Happy Valentines Day. I love you all in a totally non-erotic way.
***Saturday GMT***
- Thread starter Pesqueeb
- Start date
Happy Valentines Day. I love you all in a totally non-erotic way.
Cold weather ruining riding plans, it needs to warm up lots.
Effing carnival over here. The entire Rhineland has been hammered since Thursday morning and will continue its collective inebriation until Tuesday.
Morning.
Fuggin cold and snowy... again... and again... and again...
Fuggin cold and snowy... again... and again... and again...
better than in a "hate fuck kind of way".
Cold as sin, windchill in the area this w/e can be -46F. Will be somewhere looking for an end to the long white line.
Meth?
Morning monkeyz. Took my new bike for a spin around the hood and it felt good. Now I need the historic snow cover to go away. It should not take more than 4-5 months.
Morning monkeys!
Went to sparring class for the first time in a long time. Had fun. Snowshoeing later.
Be safe out there.
Went to sparring class for the first time in a long time. Had fun. Snowshoeing later.
Be safe out there.
Gonna let the re-frozen crud warm up a tad before making turns today...
Hello East Coast, please send snow West. We are in the throws of spring. 50-60 forecasted out for the next 10 days... No snowpack in the mtns. Our ski hills were open for a few weeks of shitty and rocky snow. Drought is serious bizniss here. I have been riding/trail building in shorts and t-shirts all week which is awesome and scary at the same time.
Also... fuck yea. that is all.
Also... fuck yea. that is all.
Still sick. Not how I wanted to spend the last weeks before my son is born
Or is it?
Mornin!
First ride in 6 months. It was good in the kind of way that waterboarding is good if you're thirsty. My poor ass...
First ride in 6 months. It was good in the kind of way that waterboarding is good if you're thirsty. My poor ass...
Don't worry. You'll be sick a lot more after he's born, that should make up for it.
Snow, cold, wind.
The result of a bidding war has pumped up the price of my bike to $1800. I accepted that offer and if everything goes well and he returns with the cash I will be a happy camper.
Pumped myself at the gym for 30 minutes this morning, then ran 10.5 miles (7:38 pace) in 10 degree warmth.
cold and snowing. perfect bike ride weather. instead i'm sick. so fed up with this nonsense.
cold and snowing. perfect bike ride weather. instead i'm shoveling two feet of packed snow off a flat roof above sunroom. so fed up with this nonsense.
which is worse, missing the wife/kids or missing their bags?
awesome day of hiking in pisgah.
No bike? Or mechanical lead you to hike out?
With the wife, who doesn't ride, so didn't bring bike. I ride there plenty too. 
So they're paving the woods?
Ah I see, you freakin live there! People talk about Pisgah like its Moab or Sedona. Gotta make it out sometime. CheersWith the wife, who doesn't ride, so didn't bring bike. I ride there plenty too.
They may. We'll see. They knocked the presentation last week out of the park (I recommend attending one if ever have a chance), so we're hopeful.
Jason Wells will be the builder. https://www.imba.com/blog/chris-bernhardt/meet-builder-jason-wells From the slide presentation anyhow, he seems like a bad ass.
If you're talking about armoring all the way to grandma's house, they say they'll only armor ersosion prone sections over 15% grade.
I've done way too much erosion control work over the previous decade, and I'm really curious to see IMBA implements their more unfamiliar to me concepts- Stacked loops, half rule, outslope, grade reversals, sight line and vertical corridor manipulation, breaking up decommissioned lines. And their take on IMBA techniques I've used- Nicks, uphill ramps, rolling grade dips, stone pitching, and flag stoning.
i may sound cynical about them, but i also recognize how valuable they can be when it comes to finally obtaining sanctioned trails (sounds like your current situation). I know all too well the stresses that come with rogue building and poaching.
i've seen some amazing trails get dumbed down to the point of boredom at their hands as well, and i'm not the only one. Tread cautiously with IMBA.
your only hope is to be able to wait it out a few years until nature and erosion make the trail somewhat fun again.
Yup. Pegged it. No sanctioned MTB trails, rampant rogue building.
We've got well organized rogue builders even. They're good guys, just utterly clueless. They do a LOT of weed whacking of invasive weed growth, something that's constantly needed here to keep the trails ridable. But then turn around and build strictly fall line trails (think ruts big enough to drop a house into), add unneeded wooden structures which are left to rot, build jumps near trail heads, shuttle only, etc- Basically do the most harm to the publics perception possible, while keeping the authorities constantly breathing down our necks.
The tech level here is generally very high. Even if the IMBA trail ends up being a coaster trail, that may be something that we could use.
At least we can ride it without fear of being ambushed by Conservation Officers threatening to confiscate our bikes.
A few years ago some IMBA type trails were build just a few hundred yard from home. Wide smooth trails. Had just enough flow and a few features that made it a fun place to ride if you hauled ass. Know who else likes wide smooth trails? Old people, dog walkers, Weight Watcher Speed walking clubs. In two years this little park with a few miles of trails become the most visited park in the county. Now the place is pretty much unrideable as every corner is clogged with people walking 3 abreast. And when the local weight watchers speed walking club can't walk three abreast they widen the trail.
I am truly sorry. That sounds awful.
That would suck. We don't really have any riders that are equipped for anything other than pretty techy stuff. Even the xc guys. Hopefully if all flops, they put in another loop above that one with a worthwhile trail.
You guys are light years ahead of us. Very interesting to hear what the future reality may be. We're in the dark ages here.
There are hardly any mountain bikes sold here, basically no mountain bikers, no legal mtb trails. Heavy handed regulation by the authorites is the norm. Races are conducted solely on private property, with access only on day of, for a fee.
Our neighboring county has a tenth the population, but has organized and worked shit out with property managers. They've got legit awesome trails, high end bikes available retail, mtb tourism, a world championship race every year, etc, etc. Hopefully we're heading in that direction now.
IMBA talked a lot about the importance of stacked trails- A wide smooth beginners trail with long sight lines like you guys talk about. But then with more challenging trails stacked out further and further from the trail head. Maybe that's a new concept for them.
They also talked about how to appease the equestrians, weight watchers, etc by building a trail like this for them near the parking areas/ easy access. But then also between the lines told us how to build trails further up that explicitly keep them out-
Choke points with massive boulders (keep moto's out), short sightlines, low corridor ceilings (horses), trail heads with highly challenging entrances. Hidden trail entrances weren't explicitly mentioned...