redkow97

You're hardcore. I didn't (and still don't) have the balls to register for this. If I enjoy and excel at the 3-hour endurance race in PA on 5/13, I'll take a harder look at the 100-mile format. For now it's something I'd like to do, but I don't think I could properly train for it right now. Kids are too young.

Not sure I am either, but I doubt there are skinnies in the XC race loop

New plan: 8-mile novice race, and then if I feel a little bit nuts, I'll do the full loop afterward, and just take it nice and slow. I can always bail out at the 8 mile mark again if that turns out to be a bad call.

They have at least 4 scheduled. I will see how the first one goes and hopefully it's super fun and I do them all.

Just checked - the VK race is actually 4/30 ...but I'm not going to try to race the day after a 50 mile ride, and the cookout thing is still an issue.

I am Facebook friends with the guy promoting it, and I had thought I would probably do it, but there's a "grassroots" XC race scheduled at Vulture's Knob that day as well. The knob is closer, the race is cheaper, and I prefer singletrack to gravel... Plus I have to be home as early as possible on the 29th to help clean up for dinner/cookout guests. 58 miles will take me over 4 hours. Probably over 5 hours... Plus a 90-min drive each way... I'm leaning toward racing at the Knob and getting to know that group.

what I love and hate about Kia is that they're available super cheap, but if you want any options, you're paying a ton for a Kia... We bought my wife's Sorento with V6 and AWD, but it's got a pretty spartan interior, and not a great stereo. The more nicely optioned models were not only more expensive, but lacked AWD and third-row seating. Wife's was around $26k with just over 20k miles on it (a year old), but the fully optioned model of the same year tops $40k! I dig fuel economy and space in a small package. Will a bicycle fit inside the Nitro?

passing slower traffic in any low-powered vehicle is about proper planning. Just like at the race track. If you're on a ninja 250 (or daily driving a 2003 corolla), you can't ride the ass of the car in front of you, then cut left and floor it to make a pass happen. You have to hang back, and start accelerating (hard) before the left lane is clear, and time it such that you're already closing on the car in front of you at a 10-15mph deficit when you move left and go around. Accelerate in your own lane, and make a pass at-speed. Don't get into a drag race with the guy you're passing when you're the one heading head-on into traffic. At highway speeds, I agree, a 250 would start to struggle, but the principal is still the same. I don't encounter very many cars doing 90 on the highway, and unless a 250 is badly out of tune, it should hit 90. It probably takes a while to get to that speed, but it will do it.

Aerodynamics start playing a factor at 25 mph. Obviously the effect is exponentially greater at highway speeds, but a fairing on a 250 might be the difference between 105mph and 90mph. The small bikes need them more than the big bikes on the highway. My only bike is 100cc.

for those who don't want to click, they're grinding up the top 1.5" of the really bad sections, knocked down the bathrooms, and are "trying" to address the drainage issues. Honestly, as long as they do the patches right, this could have been worse. The track should be operational (i.e. bringing in revenue) this summer, and that's good for its future, and the likelihood of a proper repave.

Craig beat me by seconds! "Posted just now"

mildly off-topic, but everyone who has a HF folding trailer should take a look at the brackets where the leaf-springs are attached. I noticed a crack in one of mine several months ago. Finally got around to replacing the parts over the weekend (they took 2 months to ship from China). I snapped pics of the old parts. The cracks don't show up great in the photos, but I assure you it's not hard to see daylight through the one, and if it had cracked further, one side of the leaf-spring could have come unattached from the trailer. At highway speed, that would be ...eventful. Parts were $37. Labor was not horrible. It took me 6 hours over the course of 2 days, but I was letting my daughter "help" me, and interrupted by my other daughter's nap schedule. I could do it again in 90 mins or less.

Dude. Are you curling your girlfriends?? i literally have my trailer half apart in the garage right now. Will be ready to use Monday if you buy the bike anyway.

Took the trek tooling around to catch Pokémon. It's cruel to have such great weather and closed trails ?

They never opened online registration last time. I plan to push my pace on the social ride and see how it goes. I hear there's a lot of climbing. I'll run Strava.

I don't like being bad at things. That doesn't mean I'll be good at them, but I'll be better. Still doing a hard 30-45 mins every couple of days on the spin bike. Hoping that translates to the trails. Can't hurt.

The next day, not the next weekend, right?

Relationships are weird. The expectations people place on them are weirder.

That sucks. I understand it, but I don't like it...

I'm pretty sure the Spoke Junkies ride starts basically as soon as the dust settles from the OMBC race start. I may just do the spoke junkies ride, but try to push my pace and do the entire trail in around 3 hours. Guys are saying they can do it in 2:20 in a race, and they're not the quickest, so 3 hours (8mph average) is a decent target.

So you're saying you're in for 2 laps, and I better be ahead of you, or I'm in trouble

https://www.facebook.com/events/241310909608025/ This in Wooster, and another race I'd like to do.

This is an 8-mile trail just over the PA boarder, pretty near BeaveRun/PIRC. they run a 6-hour endurance race with a 3-hour option. There's a fat tire division that is 3 hours as well. From my research, a fast lap is under 40 minutes. I will be happy with more like 50 mins. But do the math on that... that means you're completing 4 laps and just running beyond the 3 hour limit. That's my goal. Who else wants some pain?

I had planned to race round 1 of the OMBC series on 3/18, but that was rained out. 4/22 is the rain date, and the spoke junkies already have their fund-raiser set for that date. The novice course for OMBC is 8 miles. The Sport and Expert route is the full 24 mile loop, as is the Spokejunkies ride. I'm debating which is the better use of my time at this point - an 8 mile race, or a 24 mile social ride (which will still have people who are probably faster than me...) Thoughts?

I lock my gun in my vehicle a lot. Occasionally I will forget to remove it before heading to the bar. I unload the magazine and store the rounds in my trunk, then put the empty firearm back into its locked container as normal. Same way everything is to be transported without a carry permit.