Yeah, I got nothing. Weather here in N. AL has been awesome for over a week straight. Temps in the 70's to the 80's. Sunny skies. Beer drinking, mower riding, Spring cleaning, riding the bikes, and just enjoying the nice weather. That about sums it up.
This weekend I got in a couple of 10mi adventures with the local B-Team. Saturday was the 7am dawn patrol out on Monte Sano. Sunday was a slacker Wade Mountain run. Both rides had 4-5 people riding and a pretty well matched crew with respect to speed and endurance.
New parts for the bike? Yeah, I got a few odds and ends but for some strange reason I don't feel like geeking out on it. Maybe another day.
Other goodies? Went out this afternoon and picked up my super Stihl eletric hedge trimmer. Ended up with the HSE71 IIRC. Costs as much as 3 basic Home Depot disposable jobbers, but it has a 24in bar on it instead of a 16 or 18 that the cheap ones have. It also has parts available should it break, so I won't have to throw it away. Not sure if it is worth it, but if my Stihl weed wacker is any indication the brand makes good tools. Time will tell.
All right, I am out of here. Catch up on other stuff later...
What's the weather like in Doug's neighborhood?
Monday, April 19, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
heading into the weekend...
Spring has definitely sprung in the SE
Just try and say that trail doesn't look inviting :-)
In a month things will be looking like a jungle and the Banana Spiders will be dropping huge webs across it, but for now it is good.
Wednesday SORBA ride has been getting a good turnout. We had 11 on our ride. Only caught 8 on camera. It is hard to keep a group that size together. By the end of the ride we were down to 5. It was a great day. Weather was a bit cooler, in the low 70's, so it was very comfortable.
I broke out the Heckler for the first time in a few weeks. Boy, that thing is the magic carpet ride. Super smooth. I really think the effort saved over the course of the ride more than makes up for any pedaling inefficiencies or bobbing. The X-Fusion Vector HLR is still behaving itself. I am amazed at what I can slam the bike into with this shock. Miles of smiles for sure.
Other signs of spring arriving...
- the lawn looks like crap if I haven't mowed it in over a week
- the trees in the yard have bloomed, pink flowers everywhere
- the parking lot at work is empty by 5pm
Just try and say that trail doesn't look inviting :-)
In a month things will be looking like a jungle and the Banana Spiders will be dropping huge webs across it, but for now it is good.
Wednesday SORBA ride has been getting a good turnout. We had 11 on our ride. Only caught 8 on camera. It is hard to keep a group that size together. By the end of the ride we were down to 5. It was a great day. Weather was a bit cooler, in the low 70's, so it was very comfortable.
I broke out the Heckler for the first time in a few weeks. Boy, that thing is the magic carpet ride. Super smooth. I really think the effort saved over the course of the ride more than makes up for any pedaling inefficiencies or bobbing. The X-Fusion Vector HLR is still behaving itself. I am amazed at what I can slam the bike into with this shock. Miles of smiles for sure.
Other signs of spring arriving...
- the lawn looks like crap if I haven't mowed it in over a week
- the trees in the yard have bloomed, pink flowers everywhere
- the parking lot at work is empty by 5pm
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Day pass
I have a couple of friends who have been taliking up the riding down at Lake Guntersville. With the recent rainfall it would be a safer bet than the local trails. We ended up riding 2 trails, both somewhat of a flop IMO :(
We started on an un-named trail that is in the process of being built up that flanks the edge of the lake. It has the potential to be a nice trail, but it is definitely a bit green still. Lots of off camber, IMBA would have a fit with the lack of shouldering. The crossings are mostly hike-a-bike.
Clay and Josh
A nice section of trail
Yours truly
the only bridge in the place
From here we jumped back in the car and headed up to higher ground to run the Golf Course Trail. Turned out to be a bummer as they have destroyed a good section of the loop clearing out trees.
Trailhead
Out walking our bikes in the woods
Used to be a trail in here
Nice little overview of the lake
Group photo-op
Last shot, my view for most of the morning...
We started on an un-named trail that is in the process of being built up that flanks the edge of the lake. It has the potential to be a nice trail, but it is definitely a bit green still. Lots of off camber, IMBA would have a fit with the lack of shouldering. The crossings are mostly hike-a-bike.
Clay and Josh
A nice section of trail
Yours truly
the only bridge in the place
From here we jumped back in the car and headed up to higher ground to run the Golf Course Trail. Turned out to be a bummer as they have destroyed a good section of the loop clearing out trees.
Trailhead
Out walking our bikes in the woods
Used to be a trail in here
Nice little overview of the lake
Group photo-op
Last shot, my view for most of the morning...
Monday, March 22, 2010
...should get an update out
Blog has been a bit stagnant. Not really sure why. I have been riding a bit and things are busy as ever around the house. Guess it is just waiting out the Spring stretch that gets most bloggers a bit quiet, holding their breath for warm weather and dry trails. It has been a bit of a roller coaster this year. Every time the trails get to a stable, dry enough to ride, condition it has snowed or rained again. Pretty frustrating.
