The Biking Thread

[Treeaddict]

Laid down my second fastest 10 mile. These trails are single track dirt with rocks, boulders, and roots. There are quite a few creek crossings as well. There’s also a lot of “granny gear” climbs. Took it real easy as the rocks and roots were wet. Weather sucked though at 89* and 75% humidity. Hard to see through my glasses.

 

[Nutball]

I wish my bike had a great granny gear, it would be useful at times.

 

[Treeaddict]

I wish my bike had a great granny gear, it would be useful at times.

What do you go down to? My bike (most modern mountain bikes) has an 11 gear cassette. Front gear by petals is one fixed gear. “Granny “ is the largest gear in the back. You sit down, lean forward, push hard, and hope you don’t stall!

 

[Nutball]

I think mine's a 20 speed, but I don't know the ratio right now. I'd be happy with a 2/3 and/or 1/2 of 1st gear, but I can do wheelies up to around 7th low or maybe 3rd high.

 

[Knotorious]

 

[Treeaddict]

Hit trails hard yesterday and today. I usually ride 4 times a week and lay down 10 miles each time. Id like to have some unlimited time to just pump out 5 hours worth of riding. I’ve done that once before the first day I got the new bike but ive gotten a lot stronger and skilled since then.

I wonder how this type of biking translates to street cycling? I’d imagine I could put down 30 miles in the same amount of time I can lay out 10 miles on wooded trails?

Picked a bunch of wine berries for the family as they grow along the trails all over around here. I ate as many as I picked!

 

[lxskllr]

Nasty day for biking. I went out to get the mail, and that was enough :^D

 

[Treeaddict]

When I got home, I took my helmet off and bowed my head. 2-3 drops of sweat per second came pouring down from my buff. Last weekend, humidity was 85% and in the woods in a valley with a running stream it was noticeably more. I now bring a few Kleenex in a dry pouch in my backpack to keep glasses dry.

On the bright side, I don’t need a sauna to gain its health benefits!

 

[Knotorious]

When I got home, I took my helmet off and bowed my head. 2-3 drops of sweat per second came pouring down from my buff. Last weekend, humidity was 85% and in the woods in a valley with a running stream it was noticeably more. I now bring a few Kleenex in a dry pouch in my backpack to keep glasses dry.

On the bright side, I don’t need a sauna to gain its health benefits!

Glasses are a pain in the ass when a) it's humid and your lenses fog up, b) it's raining and raindrops cover your lenses, c) whenever you're looking down for a prolong period of time and they start to slide off, d) when you're sweating and droplets fall on your lenses, e) when you lose them, or misplace them, and struggle to find them because you can't see f) when you need to be wearing goggles or protective eyewear but can't see with those on, or have to put goggles over your glasses, g) when you can't buy normal sunglasses and you have to get prescription sunglasses which are way more expensive, h) when you can't tolerate contacts and are stuck with glasses, i) when you need to keep cleaning your lenses, j) when you get punched in the face and they break, along with your nose.

Anyways, good for you for getting your swell on with your new mountain bike. That's wonderful. I can't wait to get back to my bike and ride to some cool destinations for some tree climbs after I move.

@lxskllr Wow, you got the mail? Goddamn, son! I bet you would hit the podium for a gold medal if the Olympics had a "short walk" competition for track! Your abs probably look like a six pack right now and your thighs must be ask thicc (read: thick) as the limbs on an old growth Oak tree! =-P

 

[Treeaddict]

Kinda neat to track activities. I had almost a week with nothing when I had the stitches in my forehead. Down to 166lbs from 185lbs. I know that I gained at least a few pounds of muscle though so at least 20 lbs of fat are gone. My quads feel like rocks. It’s amazing how the human body can quickly adapt and transform itself to meet demands.

Just added resistance training with 20lb dumbbells for my upper body and increased protein consumption. Keeping with fewer carbs but I wouldn’t say low carb by any stretch of the imagination.

I’d really like some tree work though! Talk about good exercise!

 

[cory]

Literally unbelievable

 

[Burnham]

Seems impossible. Amazing skills.

 

[cory]

Agreed. Also it was nice they showed a few out takes, made the wins even more special

 

[Treeaddict]

He shows up a bit on my Facebook feeds. Really amazing on that bike. I’m happy to get 3 seconds of balancing my bike while not moving and this guy is riding across a tennis court using the net!!

 

[pigwot]

His ability to balance and find that center of gravity while in a dynamic state is pretty amazing!

Back when I owned the bicycle shops one of the ‘events’ we sponsored was a ‘Slow Race’.
Riders lined up, on a signal they lifted their feet to the pedals, the finish line was 10 feet away (at first 20 feet away but that took too long!), and the last rider to reach the finish line won.

Balance and skill at doing a track stand was key to winning.

Track Stand Technique

 

[Maximalist]

When I got home, I took my helmet off and bowed my head. 2-3 drops of sweat per second came pouring down from my buff. Last weekend, humidity was 85% and in the woods in a valley with a running stream it was noticeably more. I now bring a few Kleenex in a dry pouch in my backpack to keep glasses dry.

On the bright side, I don’t need a sauna to gain its health benefits!

,,Description: Helmet with cooling. Feher Helmets ACH-1
The Feher Helmets team has created a helmet for motorcyclists with an integrated ACH-1 air conditioning system for comfortable trips in the summer, when the temperature in the sun is off the scale and hot air blows into the face. A special thermoelectric ventilation system allows you to cool down on the way and not lose control. It is able to reduce the temperature inside the helmet by 12-18 degrees from the previous indicator.,, It would be great if the same helmet was made for cyclists.

 

[Trains]

Not worth the hassle, here in Australia, on a hot day, the road melts, so not worth being out on the bike in that weather, but have been there done that, and left lasting thin tracks in the road that I would ride past till the next summer.

 

[SeanKroll]

His ability to balance and find that center of gravity while in a dynamic state is pretty amazing!

Back when I owned the bicycle shops one of the ‘events’ we sponsored was a ‘Slow Race’.
Riders lined up, on a signal they lifted their feet to the pedals, the finish line was 10 feet away (at first 20 feet away but that took too long!), and the last rider to reach the finish line won.

Balance and skill at doing a track stand was key to winning.

Track Stand Technique

When I was a Chicago bike messenger for 6 months in my 20s I got lots of practice. I just got clipless pedals and was really sticking one at a red light, until I wasn't, and I didn't get my shoe to release from my pedal to put my foot down and tipped right over, feeling foolish. 🙃

 

[Treeaddict]

When I was a Chicago bike messenger for 6 months in my 20s I got lots of practice. I just got clipless pedals and was really sticking one at a red light, until I wasn't, and I didn't get my shoe to release from my pedal to put my foot down and tipped right over, feeling foolish. 🙃

Somehow my comment below reads like Sean said it. I can’t fix it so….

When starting mountain biking I tipped over once every 3 hours without clipless pedals. I’d stall up a hill from a root or wide rock and would keep trying to power through to the last millisecond. All the trails have a low side and a high side for the most part. It was hard to get a foot down at the last minute on the low side in uneven terrain. I cannot imagine the disaster if using clipless pedals. Only good thing is that the tip overs weren’t in public. You had the humiliation factor going on there.

 

[SeanKroll]

Also, while racing in traffic while a messenger, I went to bunny hop onto the sidewalk, fast, but started too early. My rear tire hit the curb edge on about a 45⁰ downward angle...endo-ed me over handle bar lighting quick, rotating me like I was drawing a semi-circle with my rear axle... luckily there were lots of people to watch me eat it! Hahaha

 

[cory]

Sean your story brought this clip to mind

 

[cory]