[Toshi]

Stats from Saturday's ride [1] via StravistiX [2]. Relevant bits are the colors of the text in the Rank column, the extra stats via the plugin.

Solidly in the red and orange (slow) for climbing, but just a tick faster than median for the whole loop ("WR Short Loop" segment) thanks to making up time on the (green, faster) downhill segments.

Note that the median short loop stats might be misleading, as the truly fast dudes probably never ride the short loop (738 total times as opposed to many thousands for the other segments).

[1] https://www.strava.com/activities/759461773]
[2] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stravistix-for-strava/dhiaggccakkgdfcadnklkbljcgicpckn

 

[6thElement]

Which WR bench is it referring to, the one at the top or bottom of Mustang?

edit:looks like the bottom bench, I know I'm normally about an hour to the top, I guess I'll have to try for a time to the bottom bench at some point.

 

[Toshi]

Which WR bench is it referring to, the one at the top or bottom of Mustang?

Bottom of Mustang. (Yes, I'm a slow climber. ) This was from a short loop, where I turned off on Maverick and didn't head to the top or do Mustang in any shape or form.

 

[Adventurous]

Looking at your Strava stats there is no denying that gravity is certainly your friend. It would be interesting to see if there was a single statistic that represents your disparity between climbing and descending prowess.

 

[Toshi]

Looking at your Strava stats there is no denying that gravity is certainly your friend. It would be interesting to see if there was a single statistic that represents your disparity between climbing and descending prowess.

That'd be body mass index.

 

[Toshi]

200 series racing in Baja! I haz excite

 

[Adventurous]

200 series racing in Baja! I haz excite

Looks like these guys: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/canguro-racings-monica.912145/

I must say it would be an awesome platform for such a build.

 

[Toshi]

That's amazing that they're using the stock drivetrain, even though those big King shocks are far from stock. It'd be nice if they showed up the Ford Raptor team at Baja this year.

Per that thread they need to retain stock control arms, bodywork, and even the dashboard. Shocks are not limited.

 

[Adventurous]

In addition to the $3K worth of ARB lights they have on the front, each of those King Kong 4.5 shocks will set you back $2500 a piece at MSRP. I guess if you are chopping up an $80K vehicle whats another $15K in suspension...

 

[Toshi]

Looking at your Strava stats there is no denying that gravity is certainly your friend. It would be interesting to see if there was a single statistic that represents your disparity between climbing and descending prowess.

More serious attempt at this. Two parts to the metric: net score and imbalance score.

Net score is net percentile above (or below) the median for the Parking Lot to Bench * 2, Maverick Descent, and Lower Longhorn DH segments. E.g. 40th percentile to bench, 60th percentile Maverick, 55th percentile Lower Longhorn DH would result in a net score of +5 (math is hard: I forgot the * 2).

Imbalance score is (Parking lot to bench) * 2 - ((Maverick Descent) + (Lower Longhorn DH)), where positive == favors DH.

Toshi:
Net score: -29.7 * 2 + 38 + 31.3 = 9.9
Imbalance score: 79.7 * 2 - (12 + 18.7) = 128.7

Stoney:
Net score: -36 * 2 + 27.1 + 34.2 = -10.7
Imbalance score: 86 * 2 - (22.9 + 14.8) = 134.3

Adventurous:
Net score: 3.2 * 2 + 27.1 + 25.1 = 58.6
Imbalance score: 46.8 * 2 - (22.9 + 24.9) = 45.8

Nick:
Net score: -31.3 * 2 + 20.1 + 36.4 = -6.1
Imbalance score: 81.3 * 2 - (29.9 + 23.6) = 109.1

I may have screwed up some numbers in there--Strava doesn't make such data extraction easy.

Conclusions from this totally arbitrary look at three segments: Tim is fast and much closer to balanced. Us other three like to go downhill.

 

[Toshi]

 

[Adventurous]

From one of the most conservative automotive companies comes the Land Speed Cruiser. Two volleyball sized turbos.

 

[SkaredShtles]

God people are stupid.

 

[StiHacka]

God people are stupid.

If they manage to put all the seats back in, it has a potential to become a stellar soccer mom wagen.

 

[canadmos]

@Toshi thoughts on chinese made (car) tires?

 

[Toshi]

@Toshi thoughts on chinese made (car) tires?

I bet even big names are made in China now. When my parents gave me that Acura a few years back it had some off brand Chinese tires. Geax? Some shit like that. They were terrible. The car was immensely improved with some name brand tires.

Don't cheap out, even for your Matrix.

 

[Toshi]

Garage decluttering via hooks. Lots of hooks.

Toshi-size and Mariko-size skis:

The string trimmer needed some ziptie loop action in order to get it suspended:

 

[Toshi]

From yesterday's WR DH-fest:

Apparently I sat down too hard on the seat. Go figure.

Notable stats from that ride:

91.8%tile on the "stairs to very top" climbing segment. Higher is slower, to remind the viewer, and even that slow time was a PR for me! At 145 bpm average I was working hard enough: physics is inescapable, though.

Downhill was better: 2.9% on Upper Mustang DH, 12.7% on the whole Mustang DH. 6.2% on Maverick Descent, 13.8% on Lower Longhorn DH.

Bottom decile climbing, top quintile descending. I'm ok with that for my first season back after a decade off.

 

[Toshi]

My babies enjoyed being pulled in their trailer to their preschool this morning. 42 degrees. I was overdressed in my full hi-viz yellow nerd-suit.

