redkow97

Heading to Royalview after work (have to stop home to get the bike and change clothes). I'll do 12-18 miles, depending on how fast I'm going, and which route I take. Still a little timid riding the yellow trail down hill since I crashed there. I haven't ridden the "interior" (Western) section of the red trail in a while, so I'm thinking outer loop (6.2 miles?), then red loop (3.5?), then the first half of Red again, but detour to the skills section (maybe 3 miles?) and back down yellow (another 4 miles?). Also depends on where I park. for whatever reason, I don't like having to take the road back to my car. I guess I could ride to the trail, but that eats up time I could spend on the trail.

Just like the last one - $15, show up and register day of. I will be racing beginner under 40. Last time I raced it was just over a 6 mile lap, and then the one I missed was two laps, but a 3.x mile lap. (sport class does twice as many laps, and expert does three times as many laps) My goal is to win the beginner class, and then have enough gas left to do a second lap for fun. That's assuming i have time. Last race, I was going to a 7:05 Tribe game and had to leave right away.

Matt says i'ts not on the lawn any longer, but he'll look into it more. What size frame does he need, and how much are you willing to spend? A friend of mine has a really nice full suspension 26er (I think) that he probably paid $5k for a few years ago. I doubt it has been ridden more than 150 miles. small or medium frame. Jack isn't tall.

did some street and trail riding this weekend. Clipless pedals seem easy enough. I'm sure I'll feel differently on tougher terrain, but for now, I keep increasing the tension on the pedals. for CX, clipping out more easily is probably a good thing, but I had my left foot pop out by accident a couple of times on rough terrain. Might have more to do with my technique than the tension.

Ride down to circleville raceway park (CRP) for one of the OMRL events. Join their FB page and make arrangements to bum some shade and water (offer a few bucks - it will be probably be refused, but the offer will be appreciated). Hell, if you can get there early enough and talk to Biggie, I believe they pay $50 to corner-work, and they'll provide waters. If you've already got full gear, you could rent a bike from Kent or Russ and really learn a TON about riding in a short time, in an environment where crashing has pretty low consequences. Learning how capable a 6hp bike can be might save you thousands when you no longer feel the need to upgrade from your ZX6.

Gavin Anthony was riding a Ninja 300 in intermediate with N2 and PIRC last summer. I didn't get to watch him very much, but I saw him going around the outside of people on liter bikes like they were sitting still. That said, his bike wasn't showroom stock. I'm talking taking a stock bike with stock tires, and showing 'bike snobs' how much more capable the bike is than they are.

I understand that not everyone rides a motorcycle for the same reason, and I really don't "begrudge" cruiser guys the joy they get out of having loud (relatively) slow bikes, but I wish everyone had a better understanding of the capabilities of small-bore and "standard" style bikes. I sincerely believe that a CBR250 (intentionally choosing the 250 with the lowest top speed) would turn faster laps than the vast majority of cruisers, even if you threw in a pretty long straight where the cruiser could stretch its legs. If I ever hit the lottery, you're all invited to some epic private track days

bought clipless shoes at lunch today. Entry-level stuff. I was VERY close to buying a $210 pair of Bont Vapors that the shop owner didn't fit properly. The carbon bottom pinched my foot a bit. Half a size larger, and I would have blown my budget I was wrong about my quoted mileage yesterday. Strava says 711 miles for 2017, but almost 300 of that is on a spin bike at my gym... Tomorrow will be the maiden voyage cipped in. I'll start on the road and ride to the trails, practicing clipping in and out along the way. maybe mess w/ cleat placement when I get there.

welcome. and be careful. I thought I was pretty mature at 22 and still did some dumb shit on a 50hp bike... You're a bit younger with almost double the horsepower. Shit, I was doing pretty dumb shit on a 6hp bike at 33 years old! Wear full gear and take video. And don't forget to have fun.

I don't mind riding my fat bike to the trails, but I avoid it when I can, so I can spend more time on singletrack. Weeknight rights are a race to get back quickly enough so my wife isn't cursing me while she bathes our kids without my help I actually like having a warm-up and cool down ride to and from the trail. My Saturday ride was a lot of fun. Rode to the trail, did a lap of the outer loop, rode out to the big climb on my road route, then turned around and hit a different loop at the trails before riding home again. 2:20, mostly with 8 psi in the tires (I had them at 15, but aired down when I got to the trail). 24+ miles of varied terrain.

That garage looks familiar. I may have bought a Nighthawk 700(?) from that guy a few years ago.

