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Post by ForRealTho on Aug 8, 2023 7:57:23 GMT -5
I've been going on rides and filming some with my GoPro but have a lot of footage to go through. I don't use it as much as I thought because when I ride with the GoPro my focus is the GoPro, making sure its at a good angle, wondering about the battery, etc. Sometimes I just want to relax and enjoy the ride not think about the GoPro.
Also I clarified things with my job, they have no problem with me going on bike rides even if I am on call. I just have to tell the person I am in the middle of something but I will call them back in 1-2 hours. I thought that was nice of my boss.
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Post by sj on Aug 11, 2023 9:21:05 GMT -5
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Post by ForRealTho on Aug 13, 2023 11:17:38 GMT -5
Been busy, going on a lot of rides. Was a ride in a really rooty place with a lot of climbs yesterday. It rained on Friday night. Saturday I get there and go with the slower group.
I almost slipped and wrecked the first 30 seconds of the ride because of the rain and mud. I hopped off and let some air out of my tires for better grip. We get to the first rest stop and it takes 5-10 minutes for the tail of the group to get there. Turns out there is a new girl. At the 2nd rest stop same thing, I saw her and she looked absolutely terrified. Hope it didn't scare her off of riding for good. Bad day for your first ride in the woods ever.
They ended up splitting off so they wouldn't slow us down. At another rest stop this guy who was ahead of me the whole ride decided to go behind me. About 5 minutes later I'm looking to my right and I hear this really awkward "EHHHHHHH EHHHHH!" to the my left. I glance over and that dude is going past me, my left handlebar grip slammed into his right and bounced off, I almost wrecked but recovered. Hes like "Sorry bro!". When we stopped he apologized again, he decided to pass me without saying anything on a narrow trail.
3 days in a row 3 group rides. Just got home from another one. I need to buy a huge external drive for my GoPro footage. I wish I brought it yesterday. Was this awesome section where you go from the parking lot to this drop in trail, had no idea it was there would have looked cool on film.
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Post by Coolverine on Aug 21, 2023 6:35:46 GMT -5
Injured one of my Achilles tendons and had to wrap up my ankle, also been icing it. Pretty painful but the swelling seems to be going away.
Think I need clipless pedals, if I had some my feet probably wouldn't come off my pedals so much when going over rough terrain. Especially with the ways I'm learning to ride now.
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Post by ForRealTho on Aug 21, 2023 7:39:00 GMT -5
Injured one of my Achilles tendons and had to wrap up my ankle, also been icing it. Pretty painful but the swelling seems to be going away. Think I need clipless pedals, if I had some my feet probably wouldn't come off my pedals so much when going over rough terrain. Especially with the ways I'm learning to ride now. I didn't officially hurt myself but I rode hard yesterday, left the parking lot at 10:45, got back at like 1:35. We started out as this massive group but the group lead took us on this really weird route through the trails. Like he intentionally picked the shittiest rootiest climbs in the park and when we stopped to rest it was like 15 minutes after 5-10 minutes of riding. I was thinking "this ride kinda sucks" then a guy said "hey if anyone wants to go on a normal ride without so many stops come with me" So a group of 9 of us broke off from the main group and did our own thing. Actually ran into some friends of mine out going for a hike in the same park that was random. |
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Post by ForRealTho on Aug 21, 2023 9:05:17 GMT -5
Think I need clipless pedals, if I had some my feet probably wouldn't come off my pedals so much when going over rough terrain. Especially with the ways I'm learning to ride now. I've debated this so many times, I have a bad knee from snowboarding injuries from having my feet attached. Having my feet attached to anything just makes me nervous. It would make me way better on climbing tho and it appears all the hardcore crazy bikers go clipless, all the people who lead the group rides I go on are all clipless. |
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Post by Coolverine on Aug 21, 2023 9:13:14 GMT -5
One thing's for sure, I wouldn't want to ride on a narrow path next to a cliffside with clipless pedals. One other solution I could think of is just to get some high-top mountain bike shoes to protect the back of my ankles.
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Post by Coolverine on Aug 21, 2023 9:58:52 GMT -5
Also in the TRS classes, the instructors had clipless pedals too. The pedals I have now are Shimano GR-500's and they are good for climbing, but going back down is where my feet start coming off. Could just be foot placement or the pedals themselves, I prefer concave shaped pedals but might need actual larger flats. Also been going riding when I'm tired, which is a bad mix.
I got those Shimano pedals from REI for $60 a long time ago but now they go for $80.
