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Not super weird, but a trail runner with headphones in, singing at the top of his lungs as he ran.
What is asphalt?
Just finished railing a techy section of my home trail at high speed. Feeling proud of myself, I relaxed for a couple seconds while rolling a smoother section (at 25mph), before entering the next techy section. I lazily let my right pedal down and hit the only embedded rock in that section of trail. I’d ridden that trail a 100 times, and never even noticed the rock I hit. Anyway, I went down hard on my left knee, and supermanned down the trail until I came to a stop. I popped up, and started taking inventory. My left knee apparently found a sharp rock that I’d also never noticed before, tearing a jagged 3 inch hole below my knee cap. Standing on the trail, I could see my patellar tendon. It was clearly still working. Feeling very little pain, I hopped on the bike and rode back to the trailhead, taking no chances of going down again. Drove to the ER.
I always remember interesting comments at the ER -> We got all the dirt out and closed the wound, but this is going to take time to heal … you’re missing some “material”.
I now own and wear knee pads.
I use a cardboard box. When it wears out, I move on. 🙂
never
Dump the old stuff out, and put the new stuff in -> go ride.
Don’t waste time wiping/scrubbing/sanitizing the tire. Don’t overthink it -> go ride.
Turbo Diesel at Angel Fire!
ziphead, please re-read the original post.
If the poster is moving on from a mid-90’s Trek 930, he probably hasn’t ridden a dozen different bike models in the last 3 years, to build the base of knowledge about modern mtbs that you have. I know that when I upgraded from my 930 in 2009, I would have bought the wrong bike if all I had was marketing blather to guide a decision. I know I bought the right bike, and I figured it out by riding the candidates.
Both bikes the poster asked about can be test ridden, and possibly demo’d too, in the medium sized town that I live in. The poster also states a concern that he doesn’t want to feel like he bought the wrong bike. There is no reason to not gather more info, especially if it’s easily available.
Bemgolf, ziphead’s methods might be right for you, if you’re buying a bike every couple years, and riding lots of bikes other than your own in the period between purchases (and probably have multiple bikes in the garage at all times, so a bad purchase doesn’t hurt so much). If you’re buying a new bike every 5-7yrs, or more, then you should ride bikes and but the right one.
I suspect ziphead and I would disagree about purchasing methods for many high $$ items. I will never buy any of those mail-order bike, if I have not ridden them before. No testimonial would be enough, especially if I can easily test ride other candidates.
I’ll never buy a bike I haven’t ridden. I recommend you don’t either. Demos are way better than tooling around the bike shop parking lot, but even a couple of minutes can enable you to identify deal-breaking issues and preferences.
Many shops will credit the cost of a demo to the purchase of a bike. Take advantage.
When I can’t get a demo, my local shops have curbs, rocks, and short but steep grassy climbs to build opinions with. I take advantage – this is much better than only reading about a bike.
In either case, ask them to spend a few minutes setting up the bikes to maximize your learning – seat height, suspension air pressures and sag, etc. This will enable a fair comparison. If they’re unwilling, I’d walk.
I don’t think I ever know.
I’ve had many crashes with no serious outcomes. I don’t count dirt rash or a few bruises as a bad outcome. Last year I had a crash that didn’t seem like a big deal, until I noticed I could see my patellar tendon. I think knee pads would have turned this one into a bruise.
Now I wear knee pads. They have definitely protected me from a few scrapes and bruises, but I have no idea if they have prevented anything more severe. I have a couple in mind where the pads _might_ have made a difference. However, given how many crashes I had before having a serious injury, the math says the most likely answer is 0. In 4-5yrs, I’d guess the number will be closer to 1 than 0 (with low confidence).
For me, pads are a protection against a very rare event.
Maybe as I get even older, I’ll start thinking of scrape/bruise protection as a benefit, and my opinion will change. 🙂
I know a couple of my local trails very well (not JeffCo). For many years, I could check the condition of the dirt in my backyard, and predict the trail conditions. Then, local rangers started closing the trails because they were “wet”. Unfortunately, it was not unusual to find the trails closed 3-4 days after they were dry. The gates were not at the trail head, but almost a mile into the ride. It was very frustrating to know that the trails were dry, but closed when I got to a gate. I quit riding those trails, and I have less enthusiasm for paying taxes to support the org that controls the gates. Now, I only ride these trails about once a year. Fortunately, I have other options.
I won’t justify the note in the article, but I think it is possible for the organization controlling the gates to do a poor job, frustrating it’s most supportive user community and best source of funding.
BTW, JeffCo trails rock! I’ll have to be more alert to the weather before driving there. 🙂
Hmm, since you are on the Singletracks site, type “Denver” into the search bar, and choose “trails near Denver CO”. Filter the list by beginner trails, and then sort by number of stars. For example:
https://www.singletracks.com/Mountain-Bike-Trails-bike-trails_0.html?sortBy=field163:DESC&filterBy=|loc:39.739167~-104.984167~25~Denver,%20CO|field191:592
The map will show you where they are. Pick out a couple that are close to home and give them a try. As you gain experience, read about more trails and try the ones that sound fun to you. Rinse and repeat.
I recommend not overthinking it.
Put in a tube, air it up, and ride. When you get home, make a better fix.
If you have a big enough tear that the tube bulges out of the hole, put a dollar bill over the hole in the tire as you inflate the tube. Then ride. When you get home, make a better fix. Don’t forget to put the $20 back in your wallet. 🙂
I currently carry some bacon strips for plugging small holes, but I haven’t needed to use them yet. I’m hoping that these will enable me to fix a minor hole without having to use a tube. Then just ride on.
When you’re on the trail, forget about cleaning up sealant. Just leave it. All the goop will still attempt to hold things together. Never spend time cleaning a tire if you’re going to replace it away when you get home.
Tubeless tires cut my rate of flats by a factor of 10, and my frustration rate went WAY down (even saved $$, because all those tubes add up).
I wish a 5 flat ride on the folks that think tubes worked well (using up all the tubes of everyone on the ride).
Ride ride ride. Think about a different bike after 3 yrs,min.
If I’m climbing a technical section, and someone stops above me, I always tell them that they have obligated me to clean that section. In part, I’m convincing myself that I need to put in an extra effort rather than wuss out. Guess what? I almost always clean those obstacles.
Pick a fairly nice model, but buy it on craig’s list. Someone else’s kid just out grew the bike your kid should be riding.
Unfortunately, I’d like to know who totally screwed up a couple of my local trails.
Half fingers when it’s warm. Mechanix full fingers when it’s cooler. The Mechanix are way cheaper than the mtb brands, and and at least as good.
