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Katz

Katz

Monkey
Jun 8, 2012
371
788
Arizona
Jm_ said:
Jon is a giant douche.
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Haha, he sure comes across that way if you just read my post.

He really is an OK guy, other than the aforementioned Strava obsession. And I sorta get where he's coming from, we're always short-handed and the race is a couple weekends away.

Just felt like I got my toes stepped on a little this time. If we don't finish cleaning all the race stages, oh well. Big bad enduro racers can handle a bit of extra roughness, I'm sure. I'm not gonna turn my meditation time into some kind of obligation.

I shall ask @jdcamb to kindly give you a permij for reading my whole rant.
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,141
10,689
AK
Katz said:
Haha, he sure comes across that way if you just read my post.

He really is an OK guy, other than the aforementioned Strava obsession. And I sorta get where he's coming from, we're always short-handed and the race is a couple weekends away.

Just felt like I got my toes stepped on a little this time. If we don't finish cleaning all the race stages, oh well. Big bad enduro racers can handle a bit of extra roughness, I'm sure. I'm not gonna turn my meditation time into some kind of obligation.

I shall ask @jdcamb to kindly give you a permij for reading my whole rant.
Click to expand...
Seeing a raked trail in AZ sure is odd though. I would never expect that riding at SoMo, Hawes, Flag, etc. I can see chucking some big stones, but otherwise I am a "let the cards fall where they may"-guy. I also realize that trails have to be "sanitized" from time to time to control erosion, at which point they slowly erode to a similar condition, but the initial fixing usually pisses off a bunch of short-sighted riders.
 
Katz

Katz

Monkey
Jun 8, 2012
371
788
Arizona
jstuhlman said:
isn't the point of riding that shit to have it as rough as possible? maybe i'm doing it wrong.
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I don't dig out big rocks embedded in the ground. I just sweep pebbles and baby heads that roll onto the tread. Baby heads tend to roll out from under your front tire at the most inopportune moments, and excessive pebbles make it feel like riding on ball bearings on our loose DG over packed DG soil, which is drift-happy as it is.

You certainly aren't doing it wrong. And I don't think I'm doing it wrong for the terrain we got.


Jm_ said:
Seeing a raked trail in AZ sure is odd though. I would never expect that riding at SoMo, Hawes, Flag, etc. I can see chucking some big stones, but otherwise I am a "let the cards fall where they may"-guy. I also realize that trails have to be "sanitized" from time to time to control erosion, at which point they slowly erode to a similar condition, but the initial fixing usually pisses off a bunch of short-sighted riders.
Click to expand...
We have a trail system on south side where soil/rock composition is sorta cross between SoMo and Granite Dells. We barely have to do anything there other than occasionally trimming catclaws and cactii.

We built this connector (rated blue, which is inline with other trails in our area) last November. A new single track was built to bypass the first 15-second of double track but other than that, we (at least I) haven't done any maintenance and it's more or less in the exact same shape.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/495082/

The area I've been working on is at higher elevation. Trails are bench-cut, and there's endless-supply of lava rocks buried in the hillside, as seen in the screen shot below. After each rain, rocks roll onto the tread, in addition to whatever cattle kicks onto the trail.

Untitled.png
 
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jdcamb

jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
20,050
8,769
Nowhere Man!
Katz said:
I don't dig out big rocks embedded in the ground. I just sweep pebbles and baby heads that roll onto the tread. Baby heads tend to roll out from under your front tire at the most inopportune moments, and excessive pebbles make it feel like riding on ball bearings on our loose DG over packed DG soil, which is drift-happy as it is.

You certainly aren't doing it wrong. And I don't think I'm doing it wrong for the terrain we got.




We have a trail system on south side where soil/rock composition is sorta cross between SoMo and Granite Dells. We barely have to do anything there other than occasionally trimming catclaws and cactii.

We build this connector last November. We (at least I) haven't done any maintenance and it's more or less in the exact same shape.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/495082/

The area I've been working on is at higher elevation. Trails are bench-cut, and there's endless-supply of lava rocks buried on the hillside, as seen in the screen shot below. After each rain, rocks roll onto the tread, in addition to whatever cattle kicks onto the trail.

View attachment 137630
Click to expand...
lots of permijs
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,141
10,689
AK
Katz said:
I don't dig out big rocks embedded in the ground. I just sweep pebbles and baby heads that roll onto the tread. Baby heads tend to roll out from under your front tire at the most inopportune moments, and excessive pebbles make it feel like riding on ball bearings on our loose DG over packed DG soil, which is drift-happy as it is.

You certainly aren't doing it wrong. And I don't think I'm doing it wrong for the terrain we got.




We have a trail system on south side where soil/rock composition is sorta cross between SoMo and Granite Dells. We barely have to do anything there other than occasionally trimming catclaws and cactii.

We built this connector (rated blue, which is inline with other trails in our area) last November. We (at least I) haven't done any maintenance and it's more or less in the exact same shape.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/495082/

The area I've been working on is at higher elevation. Trails are bench-cut, and there's endless-supply of lava rocks buried in the hillside, as seen in the screen shot below. After each rain, rocks roll onto the tread, in addition to whatever cattle kicks onto the trail.

View attachment 137630
Click to expand...
Damn you for posting a picture of a video, causing me to repeatedly attempt to click play...
 
