All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

I’m going to say something that’s pretty unpopular but they need to start letting some of these fires burn. Fire is a natural part of the landscape and we have prevented it for too long. Now fuel loads are higher (forest more dense) and drier than they have ever been. The forest service has been kicking the can down the road for too long and now each fire that gets out of control is catastrophic. By no means am I saying let people’s homes burn down, but if it’s in a rural area let the fire burn.

 

Did you do Bear Creek?

We did BC/P1 and maybe P2 a few years ago. Those climbs are fun.

 

Was up in North Conway NH this weekend and got a few rides in - trails are awesome and climbs kicked my ass. Ended up getting together and doing a couple downhill runs on Hurricane Mountain - upset I didn't dedicate more time to riding while there, but I don't want to get divorced either. Would recommend the area to anyone.

 

That's not unpopular at all, as most ecologists and forest managers agree (to a point). The problem is when it's human caused and completely preventable. Natural fire cycles are good, they let forests regenerate a healthy ecosystem. What's not good is when it's campfires and other human related activities that set them off, and climate change that reduces vital moisture and increase overall temperature (increasing tinder), causing them to burn larger and hotter than they should.
It's also "our fault" that property is in the forests in the first place. I mean, feel free to put your house there, but it's up to you to protect it and understand the risks involved in having a home in forest fire territory. I hate reading about fire fighters who lose their lives protecting someone's poor decisions.

 

At this point there isn’t really much choice left once a fire takes off. All they can do is their best to protect what gets in the way that can be protected and let the rest burn. There are already too few days in the year that meet the standards for humidity for allowing controlled burns and those days are diminishing. “Raking the leaves” or any other human endeavor only serve to help decide where firefighters can focus their efforts with any hope of success. The landscape has changed both by drought conditions and where people have chosen to live but it’s not just the boonies that are threatened now. Look for even more drastic changes to building codes or allowable landscaping as well as what insurers will deem “defensible”.

 

What model is that SC? How do you like it?

How have you been liking the new HT? Did you Canadian buddy have the purple Optic? I've been keeping my eye out for a used Optic but last year the two top models are either that purple or a kind of bright mint green. Not my favorite frame colors.

 

My turn at a PSA: check yourself thoroughly for ticks post ride. We always do but doc is pretty sure I've got Lyme. On doxy now pending blood work.

 

I love my Sirius! The only thing that I'm not super stoked on is that they only have one set of bottle bosses in the triangle. The standover is super low though, so they had to delete the seat tube bosses in order to fit a dropper long enough to actually work. I put a 180 post in it and I think I might have been able to squeeze a 210 dropper in. The saddle is low enough dropped, that I can comfortably stand over the saddle with my feet flat on the ground. Imagine a 29er BMX bike!

Yeah, Canada guy had the purple optic. He shredded the hell out of it! I love purple, but even I'll admit it's a little much on the color scheme.

 

Damn dude, Hope your ok. I hate those little bastards and I am so paranoid about it.

 

Ditto & thank you. Wife is an NP and we check one another religiously post ride so who knows. PA didn't seemed concerned that it might be past a treatable period. Doxy & Tylenol for the fever and should be good to go

 

I don't think tht's unpopular at all. I think human caused fires are the problem. Natural fires are fine I think. But also, if the fires are threatening human life or structures, then yeah, douse it down. But you're not wrong. higher fuel loads have contributed to the problem because we've just...let it grow. :/ Firefighting departments are now starting to to d a lot more controlled burns. On top of that, "containment" is also changing as a term as they are working to let the fire burn but also prevent it from getting completely out of hand. Out of hand woudl be like what California had last year. Wouldn't want that again.

 

Its a Nomad4. I gotta' say, its probably my most favorite bike of all time. For a 7-inch bike, it climbs unreasonably well, better than my Bronson before it, and descends like whoah! I suspect I'll be riding this bike for a few years yet. It feels like the bike was made just for me and how I like to ride.

 

https://www.raceface.com/blogs/community/huck-naked-celebrating-the-world-naked-bike-ride
lol. this seems very high consequence, but super fun/interesting.

I almost did a seattle naked ride one year but had just started a new job teaching kids, not the best look.

 

Last years’ fire storms were the result of 12,000 lightening strikes and downed power lines from high winds. Grass fires are not uncommonly caused by cig butts tossed, you can see them fan to a glow even from a distance as they exit a window but grass fires have the lowest fuel loads and are easiest to quench with local talent. You can see burn spots by the dozen every year. It’s when it gets into dense brush or worse brush with a canopy that it gets so much harder to contain. And it was the canopy that both attracted the strikes and shed limbs into power lines. And being largely dead or very dry wood it went up like so many Roman candles throwing embers for a mile or more of a size to still be burning when they landed. Sometimes it’s one ignition by some idiot but when you get a hundred simultaneous ignitions and high winds all you can do is try to get out of the way. It was “out of hand” from the get go.

 

Consequences both personal and professional.

 

Former FS employee here. It's kinda' too late. We should have been doing that in the 80s and 90s.

Now that its 1-billion degree's with no water left, the best possible solution would be to start buying back water rights from famers and let soil moisture and native plant species return/recover. But that will never happen for reasons that should be obvious to everyone on this thread.

 

Yeah...idk how I could handle that.....

 

my dropper cable is constantly getting gunked up to the point I'm replacing it all too frequently. Is there a cable/housing combo that is better at surviving wet/gunky/nasty environments better than any ordinary cable?

 

One hand for the bike and one for yourself? It’s wrong on so many levels but humans seem to excel at exploring the margins of sanity.

 

Put a bellows on the exposed end? I run I-link housing with continuous liner tube that covers all the cables between stops.