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I lived in Tucson for 3 years and it goes without saying you don’t ride as hard at high temps as you do in normal weather. But riding in heat is totally doable. Your attitude has to be to ride mellow… for fun. Not pushing the limits, lots of breaks and pay attention to your body (if you notice you aren’t sweating you have screwed something up and you need to immediately complete your activity.) It is nearly impossible to recover on your own (during a physical activity) if you mistakenly push yourself past safe. You’ll have to seek rest, cooling, hydration and seriously consider medical attention. Have a safe "plan b" in your back pocket. Wife who can get to your location with a car or buddy’s riding with you or whatever. Just have a backup plan.
I had to work out in the desert on foot quite a bit too. So the same goes for hiking. We were normally carrying a lot of gear and participating in rescues of distressed individuals. You build up to it. Your body will definitely acclimate as the summer goes on. You start working in distance/time/exertion gradually.
That is my 2 cents.
@ CCR: Anyone volunteering to swing a saw in this heat has earned the right to be in a bad mood! 😆
Just a quick update.
My Stan’s showed up this week and I mounted them up. They are about two 10ths of a pound lighter than my old Mavics. I rode them today, frikkin 103 degrees and about 1billion percent humidity 😀 , and they were great. I didn’t really notice any difference from the old cheapie Mavics I was running. So I don’t know if the price is worth it for a person like me. Admittedly I am an all mountain weekend rider who enters local xcountry races just for the excitement of the start. Plus it does wonders for my humility when 13 year old children pass me like I’m pedaling a moped. I’m not competitive. But even if I was running carbon wheels and a 5 lb lighter bike I suspect I would be in the same boat. According to the digital bathroom scale my full squish rig comes in at 29.7 pounds. It was 29.9 previously. I could probably shave a bit more off if I cared to. I tend to over use the stan’s goo. And I am still running my seat dropper that I purchased when I lived in MT. I don’t really need it here, but I have developed a love for that particular crutch!
@hnetsrick: I agree with your assessment. I probably really don’t have to worry too much about all but the lightest weight rims. I think the Arch’s would have been fine. I do get to ride extended technical downhill in the Central and the West parts of the State. But we definitely ride up what we ride down so it isn’t chair lift riding. Sometimes you just break a wheel. That happened to me with my last set. I don’t think it was the wheel as much as careless (tired) riding, but they also were a solid three years old. That being said I just didn’t want to drop $800 and then worry that I was going to have to replace a hoop in the next few months. I guess I am buying piece of mind with the weight. Or at least that is what I am telling myself! It is rooty and rocky here in VA. More so than WA. AZ. or MT. which were the last three states I lived in.
Summary. I probably went a bit too heavy on the build. But they rode well and I didn’t notice any appreciable riding difference from my old Mavics. The scale SAYS they are lighter but I didn’t notice it. I have heard the HOPE hubs will take a few rides to "break in" and loosen up. I didn’t notice any drag riding them. If they get any better that is icing on the cake. The Stans are Tubeless compatible out of the box so it was a snap mounting the rubber. I run a fat tire up front and a 2.1 on the rear and both mounted without a hassle. Transferring the hardware between old and new wheel sets was a cinch.
I’ll try to remember to post another update toward the end of the season.
True, but in a lot of places the local trail maintainers have been walking trails and completing maintenance. It may take a while until EVERYTHING is back at 100% but most of the commonly ridden areas are back to rideable. Now the HEAT… that is a different story. I used to ride regularly in Tucson after work in the summer around 17:00. But that wasn’t near as bad as this stuff here. Hot and humid. It’s horrible. I don’t know why I let my wife talk me into moving back to the East. No offense intended. 😮
Dumb question but have you set your suspension up properly? Rumblefish is dual suspension correct? Make sure the rebound on the rear isn’t set faster than the fork. Maybe play with the adjustments a little bit at a time. Just a thought. When I first got a long travel trail bike a buddy educated me on setting up the suspension (I had the sag right but that was about it). It made a big difference. I was rebounding way too fast on the rear and I always felt like I was going to go over the bars on a rhythm section we used to ride.
If you do work on it yourself I highly recommend making small adjustments to one setting at a time. Don’t mix changes to both.
Hi, I am making a quick response and I haven’t read everyone else’s response yet. So you may already have heard this.
I broke my left wrist when I was 26. The most important thing to me was physical therapy after the cast came off. Range of motion after my broken wrist was terrible also how much my muscles had atrophied. To this day my left hand has never recovered all the strength of my right.
If you cannot work with a physical therapist "officially" I think you need to apply the concepts to a daily workout routine. Range of motion was the most important thing for me to get back first. Starting to gently roll my wrist full extension down then full extension up. After a while they added resistance to the stretching. Then after a while more it was some light weight training and so on and so forth. I was back to riding a commuter bike quickly but I could not have ridden downhill or even light xc without feeling like I might be reinjuing the break.
