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

Also, shout out to these studs that we met on top of Guardsman pass Saturday evening. They had pedaled up puke hill 4 times to haul this beast out! No excuses from here on.

 

DAAAAAAAAAAMN! thats motavation!!!

 

Y'all mispelled my name when you announced last year's winner. Like you spelled it as someone completely different's name!

 

happens every year

 

Somewhat ironically, I ended up with a bike that is almost the exact same color scheme. Not even mad!

 

Finally gonna check in with a truck and bike photo... Need to do some modifications to my existing mounts to work with the new shorter bed or just buy a hitch rack...

 

I had the Holdup2. A while back in this thread (post 314) I posted about how to make it work, but I ended up selling it on Craigslist. Meyer makes a hitch extender/dropper that brings it back far enough that you can drop the tailgate, but it hangs really far back, and I found when driving off road and through steep dips the rack was bottoming out. It was a headache.

The only rack I have experience with that works with is the Thule T2 Classic, I got it when I sold the Holdup. The pro does not work, the trays are too big. You have to mount the bike trays "back" 1-2" from the standard position, but when you do so it completely clears the tailgate.

 

Well its been raining a bunch here so no rides. I did however do some bike maintenance and swapped my peddles.
Old flats:

New:

Sorry for the messy garage I'm still working on the remodel. I need to get my wiring done and insulate...

 

@ccallen How do you like that Chromag saddle? I currently have a Deity Ti / Carbon saddle on mine and I remember how much I hate it after the 4-5 mile mark every time.

 

I absolutely love it best saddle I've owned outside of a few WTB's. That being said I have a particularly big ass. I'm 6' 230lbs not your typical bike rider size.. I average about 10-15 mile rides with about 50-50 in climb decent ratio.

 

Anybody else run into a mountain lion while biking? Didn't see it, but I sure as fuck heard it on last night's ride!

No photos, but I'm sure the shit stain on my saddle will be sufficient.

 

Never a mountain lion but earlier this year on Shoreline I ran into a pretty large rattlesnake. Nearly shit myself as I road by it, all I could think about was that fucking thing for the rest of the ride!

 

I rode over one on an uphill climb earlier this year at Eagle Mtn. I was doing basically 0 mph when I ran over it. I managed to get 1 last pedal turn in and threw my feet on top of the top tube.

It actually managed to bite my rear tire. Orange seal did a hell of a job patching it though!

 

Ho boy thats crazy.

 

We saw one about 200 feet away - in front of us while we were stopping to figure out which trail to take. He (she?) turned and went up the trail we didn't take This was at Fort Ord near Monterey. They are actually very common here in the San Francisco/Monterey Bay Areas, many of them have tracking collars and have been tracked within 1/4 mile of our last two homes which were right in town, but that was my first ever sighting after 60 years living here. This summer we saw a black bear about 50 feet away on the 2nd Divide Trail in Downieville. Had a 30 second stare-off then it turned and sauntered away.

 

We don't have mountain lion here, but I do run into bears. Most run when they see you some stand their ground. I just keep an eye out for cubs and make sure I'm not in between mom and her cubs.

 

That's crazy!

 

Yeah, I hike-a-bike'd up one of the steep canyons around here, and as I was on the DH, in the woods just to my left was a very distinctive cougar roar. Pretty sure I own the KOM for that trail now...

 

Also had a bear sighting at Downieville on Sunrise/Butcher Ranch about 100 feet in front of us. My buddy was in front and saw the bear and they had a shorter staredown then the bear trucked it down the trail. We waited a few minutes before going any further!!