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Post by ForRealTho on Aug 21, 2023 11:04:46 GMT -5
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Post by ForRealTho on Aug 31, 2023 15:13:04 GMT -5
Last night I went on a Full Moon ride..........then clouds rolled in, lol. We ended up taking a scenic route to one of the highest bridges in the city, very windy up there, this led to of the best views of the city on a huge hill. It was crazy how I was home in like 8 minutes riding down this massive hill.
Also the bridge had high fencing on both sides, I guess because of the wind but also because it was a great suicide spot, no way to survive. I really need to take some pictures up there on a day with no clouds. Has to be the highest point.
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Post by Coolverine on Aug 31, 2023 21:01:59 GMT -5
I used to go riding 5 days a week but now it's more like 2, sometimes 3 if I'm lucky. Turned out I had also injured the back of both my ankles, feels better now but the right one is still a little sore. I know a few people who have snapped an Achilles, it sounds like hell.
*edit* Might start taking collagen supplement, it's supposed to be good for joints, tendons, and ligaments. Currently taking biotin, one of my friends noticed my thinning hair and recommended it. It's supposed to be safe in large amounts, been taking 10,000mcg daily for a few months and have noticed my hair looks a little bit better, a few others have noticed it too. Also seems like the health of my skin has improved and my nails grow fast, just like they did when I was younger. Collagen is also supposed to be good for the hair, skin and nails.
I think the reason my hair is thinning is because I've had to take antibiotics a lot, was reading that they zap your stomach bacteria and it has to be replenished. My doctor recommended probiotic yogurt too.
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Post by ForRealTho on Sept 2, 2023 14:41:00 GMT -5
I missed a ride I wanted to go on last Saturday because I was at a headphone meetup. Today I went on a ride that was a 1.5 hour drive outside the city near a big lake.
There were these two rather overweight woman there but they had nice bikes and talked shop well. When we got to the first rest stop they were like 30 seconds behind the main pack. Not bad. Then we went for a longer section with no break and several very hard climbs. Never saw them again at any of the rest stops. The ride leader eventually caught up with us and said one of them got stung by a bee so they were taking a little break.
Was a fun right. I was thinking "wow this is too easy almost".......then we got to a crazy spot. When people say "chunky" or "gnar" I know what they mean now. There were these little rocks that you absolutely could not get good traction on. They rocked back and forth when you put your wheels on them. You need to fly past them and not be climbing.
Two dudes straight up wrecked trying to ride those rocks. One of them broke the handle off of his breaks, like a clean snap off, the other guy kinda sat there for a minute thought he might have seriously injured himself. He was OK in the end. I managed to twist my ankle just a bit but its fine.
3 Days of bike rides for the holiday. Debating going to all 3 or skipping tomorrow to let my body rest and just go to the gym but ride again on Monday.
Oh yeah we were very close to the parking lot and there was a trail the group was thinking of riding and they were like "its 1.6 miles, super chunky tho, makes what we rode on before seem like nothing" No thanks, I already twisted my ankle and watched two experienced riders bite it hard. I just rode back to my SUV and left.
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Post by Coolverine on Sept 4, 2023 1:23:19 GMT -5
It's been dry as sh*t lately, definitely a drought. It finally rained unexpectedly yesterday evening, mostly scattered but the biggest part of it went right over the trails that I main. Wasn't even in the forecast but it was a nice downpour that should alleviate it some. They closed it because of the rain, the good thing is it will be really nice when it opens again. There's other trails still open, fortunately.
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Post by ForRealTho on Sept 4, 2023 12:41:32 GMT -5
3 days, 3 rides plus a BBQ at the end. I took it a little easy today because yesterday had some soul crushing climbs and I was absolutely exhausted at the end of it.
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Post by Coolverine on Sept 8, 2023 3:59:48 GMT -5
BBQ sounds good. There's a decent trail 1 hour away with some climbing and then some downs, one time I ate at this BBQ place near there and it was the best BBQ I ever had. Planning on doing that again some time.
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Post by Coolverine on Oct 4, 2023 5:44:47 GMT -5
Had my wisdom teeth removed and they recommended to not ride my bike for 5 days, but at least they gave me some groovy painkillers.
Since I can't ride for now, probably gonna drop my bike off at the Trek Store so they can tune it up. It's long overdue for sure, especially with how I ride.
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Post by ForRealTho on Oct 14, 2023 10:44:26 GMT -5
Went biking with a group I haven't biked with in a a while for their special Friday the 13th Halloween ride. I didn't bring my GoPro so I could just focus on the ride. Toward the end we went down by one of the best rides in the city in pitch black besides our lights. I really wish I would have brought my GoPro and just filmed that part. It looks really cool in the dark.