I got in 2 rides this weekend and another ride earlier in the week. With all of the weather dodging I am stacking in as many rides as I can when the trails are clear. So my riding is also on the roller coaster. Seems like I go a week or so without riding and then will get 2-4 days of back to back riding. Gotta say that sometimes I really miss the consistancy of riding in Northern California. But for now living in N.Alabama I have to take it any way I can get it. Fortunately there is some diversity in trails so that even when some trails are soaking wet others can be ridden, mainly because they are entirely made of rocks.
As of last week I received my X-Fusion Vector HLR back from the factory.
Looks like the new internals have fixed the obnoxious clunking during the hysteresis. I am happy to report that this shock is working great. My DH runs have been butter smooth and climbing traction is unstopable. As far as function this is the best shock I have run to date. There is definitely something to the Hi/Low speed compression control. It allows for good small bump sensitivity while still being able to take high speed and big impacts without spiking. Looks like Fox's new DHX RC4 has moved to this platform as well. But at this point companies like Avalanche, Elka, Cane Creek, and X-Fusion are already 2 steps ahead. Each with their own spin on the technology and tuning preferences. I am favoring the X-Fusion since the canister pressure and volume are externally adjustable by the rider. Elka and Avalanche are only tuneable by the factory. At any rate, time will tell if X-Fusion is durable enough to get 2 thumbsup.
Just over a week ago I got in the first night ride of the season. I got off work and the weather was warm, too nice to pass up. So I called up Matt and we headed out for a spin. Unfortunately the planning was lacking so my light wasn't charged up. I got by with an LED headband though and we had a nice ride. I do like the focus, intensity, and pace of a night ride. Nothing quite like it. Hopefully I will be able to set a more regular night ride up with Matt out on the Arsenal trails this summer.
This just in...
It snowed again this morning. Melted as soon as it touched anything, but snow none the less. It isn't really cold(about 36F, but feels warmer to me), but I guess up in the clouds it is cold enough. We are still trending up in temperature. Saturday afternoon was my first short sleave ride of the year. Things are looking up inspite of the snow this am.
I got in 2 rides this weekend and another ride earlier in the week. With all of the weather dodging I am stacking in as many rides as I can when the trails are clear. So my riding is also on the roller coaster. Seems like I go a week or so without riding and then will get 2-4 days of back to back riding. Gotta say that sometimes I really miss the consistancy of riding in Northern California. But for now living in N.Alabama I have to take it any way I can get it. Fortunately there is some diversity in trails so that even when some trails are soaking wet others can be ridden, mainly because they are entirely made of rocks.
As of last week I received my X-Fusion Vector HLR back from the factory.
Looks like the new internals have fixed the obnoxious clunking during the hysteresis. I am happy to report that this shock is working great. My DH runs have been butter smooth and climbing traction is unstopable. As far as function this is the best shock I have run to date. There is definitely something to the Hi/Low speed compression control. It allows for good small bump sensitivity while still being able to take high speed and big impacts without spiking. Looks like Fox's new DHX RC4 has moved to this platform as well. But at this point companies like Avalanche, Elka, Cane Creek, and X-Fusion are already 2 steps ahead. Each with their own spin on the technology and tuning preferences. I am favoring the X-Fusion since the canister pressure and volume are externally adjustable by the rider. Elka and Avalanche are only tuneable by the factory. At any rate, time will tell if X-Fusion is durable enough to get 2 thumbsup.
Just over a week ago I got in the first night ride of the season. I got off work and the weather was warm, too nice to pass up. So I called up Matt and we headed out for a spin. Unfortunately the planning was lacking so my light wasn't charged up. I got by with an LED headband though and we had a nice ride. I do like the focus, intensity, and pace of a night ride. Nothing quite like it. Hopefully I will be able to set a more regular night ride up with Matt out on the Arsenal trails this summer.
This just in...
It snowed again this morning. Melted as soon as it touched anything, but snow none the less. It isn't really cold(about 36F, but feels warmer to me), but I guess up in the clouds it is cold enough. We are still trending up in temperature. Saturday afternoon was my first short sleave ride of the year. Things are looking up inspite of the snow this am.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Snow day?
Yes, here we are days after my "its warming up" post. And, yes, it is in fact snowing. It is warmer, so there is no fluffy powder on the ground. It either melts immediately or turns into slush. That's fine. It should clear up in a day or so. Then onto some more decent weather and continued warming trend.
Time flies...
How did it get to be March already? Weird. The older I get the more that the months seem to melt into each other.