Katz

Katz

Monkey
Jun 8, 2012
371
788
Arizona
jdcamb said:
lots of permijs
Click to expand...
Thank you sir!

Jm_ said:
Damn you for posting a picture of a video, causing me to repeatedly attempt to click play...
Click to expand...
Sorry about that. It's kinda long video and I figured the pic would be enough to explain my position.

Here's the link to the video. This was right after this trail was built. Hurricane Rosa made it really bumpy, for better or worse depending on whom you ask. Fast-forward it to 3:00, you just hear my heavy breathing until then.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/444332/

And this is our main downhill trail. May not be the chunkiest, but enough to keep you occupied at 20+mph. I hate the switchbacks at the top and pedally part in the middle, but otherwise it's fun.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/443386/
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,141
10,689
AK
Katz said:
Thank you sir!



Sorry about that. It's kinda long video and I figured the pic would be enough to explain my position.

Here's the link to the video. This was right after this trail was built. Hurricane Rosa made it really bumpy, for better or worse depending on whom you ask. Fast-forward it to 3:00, you just hear my heavy breathing until then.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/444332/

And this is our main downhill trail. May not be the chunkiest, but enough to keep you occupied at 20+mph. I hate the switchbacks at the top and pedally part in the middle, but otherwise it's fun.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/443386/
Click to expand...
I always wanted to see a survivorman or whatever where bear grylls parachutes into fucking-cactus-everywhere Arizona. Not pussy mountain AZ or rocks AZ, but you-can't-go-1-foot-in-any-direction-without-picking-up-cholla-or stepping-on-cactus-AZ. Then we'll see if you are really hardcore. Just the desert off of I-17 or something.
 
Katz

Katz

Monkey
Jun 8, 2012
371
788
Arizona
Jm_ said:
I always wanted to see a survivorman or whatever where bear grylls parachutes into fucking-cactus-everywhere Arizona. Not pussy mountain AZ or rocks AZ, but you-can't-go-1-foot-in-any-direction-without-picking-up-cholla-or stepping-on-cactus-AZ. Then we'll see if you are really hardcore. Just the desert off of I-17 or something.
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Like Superstitions mountain area? That place looks pretty desolate. We have no shortage of chollas, though (Fig 1).

But given enough supply of food, water, and sunscreen, I'd rather be stuck there for a few days than riding in freezing weather surrounded by griz bears and wolves. That's pretty hardcore if you ask me.

Fig 1
WP_20151128_13_30_42_Pro.jpg
 
Katz

Katz

Monkey
Jun 8, 2012
371
788
Arizona
jstuhlman said:
dude, props for whaever you're doing to make mtb'ing more awesome where you are. that terrain is so alien to me i have no idea what it's like. carry on.
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Thanks. Yeah, it's little different from NC. We are doing our best, still experimenting and learning.

I can assure you there are areas with chunky rocks we goof around on. I just don't like loose rocks littered on fast descent segments.

p5pb15481549.jpg


p5pb12755949.jpg
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,141
10,689
AK
jdcamb said:
Aren't Grizzlies bigger assholes then Wolves? They just fuck you up. Just because they can.
Click to expand...
Those have nothing on moose, moose are far bigger assholes than anything else, combined. You come up on one on the trail and if it doesn't immediately charge you, it stands there with this shit-eating grin on it's face, daring you to keep coming. Then, while you are waiting for it to clear off, it will start walking towards you, to see what you do. If you stay there, it'll eventually charge you. They'll also lay down on the trail in the bermed turns, because you crafted those turns so nicely just for them.

I made this map of our local flow trail park, it's clockwise on even days:
Kincaid.jpg


It's cool to see a wolf if you are lucky enough. Very majestic. They aren't going to eat you unless you are already dying from something else, and then you'll probably be happy a wolf comes to finish you off. That movie "the grey" would never happen, if an entire airplane went missing half the state would be out flying in all weather to find it and no expense would be spared.

We don't worry much about wolves or bears, it's unlikely a bear will attack, but bear spray just in case, so you can spray down your buddy and the bear that are all tangled together. Moose on the other hand...F-no, that's where shit gets real. I got charged again this summer and luckily it broke off as I fell on my ass trying to get off the trail.
 
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slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,795
5,625
Ottawa, Canada

It was actually dark out when I took this picture. needed lights to see. took it using Google's Night Sight mode on my Pixel 3. I like that feature a lot.
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,141
10,689
AK
From the other perspective. This kid kills it in DH and can easily ride any bike like a DH bike.
G0351238.JPG
 
Flo33

Flo33

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2015
2,139
1,367
Styria


Was at the Schladmings at the end of August. Had to try some promising looking hiking trails. Started pretty good, steep natural stuff. Got too steep though and ended in a carrying shitshow.

Was able to try some new building in progress Schladming trails later though.
 
canadmos

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
21,976
21,496
Canaderp
Lots of poo moments on two trails today. Nothing but roots, muddy rock slabs and wet off camber rocks.

Trail is right up the middle of the rock spine here. Was wishing I had brought knee pads...
 
Nick

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,905
16,472
where the trails are
canadmos said:
Lots of poo moments on two trails today. Nothing but roots, muddy rock slabs and wet off camber rocks.

Trail is right up the middle of the rock spine here. Was wishing I had brought knee pads...
Click to expand...
That reminds me of a section of local trail (dakota ridge) if we had leaves and moisture!!
 
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