redkow97

These are the things the little devil whispers into my ear from my shoulder. I know I would or will be faster on an XC bike, but the fat tire bike is getting me more fit, and it's cheap to maintain. I will eventually buy something more XC appropriate, but I don't have any plans to break the bank on anything extravagant. Training on the fat bike is good for me - which means I'd like to continue doing that even after I get an XC bike ...so then I'm spending more time on the cheap bike than the expensive bike. That doesn't add up for me. I'm not riding a ton of miles now. When I rack up a couple thousand on the fat bike, I'm sure it will be due for upgrades, if not replacement. I don't plan to upgrade it though. That would be polishing a turd. There are basically 2 options I'm considering at this point: 1) Maintain the fat bike, keep it in good repair, but with no major upgrades, and supplement it with a mid-level hardtail for racing and other longer rides. 2) when the fatty starts to break down, get it back to sellable condition, and replace it with a much nicer (and lighter) fatty with a suspension fork and a second set of 29" wheels for XC duty. the third bike in my stable will be a CX bike, but with road tires mounted until CX season - except it might not be a third bike, if I go with option 2.

Really sorry to hear this. Good vibes for a speedy and full recovery.

Which trail(s) do you ride most often? I don't consider my local trail to be that difficult. I'd almost call it boring. I mean, I love it because it's close and it's accessible, but I can't imagine it being a "destination" for anyone. A cyclocross bike would be rideable there. I think a Huffy would survive, if ridden at a conservative pace, and if it were well tuned. But my original question is to gauge what kind of terrain you're picturing.

coaster brake would definitely be more reliable and a lot stronger, but I think it would be very difficult to ride downhill sections that way. I back-pedal to keep my inside foot up in turns. Tough habit to break. Plus I front brake a lot. I'm with you on single speed though. Or at least "ghetto 1x" and just change the front ring manually, if you happen to need it. I would probably use 3 gears, assuming they were working... getting the wheels trued and the rim brakes set up the best they can be is probably the major task though. The other failure I have routinely seen in department store bikes is the bars rotating forward, because they tend to run a single pinch bolt, rather than the 4 bolt setup used on quality bikes. That's almost a big enough concern for a rules concession, but I think that would be getting away from the intent of the mayhem.

shhhhh. You're giving everyone the ideas I was going to hoard I agree with simplicity though. A think an older rigid might actually prove to be a lot more reliable than a brand new "full suspension" bike that is built to a super cheap price point. The crappy side-pull rim brakes make me nervous though. A newer crap bike may have mechanical disks, which is all I have on my Framed bike. (Mine are Avid BB7's) then there are the strategic decisions: Go balls out and hope the bike holds together, or go at a pace where you're reasonable sure the bike will survive? I think it could be fun. Sketchy, but fun. Especially if it's a short race, with lots of beer waiting.

ssshhhhh. Don't tell my wife. Motorcycles are also more expensive. I'll race those more eventually, but maybe not until my kids are grown. I'm resisting the urge to upgrade bikes, so right now, the bicycles are cheaper. At the moment, I am happy with my progress and pace versus other beginner and even "sport" class riders. If I'm cracking the top 10 in larger "sport" fields, then I'll consider better equipment, but right now, I don't see the need to pay $1500 or more for a bike just to be 25th instead of 28th.

They tape off the "expert" sections for the XC races. There are some semi-narrow bridges, but they're only like 4' long, so you can barely fall off... Scariest part for me was the 'fern gully' U-shaped bridge. It shouldn't be difficult, but my foot slipped off the pedal the first time. All mental. There is one section where I'm convinced that my bars will not fit between the 2 trees, and then there are 2 rocks that almost necessitate a pedal-strike unless you bunnyhop, but the former just requires a quick dismount, and the latter never hung me up. I really wish I could ride Saturday. Wife invited her whole office over for a cookout. Should be fun, but I wish it was Sunday...

...or we could all go to Walmart, take some bikes off their rack, and race around the store.

Maybe not this season, but I am considering trying to organize a department store bike race. $150 budget (if you're buying new), but I would hope 99% of the bikes are garage sale rescues. New tubes and brake shoes are the only mods allowed. Short course. Like, 2.5 miles. Or possibly a 4 mile course with a short-cut through much more serious terrain, so you're risking something by taking it. May be too dangerous for MTB trails. Cyclocross might be safer. we'll see.

@jhawk and @Isaac's Papa - you guys should give this a shot. It's a fun trail. Not super flowy, but it's never dull. From what I can remember, there were maybe 2 spots that I walked the bike, and it was the type of terrain where I didn't HAVE to, it was just more efficient, because I didn't want to tire myself out unnecessarily.

The bruises and cuts look impressive, but my kneecap is what really hurts. I would be back on the bike already if not for the kneecap. I went to a wine tasting fundraiser on Saturday night. It was an outdoor event, so I wore shorts and a polo. Got some odd looks with my elbow all bruised and bloody, and my knee swollen and purple. Biggest/best news of the day though was that I found a guy on the CAMBA facebook group who sold me a replacement seat for $5. He has a 250 4-stroke dirt bike in the garage, so we chatted about that for a bit, and I saved myself $30+ on a new saddle. Got the new on installed Sunday morning, and took a test spin on the fat bike. New seat seems less comfortable, but I wasn't wearing cycling shorts. Also not sure I have the angle and fore/aft position where I like it yet. No riding tonight. More ice. Hopefully trail ready tomorrow. I am considering kneepads, but honestly, this was such a freak thing (I crashed going fast in an almost straight line...), I feel like the kneepads would be a good way to blow $60 and be less comfortable. I am riding XC trails and doing XC racing. If I had aspirations of DH or enduro racing, I'd look harder at the knee pads.

