0 points (view top contributors)
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
…and really worthwhile and excellent question by the way.
My humble opinion and it is what I did last year with no regrets, I went aluminum frame with higher end components on my trail bike Orbea Oiz H10. The main decision was the fork and shock on the aluminum were so much above and beyond the comparable priced carbon. Unlike a drivetrain which wears out, the fork and shock are staying.
I’m an experienced rider and could have afforded the Carbon with equal components as the aluminum if I wanted, but I also knew regardless of which bike I got I would buy an upgraded wheelset and that would have made the carbon bike waaay more than I wanted to spend. I still keep up and have just as much fun as my friends on high end carbon.
Hey Jason I will give you a text soon after I get my new bike and see if we can meet at Jackrabbit and ride. I was major bummed about my bike. To my surprise homeowners covered most of it. I changed my mind again and my bike mechanic just ordered me a carbon NORCO Revolver Frame and we are going to build that up. I’ll text you when I head out to Jackrabbit. Matt
My 29’er die hard bike shop owner friend hopped on one of his 27.5 rentals and has a fully decked out top of the line 27.5 on order and is selling his 29’er. He is about 5’11 so it is all about choice. He just thinks they are more fun probably due to the fact that he can maneuver easier on the tight singletrack. Rent both sizeds out and see what you like. I still don’t care for the 29’ers on singletrack however, I can see the appeal of how easy they roll. My NORCO Threshold cross bike is essentially 29 inch wheels and even with the rigid fork that thing rolls over bumpy terrain. On the mountain bike I still have my 26" hardtail and love it. I still don’t feel enough of a difference in justifying spending money simply to get 27.5" wheels when they feel essentially the same but next purchase will be 27.5 for sure when the time comes.
Well this is all on my Kona Mountain Bike Hardtail. The only goal I missed was the Cohutta 100 because my twin daughter’s first prom fell on that date. I think I will smash my 3,000 mile goal no problem.
2,548 miles
254,852 feet of climbing
123 rides
Averaging 97 miles a week
Just did a 90 mile gravel grinder yesterday. I took it a bit slower cause I did not know the course and did not want to bonk out I was not really planning on doing it.http://www.strava.com/activities/188144160
The exciting news is I am ordering my cross bike next week. As much as I love singletrack I find myself doing more gravel and road due to time constraints to get to the singletrack. I also love the ultra-endurance and well here is my new bike. Hopefully NORCO can ship it before their Oct 15, 2014 projection. Other than the wheels being on the heavy side it all looks sweet. I would upgrade any wheelset in this price range anyway. Maybe a Christmas present for me? I need to log back onto the singletracks website more often i have gotten lazy and have just been FB’ing. The website is much better.
http://www.norco.com/bikes/road/cyclocr … shold-105/Ya this sounds fishy. Simply does not make any sense.
I can not wait to hit this trail system. Hopefully within the month!
Once again spot on Json. If someone wants to drop $10,000 on a bike, great and I would love to take a ride with them. If someone wants to drop $600 on a bike, great and I would love to take a ride with them. You are so right that entry level persons are going to get their info from forums and LBS. My first bike was a Gary Fisher Tassajera 10 years ago and was a $600 bike and I had so much fun on it. Entry level bikes today are lighter and more advanced than that bike but does it mean I had less fun on it? No, of course not. I was just speaking to someone a few weeks ago that did not have much money but wanted to get into the sport but did not think he could afford a "quality bike." He thought he had to spend like $2000 and I hate it when that happens because that mentality keeps people from riding.
Regarding bike reviews, I personally like to see bike reviews with an SLX or X7 components than XTR. I understand why the companies test out the higher end bikes and give them the publicity. I just fail to be impressed by them. I’ll stick with the middle of the road and below…like my intelligence! 😕
Oh Scwimm "No KOM’s." Well that won’t stop me from letting you know we are having a group ride at Jackrabbit at 1030 hours on Sunday Feb 23rd. It would be great to ride with you again. We will probably have about 8 of us out there feel free to bring a friend. It will be a fun mellow ride with some great people. If anything happens and it is cancelled due to weather or otherwise I’ll let you know.
No need for me to write a long response all points have been hit. I think the bottom line is let people do what the want. I use Strava on every ride. The only time I really analyze anything is on my rides where there is a specific training purpose in mind and generally on those rides I have on my HRM. I will also anaylize my soon to be long rides for training purposes. Otherwise I will upload it and forget about it and let it total up my numbers.
