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sasquatch69

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Posts posted by sasquatch69

  1. On 9/14/2021 at 9:20 PM, TwiceHorn said:

    North Shore (north of Lake) is supposed to be the best trail in the metro.  I've never ridden it but probably will soon.  It apparently is not one to ride alone the first time.  It's long, too, but divided into two basic loops, East being more intermediate than West.  Horseshoe is south of the lake and it's fun.  Fairly comparable to Erwin in the up/down parts, but only about 5 miles and hardly any flat field sections.  Never ridden Knob Hills, it's on the west end of the Lake and doesn't get talked about much.

    Frisco we've discussed.  Arbor Hills in Plano is a short lil asskicker.  I'm a fan of the SW Dallas trails, Oak Cliff Nature Preserve and Boulder Park.  Big Cedar is supposed to be good and Cedar HIll SP pretty decent, but has park admission fee.

    Rowlett Creek in Garland up by Firewheel is pretty good.  The basic loops 1-6 are flat and flowy, the rest vary quite a bit from blue-green to black (13 and 14).  If you do it all, it's about 15 miles.

    I assume you are familiar with dorba.org?

     

    All good recommendations. 

    @Bigpoppapump Glad you got to ride Erwin, as it really has everything you'd want in a trail ride, and a beautiful property.  We're doing a MTB campout there with our scout troop soon since it has good campsites, too.

    I love Horseshoe - probably my favorite more compact trail in the area, with a little something for everyone.  Northshore gets all the attention, but I find it frustrating, partly because I struggle with it (and also because it's usually fairly crowded and has its share of Stravaholes flying through on the regular).  I rode Knob Hills once and was really disappointed given the hype.

    Big Cedar is my favorite larger trail complex, with everything from green trails to super-difficult blacks and a jump line, and it benefits from Escarpment terrain so it feels more like the Hill Country (more elevation, rocky, lots of cedar/juniper).  The knock on Big Cedar is that it has 20+ miles of trails and they're not always well-marked.  It took me a half-dozen visits before I started to feel like I really knew my way around, and even still there are 3-4 trails I haven't been on yet.  Also, it's closed on Sundays until 1pm and all day Monday, since it's private property.  Boulder Park is great, too, with somewhat similar terrain - just more compact.

    If you're in North Dallas/Plano area, Katie Jackson is a fun little neighborhood trail.  It has a couple flat and flowy loops, and then a more difficult loop (yellow) with some nice but manageable drops.  

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  2. ¡Snek! x3 at RCP tonight. I occasionally run into one, but never three in one ride (all on Loop 5 south of the really cool old train trestle). I only stopped to grab a photo of the last one - the other two I blew past by swerving around them in the grass.

     

    9BCA0C29-76D1-454C-91FE-D1BBD127E608.jpeg

    0DD2B2B0-0A92-46E6-94A1-CE0231E1DE65.jpeg

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  3. @TwiceHorn wait, so after the bypass, he went up and down the two little climbs along Walnut Hill once you go under the bridge, and then crapped out before the creek crossing to red? Yikes - glad you didn’t take him on the normal start from the trailhead.

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  4. @KuЯdt Fantastic videos - thanks.  Can't wait to ride this sometime.  Two questions:

    - Do you think these are doable with a hardtail?  The first one looks like it would be; not sure about second (Angel's Plunge).

    - Apologies if you've explained this before, but what gear do you use for these?  I'm assuming a GoPro with chest mount?

  5. Been riding a lot lately, and really getting used to the new bike.  Got the bluetooth speed sensor and HR monitor up and running, which have really made me more conscious about the fitness aspect of it (especially w/r/t improving resting heart rate and cardio/fat burn rates).  We're also doing a scout campout next month focused on mountain biking, which should be really interesting (already got them going on the maintenance and safety aspects of the merit badge).

    Did 6.5 this morning at Big Cedar - great to ride at sunrise, and had the place pretty much to myself.  Still kicked my butt.

