the top and here I seem to be explaining what we're looking at and where we're going. "behold, little park and miller creek and finally the way down"  It's been logged, and the bottom was private property until like 2-3 years ago, when a land trust bought a bunch of land in the area to make a new open space. There's some new trail, some being built, some planned, and a lot of old roads. it's a huge project and it's really cool to be a part of it. https://www.fvlt.org/projects/mount-dean-stone I've spent a lot of time looking at maps of the area and even made my own in caltopo because I wasn't getting a full picture from the fvlt maps and info https://caltopo.com/m/42T5 We came from back there:  And are on what's called "allen to little park" on the map. I'm not sure anyone else has done this. Last time I accidentally paused my garmin at the top instead of pushing lap and missed recording most of it so it wasn't really clear where I'd went. The little park and inez routes are new and this is not the way you would usually go Bitterroot mountains out there  The bottom of little park is old logging road cut, but the top is a trail that was very roughly cut in to get you along the ridge. It's fun, and the first time I did it, I was wondering if I was going the right way. You start out on an overgrown road, go over a bank past a rock cairn and are going through the bushes for awhile.  Then you come out into the open and can see in every direction. This is miller creek, where we're headed  That mountain on the right is Dean Stone, currently there's trail being built to the top from the other side, and eventually there will be a trail along the ridge on this side. Once the trail to the top is finished you will at least be able to come over to this side and take old roads down into Miller and to the existing routes (the other one is called Inez). Old logging road to the bottom  Meg bought me a coke  https://www.strava.com/activities/3748714992 jamal fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Jul 12, 2020 |
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Jul 12, 2020 18:38
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More of the same This road goes up the side of Lolo peak a ways. A few years ago there was a big fire up there and some of this was burned. There's a good trail on the other side that I haven't ridden in awhile. It was closed for like two years after the fire, rebuilt, I rode it like the next week and it was amazing, and I haven't been back yet. It's on my list of rides to do during the move mt challenge thing though. A few years ago the guy who owned some of the land at the bottom and in the valley decided it was going to be made into a ski resort and that would totally be fine because the forest service identified it as a possible ski area like 80 years ago. But uh, the top and a good part of the mountain is now congressionally designated Wilderness so that was never actually going to happen and the guy went bankrupt from trying to develop a base area and cutting in runs before the FS was like "uh, WTF are you doing dude? stop." https://www.hcn.org/issues/44.5/scars-of-an-unfinished-ski-area Anyway the road was nice. It keeps going but that wasn't my goal for the day and I headed back down after getting about 2k feet of vert  The reason I went down here was to ride up to an overlook a little farther south. There's 50mi of path from Missoula south along hwy 93, but i like to get off it for a bit and take this section of old 93 into florence. Then a few miles on path to bass creek, which has a free trails and a long dirt road climb to here  Something like 7mi, 2700ft, plus a little paved climb to get to the base of the mountains. The Wilderness boundary cuts off the upper portions of this range to bikes but there's a lot of hiking trails back there, as well as the macgruder corridor into idaho a bit farther south, which i want to ride sometime.  What's that poo poo going on out there?  Some people had camp setup, at the public overlook picnic area which I'm not sure is even ok, and then had setup a slackline all the way across this canyon. Seemed questionable but whatever time to head back down.   There's a little loop of trail down at the bottom so I rode some of that  Then was faced with the decision to head straight back the way I came, mostly on paved path, or go a little farther south to a town, and then over to the other side of the valley to some nice back roads. Also I was hungry and thought I'd get a chicken strip or candy bar or something at a gas station. So far I had not needed to go into any stores because there's a water fountain at the campground at the base of this valley. I kept going, but the little grocery store/deli was closed but then I noticed a food truck across the street. I didn't need a full on cheeseburger at this point so I got some fries and a coke and he put some brisket on there for me  Then took a nice mix of dirt and pavement back around to the path  Should have brought lights. Didn't expect to be out there that long and had to pedal a little harder than I wanted on the way back. Thankfully the last bit was on a pretty well lit street and then path. Another solid day but I'm like 200mi and 20k feet behind in our move mt distance and climbing challenges. https://www.strava.com/activities/3778185706 jamal fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Jul 21, 2020 |
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Jul 18, 2020 17:28
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I've been bringing bear spray most of the time because I was seeing one on like every other ride for awhile. None lately though. Also have a timber bell on my cx bike and sometimes play music on my phone when I don't expect to encounter anyone else which possibly helps. In riding news, everything is becoming a blur. it's hard to keep track of what day it is. I'm tired and hungry all the time. But I'm keeping pace in our climbing challenge and leading in distance. I've ridden every day since it started July 4th and have 1380mi and 139500ft since then. Here are some pictures from yesterday. I got home at 1030 after doing extra laps on my street to get an even 5k.   
