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For me…
No man made features. No wooden bridges, skinnies, etc. Not even any man made berms.
…rather…
Maximum incorporation of natural features. If a curve is on the inside of a hill, that’s a natural berm right there. But mostly rocks. Lots of rocks. Big step ups and lots of huck downs. Rock gardens that require a variety of skills. Rocks especially on climbs so that the technical fun keeps my mind off the pain of climbing. And some seriously steep, butt-way-behind-the seat, you’re-gonna’-be -castrated-if-you-don’t-have-a-dropper-post steeps.
While I don’t currently own a fully rigid, I have loved riding rigid on a regular basis and my next purchase will likely be a rigid. The two reviews below will give you a hit of my love for rigid riding. And stay tuned for an upcoming review on a rigid fatty, the Fatback Corvus.
Some of the Pinhoti in AL passes through the Cheaha Wilderness, so as a minimum, that portion is off limits to bikes.
Oh, yeah, mountain town “gentrification” is real. It’s happened in almost every ski town in Colorado. Suddenly, a lifetime resident sees his property taxes rise to the point they’re higher than his mortgage! Then he can’t afford to live there anymore and ultimately the “real” people that built the paradise in the first place can’t afford to stay and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
With regard specifically to mountain biking, the effect is pretty diffuse most of the time now. It used to be just Moab, then add Fruita, then add Sedona, but then it’s also Downieville, Bend, Prescott, St George, and literally dozens of others, to the point that no one place is getting major change just from mountain biking. However, most of these places are about so much more than just mountain biking. Mountains are just plain fun for a whole lot of things: skiing, cycling, climbing, rafting, 4-wheeling, hunting, fishing, backpacking, etc. So even as the cyclists become more dispersed, they are joined by all manner of outdoor enthusiasts thus reamplifying the effect.
There are no easy answers and each community ends up with it’s own unique set of struggles. Some manage better than others.
If you’re basing this on “analytical thinking,” and coming to the conclusion that this removes discretion, then your analysis is faulty.
As it stands right now, local managers have no discretion whatsoever with regard to bikes in Wilderness. None. Zero. It is impossible to have less than zero, therefore this bill simply CAN NOT remove discretion as there is none to remove.
There are no assumptions being made here. One doesn’t need to assume that other authority remains because, as long as it isn’t explicitly removed, it still remains. That is not an assumption, but a logical statement of fact. Since the bill’s wording explicitly limits the change to just that one section of one Act, one need not assume anything about anything else. All else is unchanged and remains as it always was. The USFS produces and regularly updates travel plans for ALL the lands within its portfolio. During this process, they may regulate any and all users in the way they deem appropriate for ALL the lands covered within each travel plan. That process and that authority remains. Nothing there changes.
As to your regurgitation of the 3% figure, that is straight out of the bike hater’s canned talking points playbook. The vast majority of the land is PRIVATE! After that, what’s left is largely developed. Backcountry cyclists don’t want to ride logged, mined, or otherwise altered landscapes any more than backcountry hikers want to hike them. In most states that have Wilderness, it comprises over 80% of the backcountry. What’s more, many trails start and end outside Wilderness have some small portion that passes through Wilderness, rendering the entire route nonviable for biking. You want to talk about an emotional response? Think of how hikers would react if they were told their equally low impact, human powered form of travel was forbidden in 80+% of their most cherished lands!
As for dividing the community, it was the ban that divided the community in the first place… and by “the community,” I mean the larger community of all conservation-minded outdoor enthusiasts. As for bikers specifically, the Singletracks survey showed 96% in favor–hardly a “divided community.”
Again, please tell us what wording within the bill might indicate that anybody would be losing any discretion they currently enjoy. Please point out what in the bill indicates, or in any way makes ambiguous, that the USFS can still exercise any of the other authority they currently have.
There is nothing ambiguous when the whole thing is based on “nothing in this section,” referring to that particular section of the original act. It very unambiguously limits the scope of this legislation to that section of the original act, clearly meaning that all other authority remains unaffected.
First, you took everyone to task for not understanding that IMBA supported the first Senate bill. But that was false. You seem to have a level of zeal for defending IMBA, or simply discrediting this particular effort, that is leading you to either honestly misinterpret or deliberately mislead.
Of course it gives local managers discretion.
It says “Nothing in this section…”
That means that they can not use this section of the Wilderness act as the basis to ban bikes. Under the status quo, the have ZERO discretion with regard to Wilderness areas–bikes MUST be banned.
But, according to this legislation, that lack of discretion will be removed, thus discretion is ADDED; all the other sources of authority the USFS/BLM/NPS currently use to restrict trail use will sill exist.