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Post by ForRealTho on Oct 14, 2023 16:27:30 GMT -5
Oh yeah there was pizza party after the ride + bonfire, I forgot to bring a change of clothes so I was soaked from sweating on the ride, tried to enjoy the fire and pizza but I was freezing so I left
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Post by Coolverine on Oct 18, 2023 23:14:40 GMT -5
Dropped my bike off at the shop earlier this week for some cleaning, tune up, and had a new shifter cable installed, they called today and said it was ready. Bike is shifting awesome again, feels good. Can't wait to go biking this weekend.
Kinda funny, dropping off my bike at the shop felt a lot like dropping off a pet at the vet's.
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Post by jedage on Oct 20, 2023 0:35:52 GMT -5
Other activities:
My wife and I are taking country swing classes. It's pretty fun. I'm not a country fan, but we hit up a country bar randomly about a month ago and enjoyed watching people dance enough to learn it. We found cheap adult classes through the local school district. Theyre held in an elementary school after hours. Feels naughty walking into a random elementary school at night with almost no one there lol. The teachers are surprisingly good and have professional backgrounds. Sometimes for hobbies like dance, martial arts etc cost isn't necessarily associated with teaching quality and experience. we're getting a great deal in this case. We're committed at least through December and will likely keep going with these teachers and take the various styles of dance they teach. It's only $50/month for both of us.
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Post by Coolverine on Oct 20, 2023 3:28:06 GMT -5
^That's pretty cool, I wouldn't mind knowing how to dance. Speaking of classes, I was lucky enough to win some mountain bike skills classes from pros a while back, The Ride Series with Rich Drew. It was actually 2 passes, first I was gonna take my brother since he's who got me into mountain biking but then he couldn't go, then I was gonna take one of my friends. Then he got injured from biking and couldn't go, so I ended up using them both myself to take 2 classes instead.  They really helped me to hone my biking abilities, when people are about to pass me on the trails now, I always end up pulling ahead of them on the turns. Was out there for 9 hours, got sunburned pretty bad but it was worth it. |
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Post by ForRealTho on Oct 28, 2023 16:10:57 GMT -5
I had an interesting ride today. I went to my favorite park, its a 50 minute drive. The last time I went with the group was like May, I have had things come up the same days the groups I usually ride with was going.
Anyway, it was supposed to be in the low 60s and the temp was supposed to rapidly drop. I wore a long sleeve REI base layer and a long sleeve windbreaker jacket. The rise starts and we went on a crazy long climb. At the top I was all the sudden very out of breath. I jumped off my bike and threw my helmet and Cambelbak on the ground and took my jacket off. Huge like ball of hot air went flying off of me. I haven't been that overheated riding in a long time. Was good to go after that.
We saved the 3 nicest parts of the park for the end. It started to torrential downpour, my bike and everything were soaked. Its bad form to ride on the trails when its raining heavily so I just left after we finished the first 3 feature trails. I rode them back in May the week the opened and its the end of October, I'd be mad if I didn't get to go at all in 2023 but I already went once so eh.
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Post by Coolverine on Oct 30, 2023 21:49:24 GMT -5
I am on this Facebook group for all of the local trails here, and just recently there was news that someone bulldozed parts of one of the bike parks here, knocked down trees that had been there for many many years and cleared a bunch of land. Also cut right through parts of the trail. Last I heard the city is investigating it, this seems like a very common thing that happens here, very aggressive land developers who don't care about anything. They just want to build new neighborhoods so they can make money, a lot of it's wealthy people who move here from other places, then buy up a bunch of land and make it private property. Unfortunately it seems like it's always been that way here, they have destroyed a lot of this state's natural beauty too.
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Post by ForRealTho on Oct 31, 2023 8:24:08 GMT -5
When I lived in Arizona horses were a huge part of the community, it had a very popular rodeo. The horse people were extremely hostile to bikers and tried to ban us from the trails, that is against Arizona law tho. Horses would freak out and rear up when they saw bikers sometimes, the horse people would get mad at us. They actually said we were supposed to "hop off our bikes and walk around blind corners" LOL. Nobody is going to ride like that.
I ran into some people on horses not long ago here and as a curtsy we all hopped off our bikes and walked around them but they didn't act like they owned the place.
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 12, 2023 3:57:35 GMT -5
Thankfully most of the local trails here don't allow horses, only one I know of and it's pretty far.
Haven't been able to go off-road biking in weeks because most of the trails are rained out, but did some urban riding recently.
Seems like the list of local mtb trails here is increasing lately, seen a few new ones on the list I hadn't seen before.