I mean "justify" as in "will I actually use it often enough to feel like it wasn't wasted money?" I'm currently at about 400 miles of riding for this year, and I average 30 miles/week if I'm lucky. Even if I get that up to 50 miles/week, I'm not sure another $500-$600 on a CX bike makes sense when I start putting it in terms of miles/$$. I don't have any races on the calendar for a while. CX is the most organized racing series that's local to me, but that's the primary draw. I prefer to ride XC. it would be nice to have a CX bike for road use as well, but I'm not jonesing for long road rides - I only do that when the trails are too wet

I accidentally sold my XR yesterday. Guy posted a WTB thread on the OMRL facebook page, and I messaged him with a cash price for my bike and spares. He didn't balk or negotiate. I didn't see that coming. Best bike I ever owned We met at Iron Pony, and I browsed the dealer sections while I was waiting for him to get there. A nice woman was asking a fat guy in a harley t-shirt if a given Kawasaki was "a 600 or a 750." He was unable to find any numerical badging on it, and I watched them debate this issue for 30 seconds or so before I interjected that the single disk and dual headers (along with the conspicuous absence of a numerical identifier) made me quite confident that it was a Ninja 300. Good looking bike when you see it in person. Without the engine noise, I can see why people would confuse it with the ZX6, etc. Their marketing is working. The same 'expert' who couldn't recognize the 300 then went on to ask me if I thought that a Z125 was road-legal. He was a real genius.

How many miles/year is "enough" to justify another bicycle? I am starting to think that I don't ride often enough or far enough to rationalize a CX bike. My fat bike isn't fast on the road, or really on singletrack either, but it is CAPABLE of both. I'm planning to start the cross season on the fat bike and see where I can finish with that. Maybe even go this full season on it, and then decide if a better bike will make me demonstratively faster...

I would like a good blizzard this winter. Nothing that kills people, but I wouldn't mind society shutting down for a couple of days, and watching everyone freak out about running out of food, etc. Hell, I'm even okay with losing power for some amount of time. Generator and cellular data will get me by just fine. Our gas fire place PUMPS heat, and running the circulation fan would use 2 watts of generator juice!

I don't think so, but I will ask Matt. He sent me the picture in his neighborhood

This was definitely the first thing that came to mind for me as well, but I remember the older kids on my bus (the 7th graders) talking about setting their alarms for midnight, when the U.S. was scheduled to launch missiles at Iraq. I believe that marked the transition between Operation Desert Shield, and Operation Desert Storm. I may have been more aware of that situation because my uncle was deployed in Kuwait at the time. He sent me some Iraqi money, and my dad received an empty Pepsi can with Arabic slogans and ingredients on it. These items came in a 'care package' full of Army propaganda material. I remember bringing my "dollar" into school for whatever 90's "show and tell" was called, and handing out "I support operation desert shield" stickers. The Challenger explosion is something I was aware of, but I think it was taught to me as history, not a current event. Side note, David Hasselhoff blames O.J. for stifling his music career in the U.S.

So glad to read all of this. Awake and "a little spacey" is so much better than struggling to breathe on his own! The human body is remarkable and sometimes mysterious. Hopefully John's body just needed a little time to rest, and now body and mind are ready to fully recover. It sounds like he's well on his way.

I put in 24 miles on Saturday. It had poured rain around 8 or 9, so I actually rode from my house to the trails, anticipating them being closed, and I brought provisions to do my standard out-and-back road ride. The trails were in much better shape than anticipated, so I did the outer loop at Royalview (red/yellow CCW), and it started to rain just as I was finishing my first lap. Rather than start a second lap in a downpour, I opted to ride on the road. I didn't the the full out-and-back I'd planned, but I stopped to check out the archery range, and then, since it never really did downpour after all, I did a lap of the red trail on my way back, before heading home. I figure that was about 10 miles of trail, and 14+ of road. I never utilized the pump before heading out on the pavement, so I was running about 8 psi the whole time. That's perfect for the trail, but obviously not ideal for the road.

aren't those treadmill bikes electric assisted? I don't see how that is better for anyone, unless they have prostate issues or something... I ran a mile yesterday. ONE mile. My legs feel like crap. I had more pain from one mile on a treadmill than I do from 25 miles of on/off road riding on the bike (which I did on Saturday afternoon, in 99% humidity).

yes. I will be racing several NEOCX events. I put all 9 rounds on my desk calendar already, and sent them to my wife so she's aware of them. Not sure if CX bike is in the cards or not. Student loans may go up by $350/month in August. If that happens, I can't (as easily) spend $600 on a bike like I had planned. If the increase is negligible (or god willing, they forgot I have kids, and it goes down), then I'll probably get the new bike. I need shoes too... I will race the fat bike if I have to. Shouldn't matter much in cat 5 anyway.

DATE CHANGE race is now Sunday (due to weather.) this vastly increases my odds of competing. Hope to see you there.

Damn man... I'm glad to hear there's some positive news, but it's also sounding more serious than I had been thinking. How does something like this happen to a person who takes care of himself? I'm sitting here questioning my own mortality now.

I'll trailer it for $200, plus gas and tolls. Documentation of expenses provided. My car gets around 30 mpg towing.

I'll have to get out and ride West Branch. Royalview has tree roots, and a couple of man-made "rock gardens," which are really pretty flat, and only there to prevent mud and erosion in low spots. The only natural rock feature is a creek crossing. The "skills section" has one drop, but you can bypass it easily. I have found 1 "jump," which isn't a jump, but rather a tree root at the top of a really small natural rise in the trail. The only thing that makes anything tricky at Royalview is speed, and that's an easy variable to reduce or eliminate on a cheap bike.