Each of these agencies has enacted and enforced use restrictions on trails that ARE NOT in Wilderness areas. They didn’t need the Wilderness Act to be able to do so. This legislation only addresses the Wilderness act as a means of restricting bike use, but says NOTHING about other means of managing trail use, thus all other authority remains for ALL of the lands in their portfolios, INCLUDING WILDERNESS.
When you find wording that says managers can’t restrict bike use period, or that their authority outside the Wilderness act has been restricted in some way, then you can make such a claim. Until then, any other interpretation is either ignorance or blatantly dishonest fearmongering.
Both bills were prompted by STC. The Senate bill was introduced in 2016 and the House bill in 2017.
IMBA can not not “still support the Senate bill” as it has expired when the 2016 legislative session came to a close. There’s nothing left to support.
What’s more, they never supported it in the first place, at the time issuing a statement on the Senate bill not unlike their recent statement on the current house bill. If they’re now saying the support or ever supported the Senate bill, they’re full of it.
IMBA’s “more nuanced approach” has resulted in the loss of over a thousand miles of traditionally ridden, high quality singletrack in the last 5 years alone.
With advocates like that, who needs adversaries?
I can’t imagine riding without a helmet.
I cringe when I see others doing so.
That said, I can’t imagine being so full of myself, or such a busybody, that I would feel the need to tell others to do the same. Their head, their choice. The only victim they might create is themselves, so nobody else has grounds to say anything. The possible exception to that is loved ones who would also be affected by the tragedy they might endure, so maybe the loved ones have some standing to nag, but not some other random biker on the trail.
Yeah, some people like to complain about our gravelly trails, but it’s great to be able to ride when wet!
Looking only at dw link really limits your choices.
Aside from the aforementioned Ripley LS, you may want to look at the Pivot Mach 5.5. It will lean a little more toward the downhill side of your spectrum.
Turner also makes a dw link. The RFX may be too dedicated enduro and the Flux may not be downhill enough for your trips to the mountains. But the Flux may still be worth a look-Turner makes some sweet bikes that can often handle a little more gnar than their category might indicate.
You’ve got a stretch of good weather between going off Daylight Savings time and when the subzero temps hit.
Winter’s long an harsh where you are–don’t make it any longer than it has to be!
All losing daylight savings time means is it’s night riding season 🙂
The entry level Rocky Mountain Altitude comes in right at 3K. You can get on a Santa Cruz Nomad for 3.5K. The Marin Attack Trail 8 may be the best value at 2,699 but I haven’t ridden one, so I don’t know how well it handles the aggressive end of things.
I should have said I always travel with my pedal wrench as well!
In any case, the shop will have one if you don’t.
Arkansas Hills will more than likely be open in late October. As for high altitude rides, it’s impossible to predict. Usually by late October, most high altitude rides are shut down. We’ve already had snow in the mountains above 8,000 feet. Most of it will melt before the next snow hits. It varies widely from year to year as to when it sticks and stays and at what level. But then, you can usually count on things like the Monarch Crest being off the table. In the drier mountains further east, I have ridden as high as 10,000 ft as late as mid November during a year with light/late snow.
The good news is that at that time even though it’s fairly high, being on the dry side of the valley, the Salsa/Rumba/Cottonwood lead in to the Arkansas Hills will likely be open, so you can still get pretty high up and enjoy a long, sustained, quality downhill run.
I always travel with my pedals and shoes.
I’ve found it’s pretty easy to throw a bike in the back seat of a rental car as well just by taking off the front wheel. Worst case scenario if the car is a compact and not wide enough for this, then pull both wheels. Then you can go anywhere! So if you ride Whipple and still have time for another ride, throw the bike in the back seat and head for Salida and the Arkansas Hills!
By a wide margin, my two favorite climbing enduro bikes are the Yeti SB-6c and the Turner RFX-4.
I haven’t ridden the Capra, so I can’t compare to that one.
If you’re really looking for an enduro bike that pedals well for all day rides, IMO the best option for this is the Turner RFX-4. Pretty comparable to a Mach 6, but a little more efficient, and you can get a GX equipped one for less than the Pivot offerings.
I live and ride in big cat country. Never give them a thought….
…. except when night riding. Every little rustle in the woods is spooky and makes me think “cougar!”
But as noted above, you’ll never know they’re coming. They are the epitome of stealth. If they’re after you, by the time you hear them, you’re meat. So, logically, there’s no reason to jump, but instinct is a hard thing to overcome. That said, it has never kept me in at night!
We also live in bear country. Bears don’t spook me one bit.