There's a park near here that used to be a farm in the old days, has a few trails and a few dirt roads that are kinda fun to bike on. The place isn't strictly a place to bike but it is allowed. Great place for beginners.
The land there isn't bad, could be used for some decent mtb trails. Not too long ago there was a survey from the city online where they were asking what people are interested in if they were to expand that park and other places in the city and mountain biking was one of the choices. I voted for that, hopefully others did too. Really it's up to the city planners and whoever owns the land, but unfortunately this state still has lots of anti-bicycle people. Which is surprising, cause George W Bush (also from TX) is a very avid XC biker, even has group rides for veterans from time to time. Not sure if he's still riding or not though, he's almost 80 last I saw.
I hope they do build more local trails, the terrain around here isn't bad, just that most of it is overdeveloped with neighborhoods and stores.
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 19, 2023 15:52:12 GMT -5
At the trail I main they re-opened this line that had been blocked by a fallen tree for a while, first it goes fast down this hill (not too steep but it picks up some nice speed), then there's a turn at the bottom and it goes back up the same hill in a different spot further down. It's not a bad climb either but there are these 2 big roots along it, which makes it kinda fun. So glad they opened that line back up, really added some flavor back to the trail.
It was drizzling some last time I went, made all the roots slippery which also added some flavor. The good thing is these "XR5" tires they put on the Trek Fuel EX's have soft tread that is good (or at least better) for loose/slick conditions. I heard Maxxis makes much better tires but I'm gonna let these wear down before replacing em. They're great so far, could be faster rolling but I love how they handle turns.
Gonna look into getting a GoPro or something soon so I can film my rides.
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 23, 2023 15:15:46 GMT -5
Its been freezing here so I haven't been biking.
My company gym had a pipe burst and was closed for 2 weeks. I finally signed up for a local gym. I found a gym with a sauna that was $9.99 a month. Not bad at all. I haven't been in a sauna in years.
Anyway since today is Thanksgiving the gym closes at 2pm. I figured I would go and just do cardio and the sauna and go home. Back to full on lifting weights tomorrow.
All I had to eat was coffee. Then I went and did 20 minutes of StairMaster. I get in the sauna and after a few minutes I got crazy nauseous. Drinking water didn't help.
I got out of the sauna and was super close to puking in the sink. Ugh. I ate a protein bar and sat and relaxed for 5 minutes.
Lesson learned. Coffee is a bad breakfast before cardio+sauna.
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 24, 2023 8:55:10 GMT -5
Had a pretty rough crash at speed yesterday but no apparent injury, landed pretty hard too. Not even sure what happened, suddenly my front wheel went sideways and I was thrown off violently while going down a small descent. I even heard myself go *huck* involuntarily as it happened, been a while since I was thrown at speed like that. I think it's possible my pedal caught a root that was covered with leaves. Was funny too, cause when I got up, my bike was almost perfectly upside down on the trail. Recently got some new mid-top mtb shoes (Five Ten Impact Mid), the right one actually took a hit and protected my ankle. Good thing for buying these, aside from the extra protection, they are also better for cold.
(that's just a leaf stuck to it)
Word of warning on these, they are a little tight around the ankles even when left a little loose, and have to be broken in. Tried wearing them off the bike while just going around running errands, and started getting a blister just after a matter of a few hours. They're a different story on the bike though, much comfier there. Thought maybe I needed to get a half-size up but after breaking them in they feel fine, definitely made for biking more than walking.
*edit* left shoulder is starting to feel sore, can see now how people dislocate shoulders and break collarbones mtb'ing.
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 30, 2023 9:08:16 GMT -5
I've never had proper MTB shoes. I just used my hiking shoes. Sadly the ones I got to replace my old pair aren't put together as well. The bottom already started to peal off in certain spots. The issue is the old pair the bottom was a huge solid mold, on the new pair its just a rubber thing like glued on. Not as nice. You would think spending $140 or however much I spent on Saucony hiking shoes would guarantee quality. You would be wrong. lol
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 30, 2023 11:08:06 GMT -5
5-10's are really good, the soles are designed specifically to grip onto pedal pins. Some pedals like Raceface Chesters do tend to tear up shoe soles though, even good ones.
My first pair of 5-10's are low-tops and the soles are still holding up great, got em for $80 on sale which wasn't bad. Seems like they go for more now.
Usually I wear a different pair of shoes on the way there, then put on my mtb shoes in the parking lot before I start riding. One time I did forget to put em on, looked down and saw I was still wearing my Vans but it was fine. Vans are great for biking too, but 5-10's definitely are more rugged and can protect the feet better.
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