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

Morgans and lots of stuff in Cheyenne Canyon is fun (and my favorite trails on the front range), but if you want gnarly check out Powder Keg/Ore Chute at Maryland Mtn (near Black Hawk). That sucker has enough exposure to make any skilled rider with self-preservation nervous in at least a few spots.

 

Disagree. YT Decoy was $6K for a full battery XT everything (RSC brakes) build. Granted that was pre-covid, but they're almost back to the same level. At the time that was the same price as most pedal bikes at the same build spec, even lower than SC and Yeti.
I personally really enjoy days out on the e-bike. It's very different from the pedal bikes, and I love having the option. Last year (with the newborn) I spent about 25% of my rides on it and loved each one.
Don't box me in bro!

As a new dad, I also relate. My rides have halved, time out reduced, but each ride is that much more sacred and definitely makes me enjoy it more. I stop to enjoy the view, breathe the air, listen to the silence, smell the flowers...
When I lived in CO I was in the same boat as you. No real friends to ride with, 99% of my rides were solo. It's one of the things that brought me back to SLC. I have 2 good friends that I MTB and snowboard with here, and we try to make it happen. We're all about the same speed up and down, and enjoy riding the same stuff. It's been rad having that back in my life.

As mentioned, it's hit and miss. In Boulder/Denver and SLC there are definitely hordes of the "bros" out. Whatever, I just ride and give them space. One of the nice things about MTB is that if you just wait a minute or two, you'll get plenty of space from people. For people like us, riding will always be out having fun. Some people just need a culture to get sucked into, helps them feel like part of a group. You see that everywhere.

Hopefully they don't dull that down. It had so many fun sections, hidden hits everywhere.

 

Ore chute is definitely on my list of places to ride this year. Just waiting for things to thaw and dry out.

Honestly though, I'm pretty nervous about those trails. Most videos I've seen make it look way too gnarly and high risk. But I'm training for some enduro races so I'll have to get it a shot either way.

 

Same, but mine comes in red. Red is faster.

 

But bLu is fastest

 

oh no....not this color argument again...............

 

Mine is yellow (well, it's white, but the yellow brand). It's an old DR350, old and slow, suits me just fine.

 

There's no shame in checking it out and taking the b-lines or walking what you don't want to ride. The other trails at MM are fun and have far less "fall off a cliff" kinds of consequence. I'm glad I did it and saw it, but I'm unsure if I'll go back. While I'm not for dumbing down trails, there were definitely some improvements needed when I rode it, just to maintain catch berms and make some lines more proper - there was a group out there doing just that when I rode it. I was with 3 colleagues, all of who are also advanced riders with lots of various DH/racing/coaching background, and by the bottom we were all just happy to be (mostly) unscathed. When it comes to legally built formal trails in CO, that has to be the highest consequence one I've seen to date. I like steep and tech trails, but I don't like risking life and limb more than necessary to ride them.

 

The greyer my beard gets the less willingness I have to send ‘er. Maybe that comes from recovering from multiple knee and shoulder surgeries. Don’t get me wrong, I still like riding hard trails. I just like riding more than recovering. My goal is to still be riding double blacks at 75.

 

for mentioning... the header rail was received yesterday within a few days of ordering. all is as it should be at first glance. Will be mounting it today so if there are any upcoming issues I can make that apparent. Seems to be legitimate Toyota parts. 46$ shipped

 

holeshot

 

Time to freshen up some wheelsets for this season. Originally planned to swap wheelsets and sell the current set, but now I kinda wanna just build a new gravel/road bike.

Currently riding some Reynolds ATR's on the Hakka. They're great wheels. If someone is interested, I might part ways.

But, my buddy was leaving Specialized and got me a "too good to pass up" deal on a set of Roval CLX's. Paired it with an XTR cassette, Sram Centerline Rotors, Absolute Black lock rings, Panaracer GravelKing SS tires and trying out some Pirelli SmarTubes.


I have an XTR cassette on my hardtail too and it's a thing of beauty.
Everything gets torqued. Just like the truck lol



And so are these Absolute Black lock rings. They're pricey AF. But it's such a clean look and seem to just disappear against the rotor. I'll use them every time. Have them on the Reynolds too.



They're no Alpinist's buttttttt, Weight Weeny checking in....



New set all built up and no where to go

 

Oh and in total.... I dropped 1.07 lbs! I was surprised it was that much. Lighter wheels and lighter cassette got me about 1lb of that. Tire's saved me the rest.

 

I was freshening up some 700c wheels today too.

Continental GP5000. Latex tubes. Nobl CR35s. Industry Nine 1/1 hubs. Waiting on a new cassette and rotors.

Getting prepped for Tucson next month. These are usually my gravel wheels with an Eagle cassette but it will be a while before I'm outside with that setup again.

 

Must be wheel day, I swapped my studded tires onto the fat bike tonight

 

Saw the Trek Madone SLR7 23% off closeout sale on their site, called my local store and 4 in my size left in stock in country. Safe to say.....

 

That looks like a sick setup. Those lock rings are very pleasant to look at haha.

I would like to get some Nobls for my gravel bike too, love them on my mountain bike

 

Are you the local buyer going to look at stuff? I texted him and he said someone is going to come by. I’m very interested in the torque wrench and bleed kit

 

I’ll give er a look, thanks

 

Yes that was me. I grabbed a few items, including the torque wrench.