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Jul 30, 2020 17:26
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Just the usual today. Rode up hills until after dark
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Aug 4, 2020 05:14
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A guy in town has been putting on this thing called the "death" ride for a few years now, death actually standing for drop everyone ascending the hills. Last year it poured rain and was like 38 degrees at the start and we went up all the road climbs in town. This year he had planned on doing the road version and also a gravel one, both this spring, but what with all the covid and such they turned into solo/small group events and the gravel one ended up being today. Also, it was a big one, from the official start to the top of the last mountain I wound up with 68 miles and 11000ft. My overall total for the day was more like 95 after riding a bit to the start and then down the last mountain and to get pizza and beer and then going home. The route had a lot of steep poo poo and also singletrack and I didn't really want to do that all on my cx bike. It does have 40mm tubeless tires, but on the other hand it has rim brakes and 40 x 11-32 gearing. So I stuck my half frame bag on the old hardtail xc bike and also put on a fanny pack with some extra snacks and water and got to it. I only took like 4 pictures and only in vertical format for instagram stories but I'll crop some into more reasonable shapes I guess First climb  My new bike is still an "XC" bike but has 120mm travel and is a couple lbs heavier. Climbing that first dirt road on the old hardtail it was like "oh, yeah. this is some good poo poo." Even locked out that hei hei does not climb as well, but maybe if I spend more money to make it lighter...? Headed back down while trying to remember how to ride a mtb with a tall seatpost. 2nd climb was all road and pretty chill then it was down a pretty rough trail and up to my regular spot  This is called the "snowbowl overlook" because past those trees over there you're looking at the ski hill. The next stop. Organizer left some water and snacks, seemingly just for me because it was cookies and gummy bears and those have been a major part of my diet lately.  I didn't even take any other pictures after this but got all filled up with water and then left most of it at the base of the climb because you came back down the same way. I also left my pack and a water bottle at the bottom of the first one to save weight. Some fast guys did this together yesterday and I was hoping to be in the ballpark of their total time so I was on a pretty solid pace the whole day and tried to minimize stops. After the ski hill climb it was all the way across town to blue mountain and then up to the fire lookout there, and on the way over I was leaning my forearms on the handlebars and at one point sat up because it was kind of uncomfortable and then laughed at myself for worrying about being uncomfortable on this ride and got back down there. I had seen a group of friends coming down as I was going up and was also trying to catch them. But then about halfway up the climb I come up to another friend, and he hasn't seen any of them (they had detoured to a gas station). Catch 2 more friends and find another at the top.  They were on cx/gravel bikes and had had numerous flat issues throughout the day so I rode sweep down the very rocky road. Then we got beer and pizza. https://www.strava.com/activities/3957254713 I split my day up so that I had just the "death ride" as one whole ride because I wanted to see how I did compared to Andrew and Steven. I saw that Andrew and I had exactly the same moving time, and he went up the climbs quite a bit faster than me including the kom up the mountain behind the ski hill. But I made up for it on the descents, being on a mtb vs a cx bike. I wasn't sure on the total until I got home and split things up Looks like I got it by like 20 minutes just from spending less time stopped. jamal fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Aug 24, 2020 |
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Aug 24, 2020 05:01
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How secret can a military base actually be? Like everyone in the area sees tanks and poo poo driving through a gate and are like "what's that?" No one knows, one of life's mysteries." But then they get on strava and are like oh poo poo some guy's running over there!
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Sep 5, 2020 06:07
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I don't like e-mtbs on trails where they aren't allowed.