     

    bigcedar.jpg

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  6. 5 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

    I mean, are all Orgs equal to you? Because to me, they're not. One is a non profit where extra money can always be funneled to those in need. 
     

    I get really tired of the whole "nonprofit employees shouldn't make any money no matter how large they are" narrative.  RC is huge, and is competing for the same strong executive leaders that other nonprofits AND for-profits are trying to lure.  Big nonprofits need to pay competitive salaries, from the C-level on down.  And the RC's Charity Navigator report shows they do a great job of using $ for program.  

    Anyway, that's my only post on this, but I hear that a lot about nonprofits and it drives me nuts.  Back to Ida...

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  7. Happy to discover this thread after it got bumped.  I played jazz trombone for years through HS and college, and though I haven't played in years, my love for the form has stayed with me.

    I haven't seen Brad Mehldau mentioned - I love his trio work.

    The work he did in late 90s with Larry Grenadier and Jorge Rossy (who also play on Radiohead cover above) is his best, IMHO.  Full set:

     

    Also a huge fan of Kenton (who I know has been covered here) - but this is among my favorite charts/recordings of all time, featuring a sublimely great trombone solo by Carl Fontana:

     

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  8. 2 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

    I've been staying off Surly for obvious non-MTB related reasons, but figured I'd check in on this thread with a funny story.

    A couple weeks ago I went riding up in the Twin Cities with my brother and a buddy, and we had a great day hitting 3 different parks and logging about 15-16 miles.  My brother was dinking around with my bike and thought the rear hub seemed loose, so we tightened it up and no biggie.

    A week ago Friday, I'm riding at the normal spot in Decorah and had just finished a long climb out of the river bottoms up to the top of a large bluff where most of the XC style trails are, and was really feeling strong.  I decide to try a familiar trail in a different direction for a new challenge, and within 30' I hear a horrific noise, come to an abrupt stop, and go flying over my handle bars.

    Somehow, my rear hub had worked itself fully loose, separated from the bike, and took the derailleur and chain flying into the wheel, destroying several spokes in the process.  The slot where the hub mounted to the body had become warped/bent in and that was allowing the hub to work itself loose pretty quickly.

    Of course I was about 3.5 miles away from my car when this happened, so I had a pleasant rage hike back.

    Thankfully my local shop was able to source a new hub, wheel, and derailleur and I was back at it yesterday.

    What a freak thing - glad you weren't seriously hurt.  That's one of those "I can laugh about it now" stories that could have easily gone the other way.

  9. 3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Kind of a funny addendum to my derailleur saga.  Saturday, I rode Rowlett Creek.  On loop 10, there are some pretty steep up/downs, where the climb is really steeper than the descent, so gear management can become important; that is, the descent is not steep enough to generate sufficient momentum to get up the next climb, you're gonna have to pedal, and hopefully in a low enough gear.

    So, I have thought that the 11-10 shift was non-critical because generally being in too low a gear is not a problem.

    I did these two climb/drops on 10, negotiating them successfully, if barely so on the second.  I think on the downside of the second climb, I upshifted to be ready to pedal when I ran out of descent, maybe I didn't or maybe I didn't pedal enough to make the shift, or maybe that sluggish 11-10 upshift got me.

    In any event, I rode out the descent, which leads to some off-camber, exposed stuff and reached the point where I needed to pedal. And the gear was so low that my pedaling effort sent me offline and I almost shot off the trail and down the side of the hill, which would have been kind of unpleasant, but it wasn't too brushy and didn't lead into a creek.  Needless to say I had to stop before flying off.  I think that's the first time I ever hosed myself by being in too low a gear.

    And, I'm still futzing with the barrel adjuster to find the sweet spot and hopefully make that 11-10 shift smoother and faster.  Well, I must have fuct something up because I was tooling along and started getting this deep rumble, not the usual bad-index clicking.  I tried shifting out of it, but for whatever reason it wouldn't stop.  I actually thought the bottom bracket had failed.  But I got off the trail, inverted the bike, took the chain off and determined it wasnt the BB.  When I put it all back together, whatever it was was gone, never to recur.