 

[Toshi]

Question for the peanut gallery:

I'd like to pick up a mountain bike for Jessica to ride since she expressed some interest. This would be used for tooling around town but also for beginner trail riding. Things I'd like for her:

- 26" (not going to be possible new) or 27.5", certainly not 29"
- hardtail
- dropper post since she's already scared enough going down already, with internal routing ideally
- 1 x 11 to allow for control simplicity and for more straightforward dropper actuation
- sizes small enough for her, with standover her biggest concern: she's 5'4" or so and not particularly long of leg herself

Any at least somewhat budget friendly ideas for bikes that satisfy these constraints?

 

[Toshi]

Two contenders appear:

1) Specialized Ruze Comp. $1600 reasonably well equipped:

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/mountain/trail/ruzecomp6fattie/107253

Downside is that it's 27.5+ and the wife is pretty adamant that she doesn't want a plus bike based off of looks. The second rental she had was a Norco + and she didn't like it that much. The first, REI-class-supplied one was a Ghost 27.5"er that she liked better.

2) Kona Mohala. $1200 at a correspondingly cheaper component level.

http://konaworld.com/mohala.cfm

Downside is no stock dropper. Maybe she doesn't need one anyway, at least right off the bat...

 

[Nick]

trek superfly in 27.5

 

[StiHacka]

Two contenders appear:

1) Specialized Ruze Comp. $1600 reasonably well equipped:

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/mountain/trail/ruzecomp6fattie/107253

Downside is that it's 27.5+ and the wife is pretty adamant that she doesn't want a plus bike based off of looks. The second rental she had was a Norco + and she didn't like it that much. The first, REI-class-supplied one was a Ghost 27.5"er that she liked better.

2) Kona Mohala. $1200 at a correspondingly cheaper component level.

http://konaworld.com/mohala.cfm

Downside is no stock dropper. Maybe she doesn't need one anyway, at least right off the bat...

Don't reward e-bike companies with your dime.

 

[dan-o]

Get her a full suspension bike.

 

[6thElement]

Get the dropper and 1x11 for simplicity.

A downhill you think is mild looks like a death slope to beginners.

 

[StiHacka]

Get her a full suspension bike.

This. What size frame? I have a sweet sweet Medium Santa Cruz Nickel that needs a new home.

 

[Toshi]

This. What size frame? I have a sweet sweet Medium Santa Cruz Nickel that needs a new home.

She needs something like 27" stand over and 22" top tube. Women's small.

 

[Toshi]

She needs something like 27" stand over and 22" top tube. Women's small.

Kona's XS unisex sizing could work:

http://www.konaworld.com/process_134.cfm

27.6" standover, 21.5" TT length.

 

[Nick]

if you upgraded the fork, my Evil Sovereign would be a nice hardtail for her.

 

[Toshi]

if you upgraded the fork, my Evil Sovereign would be a nice hardtail for her.

Did those come in multiple sizes, Nick?

 

[Nick]

two, short and long. this is the long. now that I think about it, it could be a bit long for her, but she's welcome to test ride it. I have enough parts to make it 1x11 and the parts (fork aside) are all really nice.

 

[Toshi]

Yeah, it looks like regular is 23.2" and long is 24.2". My M 5010 is 23.5" and she's already too stretched out (although the wide bars don't help there, either).

 

[Toshi]

I see from my calendar that my wife has scheduled herself a mom's day out all Sunday with her friends, because going to CSO with her friends last weekend plus the home shows/chit chat meets last Friday night and Saturday day weren't enough time on her own. Oh, besides the two mornings she gets each week when both kids are at preschool despite her being a stay at home mother.

:facepalm:

The upside of this is that I will have free reign to load the kids up into their car seats and go driving into the mountains. Nothing off-road since the paint will be all fixed up by then. I'm thinking of heading to Rocky Mountain National Park, driving Trail Ridge Road, and maybe going on a short hike at elevation (Yuna in backpack carrier, Mariko on two feet).

 

[SkaredShtles]

Uh oh.

 

[Toshi]

It actually does give me freedom in the sense that she always vetoes RMNP plans because they'd extend through Yuna's regular naptime. I'm ok with having the kids nap in their carseats on longer trips, because I'm not uptight.

 

[Toshi]

GoPro Hero5 Black ordered. I'm still waiting on the Karma Grip to be released but shall order that, too, once it's available.

I figure now is a safe time to buy since I have 90 days of price protection through Chase, so I can save PDFs of Black Friday sales and get reimbursed for the difference while having had use of it in the meantime.

No drone, though.

 

[Toshi]

Another possible bike for Jessica:

Liv (Giant) Embolden 1. https://www.liv-cycling.com/us/embolden-1

120 mm front and rear. Dropper. 27.5" non-plus. 21.7" and 22.4" top tubes on the XS and S. 1 x 11. 27.2-27.3" standover.

$2100. That could work. There's a Liv/Giant store in Littleton that we'll have to check out.

 

[Nick]

Eric owns a Trek shop. Look at their women's line too, a deal might be had.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Another possible bike for Jessica:

Liv (Giant) Embolden 1. https://www.liv-cycling.com/us/embolden-1

120 mm front and rear. Dropper. 27.5" non-plus. 21.7" and 22.4" top tubes on the XS and S. 1 x 11. 27.2-27.3" standover.

$2100. That could work. There's a Liv/Giant store in Littleton that we'll have to check out.

She probably won't be able to tell the difference - but you should have her check the Pique instead - it has a "proper" suspension design as opposed to whatever the fuck the "single pivot FlexPoint Suspension System" is...

 

[Toshi]

She probably won't be able to tell the difference - but you should have her check the Pique instead - it has a "proper" suspension design as opposed to whatever the fuck the "single pivot FlexPoint Suspension System" is...

Low end Pique build has 2 x 10 and no dropper. Apparently wanting 1x, a dropper, and a reasonable price simultaneously is an odd request to bike companies.