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I began mountain biking in 1996 as a way to loose weight. A good friend of mine was a rider, competing some in roadie races. He taught me tons and over a few months that first summer I lost almost 70 pounds and fell head over heels in love with the sport. I began on a $180 heavy P.O.S. with zero suspension that I managed to put 1400 miles on and nearly killed myself more than once. I graduated to a Nishiki Coloroda that took me MANY great places and yes caused a FEW more cuts and brusies. From that I went to a Trek that I wish I had never even considered. FINALLY in February I bought an XL Scott Scale 50 and I LOVE IT!!! I began riding in TN then moved to eastern Washington state. I’ve ridden in TN, GA, VA, WA, ID, ME, NH and MO. I love great cross country singletrack but I’ll ride anywhere my handlebars will fit between.
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Welcome aboard ComingSoonto St George. Nice resume of states you have ridden in. So far its just been VA for me (except for 1 quick ride in OR). Plan on adding WV in soon if ODN can keep me from getting sucked up in one of those Slatyfork mountain top quagmires.
How did you get the opportunity to ride in so many places – move a lot, or just travel a lot? I’m jealous. CCR
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Thanks for the welcome CCR, it’s very nice to be here. My wife and I do travel a lot and I like to take my bike with me wherever I go. I just added MO over Memorial Day Weekend because my son is going to college there and we went to visit. Stormed a lot so I didn’t get to ride much but I did a short "greenbelt" section and then started an off road trail but my front tire got flattened by a snakebite. NOT the pinch called snakebite, a REAL snakebite. Then it stormed again. I lived in WA state from ;98 – ’05 and rode all the time out there. That added Idaho as well. And I forgot to mention British Columbia. My wife and I took our 25th anniversary trip to New England in Oct and added ME and NH to the list. We rode some of the "Carriage Trails" in Acadia Nat’l Park. The rest of the rides have been done on day or weekend trips from TN.
So I see you’ve ridden around Roanoke, is that where you live? My wife and I have ridden part of the greenbelt there and want to come back up soon and do it again. We love that area. The International Market downtown is great. -
Yea I work in Roanoke and do a lot of riding here. Just bought a duplex on the Roanoke River Greenway which allows me quick access to the Mill Mountain Trail system. Post work stress release riding. I actually live 40 miles north of Roanoke close to Douthat State Park and tons of backcountry riding – old CCC era trails that will make you appreciate the buffed out trails you end up riding most of the time. Still love the back country riding though.
Snakebit tires – now thats a new one. Visit Roanoke again, PM me and will be glad to give you a MTB tour.
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Back country riding is my favorite though I don’t get to do it as often as I would like. My wife enjoys trails such as The VA Creeper Trail, New River Trail, etc. And she doesn’t mind if it is a LITTLE more technical than that. She does ride clipless and is a good rider, but she doesn’t enjoy the beatings I tend to put myself through nor has she developed the skills for it. I will definitely take you up on a tour. I’ll contact you well in advance so we can coordinate something. Thanks for the offer.
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I live in MO and love TN! Where did you ride in MO. We are an underated state for mountain bike trails.
I am headed to Ocee in TN next week with my wife for white water rafting. We also plan on mountain biking. What trails do you recommend and how do you rate them. My wife does not bike often, so I am hoping for easy XC for her.
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[color=green:f7txer5v]Good morning. My son is going to college in Springfield and we were there to visit him. I’m afraid the only off-road I got to try was the Sac River Trail system just north of I44 on MO13. As seems to be typical of Springfield there was a big storm coming so I only had a few minutes, but what I saw makes me want to go back. I also did a short section of an urban trail on which you have to ride through a viaduct under 5 lanes of traffic in about a foot of water. That was different.
I’m afraid I haven’t ridden near the Ocoee. I have rafted and canoed there but never ridden. This site has some info about rides in the area. I’m up in extreme northeast TN in the Johnson City/Kingsport area.
Enjoy. It looks like you’re going to have nice weather for the trip. It is supposed to cool down some and less rain, at least early in the week.[/color:f7txer5v] -
ComingSoonToStGeorge. Your wife and my girlfriend should ride together. Shes a greenway & rails to trails lover. She will ride buff singletrack thats not too steep.
Cool stuff coming our way in the next couple weeks. A new 60+ mile trail system is being built outside of Douthat that should be pretty awesome. Backcountry type stuff funded by horse money. Lots of vertical. Can’t wait.
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CCR, sounds like you’re exactly right. What do you guys ride? What kind of bikes I mean. We rode about 15 miles on a greenbelt today. HOT but a good ride.
The new trail system sounds sweet! I have never been able to figure out where horse people get all their money!!! -
I ride a SC Blur LT. Girlfriend bought a Specialized last year, but I can’t remember the model – it was a woman specific model that was small enough for her (nice bike).
Yea those horse people – where do they find the money? Their power and influence is far beyond their numbers. Guess they have been doing it longer than we have and know the right purse strings to pull. Noticed none of them were there Saturday breaking the first ground for the new stretch of single track for "their" trail. Left it to us MTBers.
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Not at all familiar with SC so I Googled the Blur, NICE!!! My wife had ridden a men’s bike before, KONA, and liked it but the new Scale I got for her before our 25th anniversary trip is a women’s bike, the PERFECT size for her and the components to match her riding style. She loves it!
I used to be in the equipment business, horse people never seem to run out of money, but the fact that they did not show for trail building!! Been there seen that too.
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Curiousity got me on your bike too. I was not familiar with Scott. Read their home page, looks like innovation and light weight are their hallmarks. They started in Sun Valley with ski poles, but are home based in Europe now. You both ride hadtails?
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Evening CCR. I came across Scott back in about August when visiting different bike shops just to see what was out there since I hadn’t shopped in a couple years. We bought my wife’s Aspect 50 first because she needed one to go on our New England trip. She LOVES it. I blogged and blogged and blogged hers before we bought it. I could find no reason not to try Scott. I was reluctant, but the piece of equipment I was selling at the time was new to the US also, made and much more popular in Europe. Then when I got ready to buy my Scale 50 I blogged it at least 10 times as much as I did for hers. I found many blogs bragging on the frame and the ONLY negative I ever found was that the Tora 302 is not the best shock out there. But now that I’ve ridden it I’m quite pleased with the shock. The rest of the bike, I wouldn’t trade for anything I’ve ever sat on anywhere near the same price range. Yes they are both hardtails. I am still a big fan of hardtails. What does your wife ride, hardtail?
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My girlfriend has an old hardtail (no shocks on front either) she set up to ride on the local paved greenway. She has full suspension on her new Specialized that she trailrides with.
I rode up in WV at SlatyFork with OutDoorNut this past weekend. I bought a Specialized Hardrock hardtail from him to be my backup bike. Being mechanically challenged, I need a backup bike in case my Blur needs to go in the shop. Definitely a different ride on the hardtail, more nimble but harder on the tailbone region.
Ooh Slatyfork – now thats some techy stuff over there. Roots, rocks, moss, ferns, mud, mud, mud – did I mention the mud. Looks like Canada with all the spruce forests. Pretty awesome challenging ride for me – even if I did have to pull up the rear of the group.
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[color=green:25u05ho3]I’m in the process of building a bike to ride with my wife on greenbelts, etc. I hate to waste my Scott on those kinds of rides. I’m using my old Nishiki frame.
Mud huh?? It’s so dry here that probably won’t be a problem for a while. I haven’t ridden off road in weeks. I miss it but we’ve been WAY too busy lately.
Be careful on the techy stuff out there.[/color:25u05ho3]
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