The Biking Thread

rickenvox said:
nice. I wish our local fire roads and single track trails had banked corners. Many of them are off camber which takes a lot of skill to bomb down.
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Those were trails on Baldy, with lift access from the ski hill, and also at the nordic ski center in the winter, Galena, former site of a mining town, thus the name. Over the last years, they have installed a great network of trails up there with very fair climbs, and very fun banks and features. Our other trails are not as banked typically, and are more traditional single track. With some exceptions and a few flow trails.

I have not been on the newest baldy trails, some of which have more advanced features. Some of the middle aged biker set have been hurting themselves up there. I will approach cautiously, when I do. Lift service is ending so probably not this year.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Lift service is ending so probably not this year.
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Well, scratch, that. At the last minute, I grabbed my bike and the face mask part for my helmet, and headed up for some laps on the lifts. It was fun! I am not good at it, and will need a lot more laps to develop confidence and flow and better skills. But next year, I think I will get a seasons' pass (not that expensive) to get some repeats in as part of my cycling next year.

I was surprised at how physical it was, considering I did not do much climbing at all. The forces standing on the pedals do work you pretty well. Just not in the same pedaling way. I felt pretty worked by the end, both physically and mentally. A nice Deschutes Fresh Squeezed recovery beverage at the base was appreciated.

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Danhedonia said:
Rode 30 yesterday, and was just dead. After only one month of teaching (e.g., not being able to regularly ride).

Boy, did my summer conditioning go away fast. Getting old is hard.
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I am considering winter options. Such as your cool stationary bike, though I more likely will find a decent spin class. Just once or twice a week during winter sure helps with base training for getting back in the saddle. For me, it is the mental aspect of accepting the pain, and gearing up to give the effort, as much as the actual physical training.
 
I never did buy a trainer. It was a super-frustrating process (like trying to buy a Les Paul, but I digress). I haven't given up, though.

Just really want to feel differently.
 
Danhedonia said:
Rode 30 yesterday, and was just dead. After only one month of teaching (e.g., not being able to regularly ride).

Boy, did my summer conditioning go away fast. Getting old is hard.
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This will be me on Sunday I'm sure. I haven't ridden much in 4 weeks and spent a lot of it travelling in planes and cars plus drinking a lot of beer and wine :grin:

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) there are likely no weather concerns for months still and it rarely gets cold enough here to stop me from riding so I should be back to normal in a few weeks.
 
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It had been smoky for pretty most of August but for the last few days, then it cleared a week or so, then you can see some smoke in the back ground of my pics from Sunday. It was still considered green conditions air according to the local air quality monitoring station, but I don't care for it. There have been some yellow days in the last week again. I don't go if it is yellow.

Point being, it has been smoky, and my riding has been sparce. Normally this is the time when I turn it up a notch and get into good riding shape throughout fall. Hoping with cooler temps coming today (highs now in the 70's max, and cooler night temps, also bringing more moisture to the air), that the remaining smoke will wane, and I can start building into fall again. Riding should be good through most of October and even into November.
 
Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I was able to only ride an hour and fifteen minutes at a time, but it forced my body to adapt. Then on Saturday, I rode 49 miles, but the heat made the last 15 miles very difficult. Hopefully this will push my fitness back up a little.



I found out in my gravel riding group recently that there are quite a few others that were suffering from some kind of allergy the last few months, just like me. Everyone said they'd never had anything this intense affect them before. Perhaps it is a mold problem after last year's flooding from hurricane Harvey.
 
I didn't know your kid was there SVL, might have to hit you up for some advice as we continue to explore buying a place up there. I liked Bellingham and they have some great beers up there. If we find a place I'll probably buy another bike and was thinking about a mountain bike since there seem to be tons of trails even in the city. I've never mountain biked and I certainly wouldn't do the stuff above but depending on exactly what is close a MB might be better than the road bikes I've always ridden. The place we nearly put an offer on was real close to trails and Whatcom lake which was a big part of the attraction for me
 
So, a few pages ago, I posted my $150 single speed city bike. My goal was to keep it a $150 bike.

So I took it to a bike shop for a brake adjustment...

[facepalm]

Things got out of hand. New [vintage French] bottom bracket, cog, chain, brake, post. Will post a pic when I pick it up today, but it's gonna be ugly.
 
Danhedonia said:
Since you apparently lack impulse control, let me share that I have a box full of NOS Campy stuff from the 70's. Some of it still in the original packaging.
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If I had a good project for it, I might have paid a "lot" price for it. What kind of stuff is it? Road? Touring or Racing? I do have that old Davidson I am fixing up.
 
Danhedonia said:
Since you apparently lack impulse control, let me share that I have a box full of NOS Campy stuff from the 70's. Some of it still in the original packaging.
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I bought some 70's Campy stuff still in the box at an estate sale and made out quite well on ebay.
 
Guitar Heel said:
Oh, that's what it cost to have repaired. I now have $400 in this thing. But, it rides great, it's comfortable, and it looks shitty enough that maybe it won't get stolen.
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what is all that tape for on the top tube near the seat tube and the seat stays? hopefully not holding anything together structurally. Other than that I love old Peugeots. I have an early 70s U08 in completely original condition that I bought from a local yard sale for 40 bucks. I recabled it, cleaned and adjusted all the derailleurs, and bought new rims and had them laced to the original hubs (original 70s Peugeot rims were steels and had a textured braking surface since they tended to squeal a lot, I put modern aluminum rims on them). Your bike looks like it has modern wheels and was converted to a fixie. It is an actual fixie where you can't stop pedaling while it's in motion, or does it have a freewheel that allows you to coast?
 
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