I managed to get out for a nice group ride on Saturday morning. It was a bit nippy at the start. I think Gary mentioned 22 degrees on his thermometer at the trailhead. I was bundled up fairly good. My cold weather kit is something to this effect:
-Top: Hard shell windbreaker or thermal fleece with wind block, a long sleeve jersey, and a base layer (wool or other performance wicking material)
-Bottom: hard shell (shorts or pants depending), thermal tights, and a chamois short
-Shoes: wool socks, standard shoe, neoprene booty over that (next year I would like to invest in some real winter cycling shoes)
-Helmet: just the normal vented helmet with a thermal skull cap under it
With these items I am good for multiple hours down in the 20-30 degree range. Any colder than that and I don't consider it worth riding :-)
At any rate, riding was nice. We had 6 people in the group and were pretty well matched. It was a technical ride at the Land Trust, so despite near 4 hours on the bike we covered only 11-12mi total. There were lots of breaks and conversation. Whenever someone dropped back the group waited patiently and talked about biking. Honestly this is one of my favorite ways to ride. We went fast when we could and took a good steady pace the rest of the time. The Hutchinson Octopus tires proved to be a great tire for the conditions, which were frozen with muck under and thawing about mid-ride. The extra heft provided some good stability in the rocks and the sticky compound did great on the slick stuff. The tread pattern is nice and open, so it shed mud excellent. Wonder why Hutchinson stopped making this tire?
That's all I got for now. I'll check back later...
Time flies...
How did it get to be March already? Weird. The older I get the more that the months seem to melt into each other.
I managed to get out for a nice group ride on Saturday morning. It was a bit nippy at the start. I think Gary mentioned 22 degrees on his thermometer at the trailhead. I was bundled up fairly good. My cold weather kit is something to this effect:
-Top: Hard shell windbreaker or thermal fleece with wind block, a long sleeve jersey, and a base layer (wool or other performance wicking material)
-Bottom: hard shell (shorts or pants depending), thermal tights, and a chamois short
-Shoes: wool socks, standard shoe, neoprene booty over that (next year I would like to invest in some real winter cycling shoes)
-Helmet: just the normal vented helmet with a thermal skull cap under it
With these items I am good for multiple hours down in the 20-30 degree range. Any colder than that and I don't consider it worth riding :-)
At any rate, riding was nice. We had 6 people in the group and were pretty well matched. It was a technical ride at the Land Trust, so despite near 4 hours on the bike we covered only 11-12mi total. There were lots of breaks and conversation. Whenever someone dropped back the group waited patiently and talked about biking. Honestly this is one of my favorite ways to ride. We went fast when we could and took a good steady pace the rest of the time. The Hutchinson Octopus tires proved to be a great tire for the conditions, which were frozen with muck under and thawing about mid-ride. The extra heft provided some good stability in the rocks and the sticky compound did great on the slick stuff. The tread pattern is nice and open, so it shed mud excellent. Wonder why Hutchinson stopped making this tire?
That's all I got for now. I'll check back later...
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Now we are getting somewhere
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am seeing a trend. Warmer weather is on the horizon :-)
Yesterday's ride was cold and with windchill it dropped another 10 degrees. Hard not to run off and start snagging up base layers and thermal jerseys when things turn nippy. But from the look of it lows will only be down in the 30's and 40's for another month or so. And highs are already creaping up into the 50-60 range. All of the layers will come back off and it will be short sleeves once again.
Other news?
Not much, picked up a set of used tubeless tires for $7. They are Hutchinson Octopus 2.35 with a slow rebound sticky rubber. Out of production now, but I figured for the price they were worth picking up. It seems like several manufacturers were using a 40-50A durometer soft compound on 2.3 UST tires circa 2004-2006. Then about 2007 the well dried up. DH clincher tires, single ply clincher tires, and DH ust tires were the only ones that continued to be produced in soft compounds. The sticky compound 2.3 UST tire was left by the wayside. These octopus tires tipped the scale a bit portly at 1150g.
A few months back I snagged a set of 2.35 Maxxis High Roller UST in the sticky 42A rubber compound. The front tire hasn't been off my bike since I mounted it. Coming in at 900g they are a bit heavy. But they do work well even at pressures down to under 30psi, which is somewhat unheard of for me. Basically it indicates a fairly stiff sidewall, so it doesn't burp or come unseated even at lower pressure than I can typically get away with. I took off the rear since it was a bit slow rolling and didn't shed mud as well as the Continental Rubber Queen.
At any rate when I see these out of production gems on e-bay for dirt cheap I grab them. Most are 900-1100g. The casing is thick and strong. They work exceptionally well on the wet rocks and roots here in the Southeast during the winter. May be too heavy/slow for the summer, but I will post back when the time comes.
I think I have a rubber fettish...
...last season's tire testing
Caught our local SORBA club meeting last night. Not a whole lot going on right now. Looks like a section of Family Trail is going to get some TLC and the South Plateau is officially open to bikes. Another cool prospect, seems that the Land Trust is okay with the building and maintenance of a "freeride/DH" trail on their property. They just want it done right. Some kids have carved in a sketchy, unsustainable trail with no go around or warning of upcoming obstacles. I think the LT response is a great indication of the respect for the trail work and maintenance the SORBA club here does.
Another positive trail growth report. SORBA Huntsville will be launching a fundraising effort to extend and re-route McKay Hollow trail. Not sure how much additional mileage will be gained, but it should be cool. Only $75K. Wow, trails are expensive to build!
That's all I got for now. Ride, rinse, food, beer, sleep, repeat...
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