    That's bizarre.

    On 9/10, did you do the little Glenn's Way extension shortly before you go back under the bridge to 1A?  That one nearly caused me to go OTB last time I rode there - there's a sharp right turn right near the end that goes right into a climb up with a bunch of roots.  Caught me totally by surprise, and left me humbled after navigating the climbs before that OK. 

  10. On 5/12/2021 at 2:11 PM, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

    When I bought the operations they were a Trane Premier Dealer.  I did not want to rock the boat in transition so I did not seek alternatives.  However, we sell a lot of variable speed higher end units and there are really only 2 players there being Trane and Lennox.  Trane is universally recognized by most patrons and is a good product.  Aside from their plant in Tyler shutting down due to the roof collapsing during Snowpocalypse and killing 18 and 20 SEER unit supplies, they have been pretty good to work with.  

    Older Nexia stats have been an issue but those were installed in 2018 and 2019.  Most have phased out.  

    We have sold some Lennox when a customer insisted on it, but almost exclusively Trane on the Resi side.  

    Only real bone I have to pick is the labor reimbursement they give us on warranty work.  The rates are fine, but the time allotted sucks.  

    Also want to say this is a really interesting thread - thanks for sharing your experiences.

    A question about the above: We had to replace our interior unit last year - it was a Carrier that was only 8 years old but the blower died. The HVAC guys we use (who are honest and have been great to work with) told me that I could get a Payne unit for a lower cost, and that it’s essentially the same product (since it’s part of Carrier corporate family) so it would fit our setup with fewer modifications - they just have fewer bells and whistles than the higher-end Carrier units.  He mentioned that the Paynes he had were the older non-variable speed types so there was less that could break down.  Since you mentioned variable speed above: Is there better profit margin in selling those, and are they indeed more problematic? I’m curious as to the benefits of them. Thanks. 

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  11. 17 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Congrats, man.

    One of the first upgrades you may wish to look into is an air fork.

    Suntour has had an upgrade program that lets you get into an air fork pretty cheap.  https://www.srsuntour.us/pages/upgrade-program

    And their air forks are getting pretty rave reviews these days.

    One thing, it looks like it may have a straight steerer, which will limit your upgrade opportunities there, especially for "used" take-off forks and whatnot.

    The upgrade program should be able to find you a straight steerer fork with good air spring and dampers, and the Manitou Markhor is a soild entry level air fork that comes in straight steerer with 9mm dropouts.

     

    Thanks - that's all good info. I'm probably going to hold off on any upgrades for now (other than the RaceFace Chesters that are being delivered today) and just enjoy it as is, but fork is likely the very first thing I'll upgrade.  It is indeed a straight steerer, which is weird given that it's a 2021 model, but Marin has always been a little idiosyncratic that way.  It looks like Suntour has a couple straight options, and that Manitou looks good too; the RockShox Judy Silver TK Solo Air is compatible as well.

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  12. Well, you can disregard my request for advice above because today turned into New Bike Day for me.  Got a great deal on this Marin 29er, and it meets all my criteria for being incrementally upgradeable.  It's got a decent Shimano 2x9, which I'll likely eventually replace with an SRAM 1x12 once budget allows, and already has dropper post routing if I want to add that later.  But for now, I'm excited to ride it - and finally be the owner of a more current bike.

     

    marin.jpg

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  13. 15 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    Bike connection has a lot in the 500-600 dollar range. They’re all in that price point for a reason, just a matter of picking one I guess. 

    On a related note, the 29er I've been borrowing the past few weeks has been great, and I'm ready to take the plunge to buy my own - but the above (500-600) is my price range for now.

