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

Santa Cruz then home for dinner. Santa Cruz needs an In-N-Out.

 

Where you riding today?

 

One more ride before taking a break off the bike for a few weeks. Dirt, gravel, road combo at UCSC. The No Bikes signs always crack me up.

 

That was in Alsea, OR.

 

Photo is deceiving, but that's no baby. It was 3+ feet tall on all fours. I think it was a young adult male and definitely seemed to be out on it's own.

In less fun news... My spoke popped landing a little side hit while riding yesterday. The nipple went through the rim tape and caused the tire to lose air. I had to throw a tube in and tie off the broken spoke to get out. It also seems that my derailleur hanger got bent in the process somehow. It was very weird because it wasn't a particularly large or rough jump. I think the wheel is still true though (hooray carbon!).

 

A new trail group in Colorado Springs has been working pretty hard on re-opening a trail here. It was originally a pirate trail and probably one of the most technical ones around. Somehow the city accepted making it an official trail, downhill bike only. Part of the agreement was building a feature that allowed a new connector trail to go under it.

I haven't ridden this trail in a year or two. The new group I ride with are a little timid when it comes to steep stuff, but I was able to convince one of them to go check it out with me. This meant I needed to put my patrol back together since I've been on my Spur the last month.

The video of the small drop is me. I had to roll up to it a few times before I felt comfortable dropping it. There is a loose right hand corner right before it. Holding speed was tricky with it being so loose.

The second video is a techy rock area. My friend had to scope it out before feeling comfortable riding it. I fell near the big rock at the end, which is why my bike is there and I was filming lol.

I did not do the bigger wood drop off the last feature. My fiance is out of town and I was not confident enough to not hurt myself after riding the rest of the trail. I'm glad its so close to the road so sessioning it would be easier than if it were at the top. I was trying to grab onto the mesh on the wood to keep from falling off. The landing was pretty loose and a little steep, I could barely stand there lol.

This is definitely not a trail I would go ride alone. It is steep and loose with lots of rocks scattered on it. Its great to have this so close and in the area. I'm sure riding it more will improve my skills greatly. Gonna have to bring my knee pads next time.

https://imgur.com/a/QSCYgvJ

 

Well, there’s also “No Smoking” anywhere on campus. Not enforced either, especially on 420. I don’t smoke, don’t ride a horse, don’t walk my dog there, but I do ride on campus. However, I try to respect Natural Reserve areas when there are large groups of students working in the field. And I don’t move any dirt or ride around slides or tree falls … but I do take advantage of other people’s work . Seriously, it’s become a don't ask/don’t tell situation and it’s working OK based on UC people I’ve talked to. State Parks isn’t so happy about the Hwy 9 side trail building, however.

 

Speaking of Hwy 9 trails, there are so much more now than pre-Covid. And steep!

 

That rock drop feels way different from the top! Can’t remember if it’s the inability to see the landing that did it for me or how far you will tumble down if you botch the landing.

I also echo your surprise that this got approved.

 

Nice. Thanks for sharing. This looks fun!

The front range is really coming around on these more difficult, legal trails.

The Virginia Canyon park near Idaho springs opens soon and looks legit too!

 

I still need to get to Floyd and Black hawk. Virginia will be awesome if they get that lift in.

 

Yea that big tree on riders right makes it hard to see what your coming up on

 

Man that's changed since I rode it last. Definitely much nicer and cleaner, though I think I may have preferred it previously all nasty and "pirate-y".

 

A few weeks ago I bought a gravel bike. A typical 15-20 mile “ride from home” route for me is about 8 miles of pavement, 3 or 4 miles of fire road and the rest singletrack. I like the singletrack but figured I’d see what all the gravel bike buzz was all about. When I was a kid I rode local fire road and even a bit of singletrack on my Schwinn 10 speed, and I started mountain biking in the 1980’s with cantilever brakes and no suspension at either end. So a modern gravel bike - I bought a Specialized Diverge with the Future Shock suspended headset - was a real eye-opener. I still prefer flat bars for descents where I need to modulate brakes quickly, but on fire roads, even rutted and bumpy, this thing is fast and cushy. I’ve only ridden my Ripley once since I got the Diverge. I even did a 21 mile (yeah, I know …) race in the Sierras last weekend and won my age category. Of course there were only two of us old geezers.

 

Sweet looking bike!

In regards to descending: I've been really working on staying in the drops on descents - still feels a bit uncomfortable because my weight is more forward than I would prefer, but the ability to maintain a solid grip on the bars is much more noticeable than being in the hoods. When the trail gets bumpy I tend to squeeze the hoods harder to stay in control which makes reaching for the brakes a bit harder. When dragging the rear brake down a techy bit, I've lost grip on the lever and had a few close calls.

When in the drops and if set up properly, I can have my index finger covering each brake for speed control and still have a solid grip on the bars - having the weight shifted forward encourages me to go faster as a bonus. Coming from mountain biking it has taken a lot of mental work to get out of wanting to stay in the hoods, but it is making a world of difference in the enjoyment.

 

Gravel biking is a different kind of fun. It’s also much more convenient for me since I can hit gravel within 15ish minutes on the bike vs having to drive 30+ for most mountain biking.

any bike is better than none haha

 

There are bars with more flare to the drops and I've found that helps being in the drops. Something like a Salsa Cowchipper. But dont listen to me, I've sworn off drop bar bikes since I went into a "road closed fence" at 19mph because I was staring down someone that just drove by me and called me a faggot lol.

 

Thanks for the ideas. I want to put in a few more miles before I change bars, but I’m thinking wider (the stock is 42cm on a 56 cm bike my Ripley is about 74 cm) with a bit more flare and maybe even more rise; the stock bars have a little bit of rise already. When I have th bar rotated in the stem for the right feel on the hoods, I feel like the drops are angled down too much and my hands will slip off. More flare may mitigate that. But for now I just need more saddle time and I am fighting a bad cold that has kept me off for almost a week.

 

I used to ride a drop bar mountain bike before they started calling them gravel bikes. Ideally you want to rotate the bars until the drops feel good and then you'd re-mount the hoods to a spot that works with the bars at that angle. The hoods really should really only be there for resting your hands on long/flat sections where you don't need much control. This involves unwrapping and rewrapping your bars, which is annoying but kinda fun.

This is making me want to re-build my CX frame!

 

i redid my drop bars earlier this year. took probably 3-4 hours over a couple days and some time on the trainer to get them really dialed in so it felt good. a lot of rewrapping and adjusting the hoods/levers.

then i took the bike out downtown and got drunk. idk what i did but the left side tape got all ripped up...

kinda defeating.

i haven't rewrapped them yet lol