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Do You Mountain Bike?

PhoS said:
Nice hard tail. I've been riding mine more than anything else at the moment. Actually not at the moment, I packed and shipped all my shit as i'm moving to WA in a week. Can't wait to explore some new trails. :D
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Where in WA are you moving? I'm guessing there's solid, if not a bit wet, riding up there.

Thanks - I think nice hardtails are kinda underestimated. Built right they're super capable and a ton of fun. I just love having the instant power transfer on climbs.

Took out the bike this morning and will have to make some tweaks... needs a longer stem for me, which means new brake lines. Rather than dealing with running new lines on some old XO brakes I'm just going to buy a set of SLX for $100. That'll get me better brakes, the ability to run a longer stem, and be able to share parts with my other bikes. Also flatted in a bit over a mile. Have some enduro tires on order for it as well.

The one funny part is jumping back to alloy wheels. Many they feel flexy after riding carbon for a while.

Oh, and it was 82 at 6am today! It's crazy out here

IMG_3150 by nicholas dirienzo, on Flickr
 
I would definitely say that the capabilities of my hard tail are underrated. On the other hand, I'm terrified of damaging it and I enjoy full suspension so much more, even for climbing. So on that note, hopefully my warranty swing arm arrived today and I'll be getting my bike back soon. :D

Funny thing, I've been planning on hitting Snow Summit as soon as I got my FS bike back. After finding out how cheap it is, I can't wait to go. Some dude from the chAir Force was out in this area for a few days and my LBS let him borrow a demo Cannondale Habit. I told him I would take him up to Big Bear to ride some single track on Monday since it was a holiday. After thinking about the elevation, and he was in Florida, I mentioned that you can buy a one way ticket on the ski lift instead of having to pedal up. I'm totally down with climbing, I'm a climber and I'm on a demo BMC Teamelite01 carbon hard tail. But he liked the idea so he said he would pay since I drove.

After getting there and asking, we found out a one way ticket is $30! Holiday surge pricing. But with his military discount, we could do a whole day pass for $36. It was about 2 pm so we only had 2 hours, but at least we could get a few runs. So we went up, asked for advice on what trail to take where we were told to take the easy single track ("We don't have beginner trails") that we already planned to save for last, and opted to take the last time up. So we picked the jump line with the option to take the easy exit half way down.

HOLY SHIT THAT'S FUN!!!

Got in two runs total of the bike park before heading to the single track. I can't wait to go back on my FS bike!
 
ndirienzo said:
Where in WA are you moving? I'm guessing there's solid, if not a bit wet, riding up there.
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So. WA near Portland, i'll definitely be indulging in the riding @ Mt. Hood. 75mi from Blackrock, and like 150mi to Bend. I'll be riding a bunch of a friend in Seattle too. I'm about to pull the trigger on DH bike for Whistler duty this summer. :thumbup
 
Sidewalk said:
Wow. I don't even see a sign of impact. Just snap?
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Yea, pretty much. Preloaded the rear end to pop up a rock after getting stalled. Just totally blew up. Trek is taking care of it and giving me a backup alloy stay. PhoS' contact at Trek really came through! Thanks again PhoS! BARFers rock!

PhoS said:
So. WA near Portland, i'll definitely be indulging in the riding @ Mt. Hood. 75mi from Blackrock, and like 150mi to Bend. I'll be riding a bunch of a friend in Seattle too. I'm about to pull the trigger on DH bike for Whistler duty this summer. :thumbup
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Nice! Oh, yea, grab a DH bike for sure.

I did a three day trip in Bend a year ago. Great time all around. We did the McKenzie River Trail, which was a ton of fun. I hear there's some better back country stuff around there, though. Next time...
 
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PhoS said:
So. WA near Portland, i'll definitely be indulging in the riding @ Mt. Hood. 75mi from Blackrock, and like 150mi to Bend. I'll be riding a bunch of a friend in Seattle too. I'm about to pull the trigger on DH bike for Whistler duty this summer. :thumbup
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I see a lot of the photo's that Jesse Thomas posts (pro triathlete) and Bend looks great for being an outdoor person.

ndirienzo said:
Yea, pretty much. Preloaded the rear end to pop up a rock after getting stalled. Just totally blew up. Trek is taking care of it and giving me a backup alloy stay. PhoS' contact at Trek really came through! Thanks again PhoS! BARFers rock!
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Since my trail bike broke, I have been pounding the shit out of my carbon hardtail. This photo scares me :wow

At least my new swingarm came in. Now I just have to go fix it!
 
I'm officially moved up to WA now and finally got a ride in. Sorry no epic pictures yet, its been a solid week of hustling. I must have had some good karma saved up because I found a freakin mint Wilson carbon with a decked build for dirrrrrt cheap. It got here just in time to go to the Blackrock shuttle day which was amazing even though I was riding with a very angry strained back.(moving pains) Blackrock was well worth it though, if you ever have a chance to make one of their shuttle days do it. It was a good shake down run for the Wilson. I'll probably take it over to the Mt. Hood ski bowl park next weekend.

