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I have to admit that I don’t know your trails at all, but here’s my 2 cents. I live on the Front Range in Colorado Springs, and our trails are more loose and gravelly than hard pack. I have tried a few combinations, but the one I love is a Specialized Purgatory 2.20 up front and a Specialized Captain 2.20 on the rear. The Purgatory is awesome for holding it’s grip when cornering, even in loose conditions, and the Captain gives you amazing traction, even in the snow, and has less rolling resistance than anything else I’ve tried. We have literally tons of decomposing granite all over our trails down here and this combo really works well. Good luck with your search!
Hey Jesse! I’m sorry if I left you feeling "destroyed" the other day! That certainly wasn’t my intention! I had a lot of fun showing you around Palmer Park, and I was impressed with your ability to tackle some of the technical challenges there. If you’re feeling up to it, there are tons more trails I can show you sometime. Once you’ve been here in Colorado for a bit you’ll get used to the altitude a lot more which will really help you. Let me know if you want to get out there again one of these days! 😃
Hey Jesse, you’ve come to MTB heaven my friend! Lots of fantastic trails right here in the Springs. What kind of rider are you, and what kind of trails are you interested in? One thing is for sure, you’ll learn how to climb around here! I’m headed to Honolulu this summer, maybe we can trade some info on where to ride! Let me know if you want a guide for some great rides, I’d be happy to turn you on to some classics!
I don’t know much about the Trek but I can speak for the Stumpy. My wife and another friend of mine both ride the FSR Comp (closer to $2000 I think) and they love it! I’ve ridden it myself and the FSR suspension that Specialized patented is pretty amazing. It is almost impossible to get the rear tire to lose it’s grip no matter how steep the climb or how far forward you’re leaning. It really excels in the snow too. I’d say you probably can’t go wrong either way – definitely try them out before you buy. Good luck!
Welcome craigasaurus! Sounds like you don’t have a chance, the MTB bug has infected you. Now all you have to look forward to is excellent health, lots of new friends, and a huge grin permanently attached to your face! Get out there and have fun with your new ride!
I have a 1985 Stumpjumper That I still ride every now and then. It works great even though back then shocks, disc brakes, 29 inch wheels, etc.. hadn’t even been invented yet! I’ve found that the frame geometry is still so good that I can climb like a demon, even compared to my newer full suspension bike. I agree that keeping it around for your friends to use, or as a replacement when your other bike is in the shop is a great idea. If you have some $$$ burning a hole in your pocket, I’d spend it on a newer bike rather than upgrading the old one, but if not, just have fun riding it until it’s worn out! 😃
Hey Guarddog77,
I had the same thing happen to me and this is what I did: I loosened the spring on the pedal itself to about the minimum setting (assuming you have SPD pedals). I figured that on the trainer I could easily get away with running them looser than I do on the trails. You’ll figure out how loose or tight you like them pretty quick. Next, I adjusted the cleats on the bottom of my shoes until I found the right position for me. It really wasn’t very hard to figure out. Now I don’t have any knee pain at all anymore when I ride the trainer. Good luck!
Thanks for bringing this to our attention skibum. I’ll make sure to spend some time at the open house and help represent the MTB crowd. We need all the positive exposure we can get!
Way to go JT! You’re going to be jumping out of that plane in no time! Keep it up, we’re all pulling for you!
I was riding a short trail that ends with a stream crossing about 15 feet wide. Right next to the stream crossing is a picnic site where there are usually folks enjoying the area. I was riding pretty well and thought I’d try a different route across the stream than usual. I managed to make it half way across the stream before catching my front wheel on a submerged rock and going down pretty spectacularly. I couldn’t get my feet unclipped from my pedals and laid there thrashing about in the water trying to get free. When I finally was able to get up and drag myself out of the stream I noticed a family right there having a picnic and probably wondering what the heck I was thinking. They asked if I was alright and tried to suppress their laughter as I staggered out of the stream all soaking wet and bloody. I assured them I was just fine and tried to ride away with at least a tiny portion of my dignity intact. Once I got out of sight of the picnickers and the adrenaline wore off I realized how hard I had crashed and how bad it really did hurt. Luckily I hadn’t broken anything other than my pride so I limped home and licked my wounds. It must have been quite a sight, I’m sure that family probably tells the story of this knucklehead biker crashing and burning in the stream often to the great amusement of their friends. 😆
I had my ACL reconstructed 8 years ago, and now I rarely even think about it anymore. You will find that the mental part of the healing process is just as tough, or tougher, than the physical part. What’s most important is that you don’t rush yourself back too soon and re-damage your knee. There’s no point in having to start all the way back over at the beginning of the process! Just understand that this season isn’t going to be your fastest, best MTB season, but you can have a little fun while while you rebuild that knee! 😃 Biking is an awesome way to regain strength in your knee, it’s the main rehab that I was told to do in my recovery. I think you should start out on flat pedals for quite awhile, you can do plenty of climbing without being clipped in right away. I agree that you should avoid the twisting motion for now, probably at least 6-8 months, that’s something to ask your doctor. Also, stay on the streets or concrete trails so you can rebuild while not putting yourself in danger. It doesn’t take much to screw it up! At the 6 month mark I felt pretty good and thought I could do about anything I wanted to as long as I took it slow. I commenced to hike about 4 miles into one of my favorite areas alone (stupid move!), and then realized it was going to be tough to get back out to my car. Luckily I was able to do it, but it scared the sh#* out of me and made me realize my limits. Once I got to the 1 year mark it was really like magic, I could do pretty much anything. I would still favor the knee though when going up & down stairs, running and cutting, etc…mentally I was still getting over it. That slowly went away though and I haven’t even thought about my knee in a long, long time. The main benefit of the whole rehab process was that my knee ended up being much stronger than ever before, and the next season I was ready to go, better than ever! Just hang in there and be patient, listen to your doc and therapist they know what they’re talking about. Good luck with your recovery, you’ll do just fine! 😃
Keep it up JT! You are killing it my friend! 😃
Signed. I’ll pass this along as well. This is too important to ignore!
Before you buy make sure you check out the KS Lev. It comes in 3 or 4 different lengths and gets excellent reviews too. It’s a bit pricy but it looks like the best dropper on the market. Good luck with your decision!
Way to go JT! You are making fantastic progress, you should be very proud of what you’ve accomplished! I think you have hit on a great way to inspire yourself to keep going with the skydiving lessons as a reward. I want to hear all about it after you jump out of that plane! You’ve much bigger cajones than I do my friend! 😃
You are going to love the XTs! I’ve been running them for a while now and try are awesome brakes, they will be a huge upgrade for you! I’m not sure about compatibility with the Magura rotors, but I bet they will work. You may need an adaptor depending on the rotor diameter, but that’s a cheap and easy fix. I say go for it! 😃
Sweet! Beautiful shots, looks like a blast!
I upgraded from Hayes to Shimano XT with the new Ice Tech rotors a year and a half ago and I absolutely LOVE them! They are silent, extremely (and easily) adjustable, very easy to bleed (which I’ve only had to do once), and have awesome modulation. Remember that Shimano generally takes last year’s XTR technology and puts it into this year’s XT components. That way you get XTR quality for XT price! Can’t say enough good things about them! 😃
McDowell Mtn Park is a lot of fun. It is mostly just rolling hills but it is really fast and for bikes only – no hikers! There are several different loops that vary in both distance and difficulty so there is something for everyone. I think I paid about $6 to get in – worth every penny! Have fun!
Awesome! You gotta love a good snow ride, looks like a blast! Great pics too. Your posts always take me right out on the trail with you Funrover! Thanks!