Take it easy, see if your insurance allows physical therapy, if not find someone (an expert hopefully) who can direct you on a daily routine to restore flexibility and eventually muscle strength and if your break was like mine expect it to "hurt" for quite a while. The effects of the break were long standing for me, but not a problem to quality of life. It was just something that had to be dealt with and overcome. I would guess that after taking the cast off and finishing a good course of physical therapy it was 3 months until I was comfortable taking impacts and jolts with the previously broken wrist. But every break is different and everyone’s recovery is different.
Best of luck and I hope you are back to 100% early and painlessly.
I pulled the trigger on a set of custom built Stans Flow EX with Hope hubs. Not as light as I had hoped to be but at @ $600.00 it isn’t horrible. I struggled with the durability of a lighter set and the (hopeful) longevity of the one I ordered. If I wasn’t 200lbs I would have been a little more willing to risk a lighter set. I am interested if there is any real difference to the ride. Stiffness should be increased. Better hub and a few grams lighter. I’ll post back with the results. I’m sort of wondering if it wasn’t better just to order those cheap Mavic Crossrides for $200.00 since they seem to last me 3 years at a pop. Oh well, gotta try different things to see what you are missing.
I am looking at these right now;
Stans ZTR Archs, Mavic Crosstrails, American Classic All Mountain. I looked at the crossmax st also. I can go up to the $800 ish range if it is worth it, but unfortunately my lawnmower broke a wheel this weekend too. So, it looks like the combo of the new wheels and the new mower is going to take me up to $800.00. When it rains it pours.
Growing up through the years. 4 States 11 years. I haven’t gotten any pics of my daughter on her bike since she went away to college. But we did get a short video last winter.
[url:3fzpic6x]https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3060528472008.2122688.1227300259&type=1[/url:3fzpic6x]
😎
04 Fisher Cake Full Susp and a 2009 Felt solo 29er hard tail. Both used bikes. Only way I could afford two.
Right on! Welcome. Just what the first guy said. The level of bike isn’t important right now. As long as it is running properly and it’s safe you should just enjoy the ride. I am lucky enough to have a 26 and a 29. The short story is that there isn’t really THAT much of a difference. It’s there, but it’s not a life changer in my opinion. When the time comes make the best decision that will allow you to get out on the trail the most without fretting over the credit card bill any longer than you have to 😛 Look for demo’s on your local bike shop’s (LBS)/manufacturer’s web sites with in your driving range and ride everything you can get your hands on whenever there is a demo.
When riding at higher altitudes, never ride up. Only DH. 😄
Nah, I tried it. They use a web site called gravatar.com for the avatars. I tried to embed it in the post but that doesn’t seem to work either. Someone smarter may be able to figure out how to make it work on the site.
[url:3vd64yie]http://s1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd414/Tom_Mabrey/[/url:3vd64yie]
😆
Oh boy, this is going to go long. I pondered this question for a bit and I couldn’t control my answer.
I remember my folks buying me a "dirt" bicycle in ’76 or so. My buddy Billy and I used to try to ride off road all of the time. The dirt trail to the pool, the trail next to the rail road tracks, the home made jumps made out of cardboard and ironing boards, it was mostly carnage. Those bikes were so tough for kids to ride anywhere off of the hard pack. You ended up walking uphill a lot or popping tires. It was fun but a downer. It always stuck in my head though. I remember the day I moved away from town and I went to Billy’s house to say goodbye. His mom had just had their 7th kid (who was actually on her hip at the moment as an infant) when another buddy of ours came in and exclaimed "Billy’s dead!". Bill’s Mom in her classic 7 kids fashion just sighed and said that was too bad and Billy’s body would have to wait for his Dad to get home from work to be retrieved. She asked what happened and the kid said Bill had ridden down the uber scary "pool hill trail" and caught the guide wire off of a telephone pole on the run out. That was our idea of fun. Hike up a big dirt hill trail and bomb down and hope to god you didn’t need to use the coaster brake. My Dad and I found Bill wandering around a bit later at the bottom of the hill, covered in dirt and pebbles, red bruise across the chest/neck/cheek from the guide wire, woozy, alive, and wishing I was going to be around tomorrow to go with him and try it again. I didn’t really ride off road again for 20 years because we moved to… Florida. But the dirt bug never "un-bit" me and I had Billy and my folks to thank for that.