    Locally, there's a guy selling a L 29" Specialized Rockhopper Sport, and another guy selling a L 29" Giant Talon 3, both for the same price.  I realize they're  considered entry-level, but they both meet a minimum standard of quality I expect.  The Giant seems to get slightly better reviews, and it's an 8x2 drivetrain (which I prefer over the 3 up front with the Specialized).  Some bike forum folks also say the Giant is more upgradeable.

    Your thoughts?

  14. Lockwood Distillery in Richardson just announced they're opening a FW location at Magnolia and Fairmount.  We're big fans of the original location - the owners are great people, delicious food, pretty solid gin/whiskey - so I hope their expansion west goes well for them.

  15. Did ~30 more miles on the 29er this weekend - at Erwin, Katie Jackson, RCP and Horseshoe - and feeling more and more used to it. 

    I decided to try out Strava to start officially tracking my rides, and for the most part the functionality is exactly what I'm looking for.  However, the mileages across the board are lower than both my bike computer and the official distances listed on Trailforks.  For example, the total loop at Erwin is just over 9mi, but the Strava app said it was 8; combined loops at Horseshoe total 5mi, but Strava said 3.8.  

    Dug online a bit and it looks like iOS is notorious for GPS shorting distances for tracking apps like this, and they recommend using a Bluetooth cadence tracker and pairing it via the Wahoo Fitness app.  Anyone have experience with this?  Any advice?

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  16. 3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    That's fair.  I crave variety.  And remain kind of intimidated by Big Cedar and Northshore.  So I will venture a ways to trails that I know I can handle with ease.

    Totally understood.  I'm not a big fan of Northshore either - crowded and difficult.  

  17. 8 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    I have not ridden Wolverine, which is short, but blue.  Can't figure out what makes it blue.  The main loop, Ranger, is one kind of big slow climb and fairly extended descendy on the backside.  Has some jump kickers and other features that I bypassed today. Coyote is a bit of a beating with several climbs and short descents. Anyway, I considered it almost a new trail having not ridden it in so long, and wasn't up for any real surprises.  Considering how "ginger" I was about riding it, I was surprised at my speed.  Chalk it up to the descendy parts.

    I rode Frisco once, and while OK, it wasn't worth the loooong drive up northwest when I can drive the same distance to the superior Horseshoe or Erwin (or a tiny bit further to Boulder or Big Cedar).

    Did nearly 11mi at RCP tonight - rode loop 1 to the temp bypass, then 8-12, then back down to 2-5 on the south side (I'd heard 6 was totally overgrown so I skipped it).  After my rough first outing on the 29er at Northshore, this was a totally different experience - it gave me plenty of time to get used to the different feel.  The last few miles were glorious.  Jury is still out on whether the XL frame is the best fit for me (I need to try an L) but now I get the hype about the bigger wheels and modern geometry.  

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  18. 13 hours ago, tomahawk dunk said:

    What backpacks and tents do y'all like for backpacking? I'm going to get rid of my old Osprey Atmos and REI half dome tent. Have looked some at Gossamer Gear Mariposa 60 and the Two tent. Both look like solid options. Just wanted to hear some other thoughts. Thanks.

    My Philmont pack was a 70L Gregory Reality, and it performed well.  There is a hole in the bottom of the brain that slowly got bigger over the course of our trek, and I'm waiting to see if Gregory will cover repair (it's an older pack and all their models have changed, so we'll see).  The folks in our crew with newer Gregory packs were very pleased with them as well. 

    For tent, I used an Alps Lynx 1 for Philmont (and a dozen camping nights before that) and have been very happy with it.  Durable, fully enclosed with mosquito net-type material so I've never had any issues with bugs, and light (4lb total, and you can get it down further if you go with ultralight stakes).  Felt roomy given its size, and didn't leak at all in a couple heavy downpours (one with small hail).  Only issue I had was a broken zipper on the rain fly, and they are shipping a free replacement with no hassle.

    ALPS Mountaineering Lynx 1-Person Tent Review

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