Congrats! Really wish I could have been out there, but after a short road ride yesterday, my knee is definitely not trail-ready. Not even staircase ready, if I'm being honest... Banging my kneecap has been the worst of it so far. Just have lingering pain when I put serious weight on my left leg. But it's getting better, and I'm icing regularly. I am worried that it's not going to be a quick process :-/ Let's hear more about the Medina trail system. I need to get down there some Saturday or Sunday morning. My local trail is fun, but 1) it tried to kill me, and 2) I don't want to get bored with it.

You ever go down a rabbit-hole on YouTube, where you start out looking for a review of a cheap 22lr revolver someone has for sale, and then half an hour later, you're watching this: I can't be the only one who thinks this looks like a ton of fun, right? Per the swamp person in the video, there is (or was in 2012) a $4-$5 bounty paid for each rat (in season?). That's a hell of a way to have some fun and at least break even doing it.

This one hurt. I have previously gone down at low speed in the snow, and I had a slow(ish) rear wheel washout in the rain at the third Royalview TT. That crash was "real," but hardly serious. Last night, I was doing 2 CCW laps of the outer loop at Royalview. That means going down the yellow trail. There are some fast sections. I was cruising at around 18mph (if I'm looking at the correct data point in strava) when I set up wide right to take a sweeping left. My right foot and pedal hit and hooked on a small (1.5" diameter) tree next to the trail. The impact rotated my body and bike 90 degrees clockwise, and sent me flying into and then over my handlebars. The bike followed me and launched over my shoulders. I landed hard on my left knee and shoulder, scraping up my elbow in the process. My shoulder has a small cut and is turning a nice shade of purple, but that isn't very sore (yet?). My elbow is okay. My knee hurts like hell. I can walk pretty well, but putting weight on it for stairs hurts a lot. My thighs also have some serious marks from where they hit the bars, and I'm guessing all of that will bruise up pretty significantly. The impact of the bike flipping bent my seat. I bent it back to ride back up the paved hill to my car, but I'll have to replace it. All things considered, the bike is in great shape. I am hurting, but it could have been worse. My helmet didn't even have dirt on it. The left side of my body definitely did. 7 months on a mountain bike, and I've already injured myself worse than I ever did in 7 years of racing motorcycles.unreal.

Was going to sign up, but I wanted to do a long ride Sunday morning. ...then I crashed pretty hard yesterday. I'll be happy to be walking normally by Sunday. Good luck!

Internet security is super hot right now. Universities are adding it as a major as quickly as they can. Good on him for being early on the industry. I haven't decided how I'm going to make millions yet...

That's the exit where I used to live.

https://www.facebook.com/cradak/posts/10101395514375020

Drove through 2" of rain in about an hour... highways flooded. MTB trails can't be any better. My fault for making plans. Sorry guys.

I also severely underestimated how long everything would be mush between the deep-freeze (that never really came this year) and truly dry trails. That is the primary reason I want a cyclocross bike before a lighter/faster cross country hardtail. I can ride the fat bike on dry singletrack with much less penalty than i get riding it on pavement. Thus the CX/road combo rounds out my fleet better than an XC bike that's really only suited to dry singletrack. I'm setting myself up to have my most expensive bike be the one I ride the least :-/ Something about that seems really backward, and it makes me want a cheaper hardtail when the time comes.

I think so. I got caught IN the downpour yesterday during my time trial, and there was 1-2" of standing water in some sections of the trail, but it wasn't soaking in. the trail was still firm, and as hot as it is today, I think things will dry out pretty well. It seems like most of the Ohio trails are pretty clay-based, and water has to sit on them for a while to make them muddy - that's after the 2-months it takes for them to dry out and harden from all the melting snow... But now that it's dry, the water runs off pretty well. "worst case" scenario for me is I put in 3 laps at my local trail. I like doing that, but I don't want to get bored of the terrain, and I'd like to throw in some longer routes with steeper climbs. the yellow trail at Royalview is a nice long gradual climb most of the way, but it's not good for training bursts of effort. The paved road is better than the trail for that.

hahahaha - no, it's me being stupid. My daughter's birthday is 8/31, and I was thinking "she's 10 months old tomorrow," so I typed 31 because I'd just looked at the picture my wife posted. Saturday morning - I want to get my miles in before yard work, cook-outs, etc. Plus we have some stupid wedding shower thing Saturday night, and a 4th party on the 2nd (which sounds dumb now that I say it).

Looking to get out and ride EARLY on Saturday. I'd like for this to be a 12-20 mile ride, if possible. Open to suggestions as to where, or to meet up with people. Huffman (Medina area) was suggested to me by someone at the trail yesterday. I was thinking 2 laps at Vulture's Knob, but that's in Wooster, so the drive-time eats into ride time. Mohican isn't out of the question either, but I would want to be there and be riding pretty much as soon as it's light enough to see, so I can be home around lunch. Any takers? Not looking to ride at a blistering pace, given the distance. Or rather, I'd rather ride the last 2 miles fast, than go out hard and want to die the last 2 miles.

GLWS

depends on how good of a deal you got when you bought it! Probably too rich for my blood, but what size frame?