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Sep 24, 2020 21:01
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The forest service for one considers them a motorized vehicle. Which they are. So they can only go where, say, a dirt bike can be used. The DOI, which includes BLM land and national parks, is a little different and is leaning toward allowing them basically anywhere you can ride a bike. Private land owners, cities, and states all have their own rules about them. Our local land trust that has been letting us build mtb trails doesn't allow them for example, even though one location would actually be a pretty good spot to allow ebikes. I kind of prefer the forest service approach where it's clear where you can and can't use them, but admit it might have been a little heavy handed. In our city there are some places where it's not clear and I see ebikes out where I'm pretty sure you can't ride them but the city needs to go and actually list the places/trails/roads you can and can't ride them. jamal fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Sep 25, 2020 |
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Sep 25, 2020 16:56
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CopperHound posted:Here is a list of things that may or may not apply to certain areas: I try to stay away from most of these as they're the same arguments used against regular mountain bikes. The "has a motor on it" thing I think is the big one, and motorized vs not seems like a much clearer line than amount/type of assist. jamal fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Sep 25, 2020 |
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Sep 25, 2020 20:09
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Didn't even make it to the ski hill tonight. Guess I could have  Light and motion taz 1200 seems pretty good.
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Sep 30, 2020 05:48
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It was rainy and windy all day but in the afternoon it seemed like there were some little windows of clear skies so I decided I should get out. A friend is putting up some routes every week and the current one was a loop off a cool dirt road that goes along the river. I left not confident I'd actually do the loop due to time and weather but headed that direction and I had it on my garmin. The south side road, looking back toward town  I was going the other direction but the picture works better this way. Looking clear where I want to go so let's do it  Clark fork river  Not the main road anymore and past a gate so it's just me and the kitties  I did bring bear spray and have a timber bell (that broke)  More open and going up. This was annoyingly steep with 40x32  The top, I think I'm going down there  Oh, this is the way?   On the way down I got a front puncture. Like an idiot, I tried to plug it despite having forgotten my pump and only having a co2. So that didn't work, and I wound up with about 8 psi in a tube. Babied it down, walked over rockier parts, made it to the road. Oh and I had to cross this when it was like 40 degrees out  Managed to not get my feet completely wet. Then got a couple miles down the road before pinch flatting (I was seriously doubting the ability to make it all the way home on that). Had service, called for a ride, walked for awhile and ate licorice. It was fully dark by the time I got picked up, but I did have lights and a jacket and gloves and expected to be out after dark. Just not on foot. jamal fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 05:07
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Trail design and local climate have a big effect on how much wear or damage a mtb will cause. Good drainage is a big one as it will keep the trail from being too muddy and that helps for all users. Things like grade reversals going into corners helps prevent brake bumps from forming because you are going slightly up into the corner and then have more traction and gravity helping you slow down. Also, having the trail too narrow and with off camber corners tends to result in the edge of the bench getting eroded and the trail widened from people not being able to stay on it. With something steep and downhill specific like you might find in a bike park, wear and damage from bikes (and water runoff) might just be expected in order to make the trail more fun. With multi-use trails on public land, stuff tends to get toned down so that it lasts longer at the expense of "fun" features. All that said, horses cause way more damage and wear than bicycles. Last week I was on a trail where the bed was sunk down like a whole foot from horse traffic, which made it difficult to ride because you were hitting your feet on the sides. The result is that people are riding and walking outside of the rut, causing widening and basically 2 extra parallel trails. That's also a hard fix. You would need to add material to fill the rut. On a related note I've had people think that a sunken down trail bed is a big rut and caused by mountain bikes. that's not how it works. Anyway, all trails are going to need occasional maintenance regardless of who's using them, and mtbers are pretty good at getting out and doing work. https://www.outsideonline.com/2396926/trail-runners-are-lazy-parasites jamal fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Oct 14, 2020 |
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Oct 14, 2020 02:14
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With 1x I'd definitely want one, with 2x not completely necessary. I can't recall ever dropping the chain with the original 105 2x10 drivetrain on my cx bike but it happens occasionally now with apex 1. Especially near the end of the life of the chain and/or chainring. Oh yeah it does make a little less noise though.
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Nov 8, 2020 18:55
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Been on zwift a lot lately, nice to get out for some real rides occasionally.     Also I bought all that new winter riding stuff so I need to use it. Full bib tights and winter shoes are so nice.
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Nov 21, 2020 02:13
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