AJ711 and Lucinda,
Thanks for the advice. AJ711 (I feel like we are talking in code) I happen to live at the top of a gravel drive that is .6 miles uphill so i did what you suggested. MAX was 176 top no way it was going higher. Absolutely no way. All out out sprint five times as you suggested. I took a ride after that and only got it to 174 on an all out effort up a one mile hill that was not so gentle. I think on the next nice day I will try it again just to double check. Thanks for the advice.
AJ711,
Thanks for the info I will try it tomorrow when I get back on my bike after 9 days vacation! I went back and looked at my fitness book the two 20 minute runs and one hour test were for threshold heart rate. In those rides I really did some insane sprints till I felt like my heart was going to pop out but I will try the equation you suggested."stumpyfsr" wroteGreat goal, MTI, to stay healthy and keep pedaling instead of collecting medical bills.
Absolutely! Now that my kids are older and since I am self-employed I definitely plan on continuing to keep my heart in shape. My health is everything to me. I should have added better nutrition as a goal as well. Also like Revans below, I was a little to ambitious this year. I only had about 800 miles in 2012 and most of them were in the first half of the year so I went into 2013 way to hard. Not so this year I have a great base.
However, unlike revans I took technical rides with caution. If I get hurt I can’t work or play and that is no fun. One thing is for sure I never do anything just to prove something to anyone. I have been wanted to do certain things for years but circumstances always prevented me from achieving them. Hopefully the time is right this year.
Hey thanks Lucinda I appreciate the info. I did not know max HR decreased with age. I knew 10 years ago it was 174 and at the old age of 42 (ARRGGHHH) it makes sense that it is about 167. I will also just try to do a run and see if that can increase it but I don’t think it will I really went all out on some parts of that ride. Thanks again. By the way that is a nice bike you posted the other day!
My goals this year.
1. Cohutta 100 regardless of the weather.
2. A second ultra-endurance race most likely Fools Gold 100.
3. A couple of 6 hours races strategically placed after the 100 mile races.
4. I will not nail down number of miles and elevation change but just will beat this years 2,011miles /220,000 elevation gain.
5. Continue to work on my technical skills on which I really improved this year.
6. Buy a full suspension bike. Probably won’t happen still working on my twin girls college funds and they just turned 17 ARGHHHH…but I can dream! Where does the time go!
7. Hit as many IMBA Epic Trails as possible East of the Mississppi.
8. RIDE WITHOUT MY HEARING AIDS! My balance sucks with them and really sucks to the max without them. I can’t wear them in inclement weather and I think it is time to just ride consistently without them. It does suck on group rides however when someone wants to chat with me.
9. And the most important just continue to have fun because that is what it is all about!Also I would just like to say…as most of you already know, Singletracks really is the best site. Every now and then I will look on others for the heck of it and there is just so much noise and crappy attitutes there is just no comparison. Great job Singletrack team! 😃
Hey Gregg Merry Christmas to you as well. Me and the family are going to NY to visit my parents the day after Christmas. When I get back full bore training for the Cohutta on a training program this time. I’ll be ready for rain, snow, sun or ice this year. When you go back to CO please bring the cold back with you I hate the trainer. 😃
It is important to know that everyone of us thinks differently in stressful situations. We live in a society of convenience and heck if we need help we can just look it up on our smartphone or ask someone. When a stressful stituation does come up like getting lost in the woods that stress can lead to panic and the mind does really weird things. Good decision making goes downhill fast. Acutally I remember reading about this in an outdoor magazine. Really those riders did the right thing stopping a making a fire and staying in one place.
I think I will carry a lighter with me in the event I get lost on some of my excusions. I’ll be honest last year about this time I was on a familiar fire road and took a turn on a much older road that was reduced to singletrack and eventually got a bit turned around. It started snowing, getting dark and I did not have a light Had I not had a general sense of where I was I could have been in trouble. That is when I decided on getting the Garmin 800. Yes be careful it is easy to panic out there.
I put on…well LBS owner Andy put on Raceface Next Carbon 725mm riser Bars. I took a 27 mile ride at Tsali and I never would have thought there could be that much of a difference. No vibration. It just happened to be a day where I was doing lots of pump practice on the trail as well which is usually rather rough on my my arms. If you don’t have carbon bars go get carbon bars!
Hey Jeff here are the bikes I was griping about. In all fairness I guess this was posted before you clarified what a mountain bike is. I think I will get the pink one as a back up 😃 You have to scroll down to the Huffy’s. Can’t miss that pink.