I also picked up a new Diety Cryptkeeper dirt jumper frame for the Lumberyard which is an indoor ramp park nearby in Portland. :thumbup

ATwuTgi.jpg


ps. I dont miss CA at all.. :laughing
 
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Had a fun, and interesting weekend.

Was planning, actually, looking forward to the Big Bear Triathlon for the past year which was Saturday. Of course, coinciding with my last round of the Kenda Cup XC series. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get registered for it and my mom rented a cabin for the weekend, so I decided to race the enduro instead.

Baring in mind that I'm having problems with my rear wheel (going to get it rehooped soon), I'm running XC tires still, and the bars are low from racing XC last season, I wasn't all that prepared. But I raced it anyway. And...I don't like enduro. Way too much sitting around waiting. And it had absolutely nothing to do with crashing twice and flatting, those were just insults :D

https://youtu.be/FiCeTVDcaMQ

On the other hand, I do still prefer my XC racing. I was hoping for another Cat 1 podium, and thought I had it but there were a couple of other guys in my class for this race I didn't recognize that I finished behind, so I took fifth instead. Good news is, after checking the rules again, I only need three top 5 finishes to request an upgrade to Pro! So I'm going to try and get in one more top 5 before next season. And if not, try and get another next season and at least do a few races before dropping back to cat 1 where I belong.
 

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Got out to Mt. Hood Nat forest for some exploring. It was quite fun. :ride

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N*

Trail conditions at N* are as good as ever, but prolly won't stay that way for long. Sticks-N-Stones is in good shape. Gypsy is fully open, including the new lower section. Lower Livewire (4x section) hasn't been rebuilt, so you have to reroute over to the bottom of Boondocks. I've attached a screenshot showing formed berms on Karpiel, where it's usually a loose, rutted mess.
 

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Picked up a new to me bike. My first bike in 20 years. My wife has a cheap Bike and my young sons have a couple bikes. I needed something to ride around with them. Originally I was looking at crappy Walmart bikes because I don't need anything fancy. But they just are TOO crappy. Esp the suspension on them.

Found this on Craigslst for $200. Crazy deal and I couldn't get it quick enough. Original MSRP is $630. Not high end but higher end then I'll need.

2013 Trek Wahoo Gary Fischer 29er
Overkill for what I need but I'll enjoy it. Hopefully it will help me be a bit more active besides my evening longboard strolls around the neighborhood. Bought it from the original owner who bought it here in town. He bought it under pressure from a now ex girlfriend. Red it s half dozen times and parked it. It was under an inch of dust in his storage unit. I'm happy!
 

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antwon412 said:
Picked up a new to me bike. My first bike in 20 years. My wife has a cheap Bike and my young sons have a couple bikes. I needed something to ride around with them. Originally I was looking at crappy Walmart bikes because I don't need anything fancy. But they just are TOO crappy. Esp the suspension on them.

Found this on Craigslst for $200. Crazy deal and I couldn't get it quick enough. Original MSRP is $630. Not high end but higher end then I'll need.

2013 Trek Wahoo Gary Fischer 29er
Overkill for what I need but I'll enjoy it. Hopefully it will help me be a bit more active besides my evening longboard strolls around the neighborhood. Bought it from the original owner who bought it here in town. He bought it under pressure from a now ex girlfriend. Red it s half dozen times and parked it. It was under an inch of dust in his storage unit. I'm happy!
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That is a nice pick up. It's time for an upgrade, I've been looking for a deal as well.
 
antwon412 said:
Picked up a new to me bike. My first bike in 20 years. My wife has a cheap Bike and my young sons have a couple bikes. I needed something to ride around with them. Originally I was looking at crappy Walmart bikes because I don't need anything fancy. But they just are TOO crappy. Esp the suspension on them.

Found this on Craigslst for $200. Crazy deal and I couldn't get it quick enough. Original MSRP is $630. Not high end but higher end then I'll need.

2013 Trek Wahoo Gary Fischer 29er
Overkill for what I need but I'll enjoy it. Hopefully it will help me be a bit more active besides my evening longboard strolls around the neighborhood. Bought it from the original owner who bought it here in town. He bought it under pressure from a now ex girlfriend. Red it s half dozen times and parked it. It was under an inch of dust in his storage unit. I'm happy!
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My first several races were on a $400 bike I was borrowing, let alone owned. Cheap bikes are still bikes.
 
Avid rider here, live in Novato. I have a 2015 Pivot Mach 6, great bike! Always looking for people to ride with. I know a lot of great trails in Marin.
 
JHart said:
Avid rider here, live in Novato. I have a 2015 Pivot Mach 6, great bike! Always looking for people to ride with. I know a lot of great trails in Marin.
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I'm in Novato as well. Pm me and we can link up for some rides. Ride a niner WFO, don't mind climbing, and can hold my own in the chunky stuff.
 
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