Jump ahead 24 years and my wife and I moved to WA in 2000. We lived in an idyllic spot. I am a big windsurfing fan and while I recreated out on the Columbia river when it was windy I needed a no wind pass time. It was time to finally complete that childhood dream. In ’01 I think, I bought a Fisher Sugar II from the LBS that was a demo from the previous year. I was in business. I rode that thing all over the fire roads and the available trails in the area. But even in 2000 the availability of trails was sort of skosh. Not to mention the availability of on line resources was nothing like it is today. I wish there was a singletracks.com (maybe there was and I couldn’t find it) back then. Most of the trails I found were frustratingly difficult for a beginner or frustratingly boring. There didn’t seem to be much out there for a intermediate rider. And all of my friends sailed. No one else rode. I really appreciate that my wife was patient enough with me to let me buy a bike when we probably should have been saving for the kid’s college to the tune of an extra $1400.00.
I lost my job in 2003 and had to move to AZ to start a new one. I HATED AZ. No offense to AZ’ians. The desert just isn’t me. Dry unending brown landscape just doesn’t do it. BUT… the mountain biking was frikkin awesome. Terry and Hank from work got me hooked on racing as a reason to ride more. I totally suck at it, still. But it was the first time I ever rode with more than one other person and more than once or twice a week. And I enjoyed the camaraderie among the "normal" riders at races all over AZ. Trail work, camping and bs’ing the night before and riding the next day was a hoot. I started bringing my kids along too. What a blast. Plus there is a group of weekend warriors from my career field that get together every two years for a bunch of Olympic style events (MTB is one). It’s a great excuse to stay in riding shape and a great excuse to travel to places I wouldn’t otherwise go. We were at Whistler 2 years ago. We will be racing in New Jersey this summer, Ireland in 2 years. It’s a good way to network and make some career contacts. I really appreciated Terry and Hank getting me started in the (relaxed) racing side of the sport.
I took a volunteer move with work to Montana in ’06. Now THAT was nice. A bunch of my co-workers there rode. There was always someone going out. There weren’t many organized community MTB community events like AZ or races, but there was never a reason to ride alone unless you wanted to. Those guys taught me a lot about technical riding and epic rides. Good dudes and great riding during the summer months. Plus my oldest started riding with me. Gingerly at first. But I got her hooked on a local intermediate trail and she started asking to go. That really got me stoked.
Last year the wife said it was time to move again. The oldest has started college on the East coast and Momma didn’t want to be a plane ride away. She wanted to be in driving distance. So we moved to Virginia with work. I’m getting to know some of the locals. But no one at work rides. I’m trying to tempt them. We’ll see if I can be anyone else’s inspiration in a few years like Terry and Hank were to me. My youngest, a 15 year old isn’t that excited about biking, he rides a couple times a month with me, but even at that he has the aerobic conditioning from lacrosse and swimming to put his old man to shame in the hills when I ride my SS against his FS. But I still crush him FS to FS in the climbs and the downhill if he starts talking smack. 😎
I know its a long story. But there are so many people from Mom and Dad back in the day, to my wife, to co-workers, the web site that provides a vector to trails I wouldn’t find on my own, to my kids who make me work at making riding easy and fun when what I really want to do is the bataan death ride on some 26 mile lung destroying trail. If it wasn’t for all of them I don’t think I would be riding.
Cheers
TomThanks. It was a fortunate crash in that I didn’t get hurt or taco the front wheel. And the photog was there at just the right moment and captured the entire sequence. It’s a funny keep sake to have.
Yep. Have a Single Speed hard tail 29er that I bought for non climbing trails and riding with the kids so they can pull me around the trail instead of me having to wait for them. Ride my Full Suspension 26er on all the technical stuff and the climbing stuff. It’s a really great combo. I always feel stronger on the 26er after riding the single speed. Probably mental, but whatever. It [i:209ahds8]is[/i:209ahds8] weird changing from one to the other. But really it’s a non-issue, takes like a couple of minutes to get past. If you can make it work with the budget it’s worth it. The 29er is pretty cool, I am happy I got it even if the wife isn’t so thrilled. 😈
Sorry for the Hi-Jack.
Yeah, I was REALLY lucky that day. Arizona, been misting rain for a week and the trail was soft (for AZ). I wouldn’t have been riding but it was a race (I’m not competitive I just race for fun). The photog got the whole sequence. I wouldn’t have figured it was that bad until I saw the pics. I’ve been hurt worse just falling off the bike trying to dismount!
Take Care
For a normal 2 hr ride I’m a big fan of homemade smoothies an hour or so prior. I usually microwave a cup or more of quaker oatmeal. Two tablespoons of natural Peanut Butter. A couple cups of milk and blend together with a cup or two of frozen berries. I might add ice if the mixture is too wet or I’ll add water/milk if it’s too thick. I refrigerate what I don’t drink. I don’t know what serving size I actually have but whatever is left over I normally re blend after I get back and add a tbsp of whey powder to it for an after ride snack. I also make sure I drink plenty of water before, and during the ride.
As an alternative I also like eggs and toast an hour or so before a ride if I don’t feel like a smoothie. Add lots of Cholula. And drink a lot of water. 😎
