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

Good day to ride and fish today.
Weather started cooling, crowds thinning, fish are hungry.

 

2.8

 

Looks solid, I know this past weekend was the big one for all the overlanders up around the Durango area. I almost went up that way but decided to do DH down at Powderhorn instead.

 

Nice brown!

 

Is that a golden or a rainbow?

 

Anybody on here have the new Hightower? I just ordered one from my local shop and very impatiently waiting

 

flipnidaho's got it, brown. Golden's aren't common around here, but plenty of cutties and browns, some bows. This one was feisty too, took a good bit to get him in, but they're loving hoppers this time of year.

 

Devinci just released this beauty.... I've been thinking I need a new short travel bike

http://www.devinci.com/hello/455

 

Was in Brevard this past weekend for the Pisgah Monster Cross... much fun was had, beers consumed, burritos crushed.

Helluvan end to a short week. Handlebar for the singlespeed arrived Tuesday, skipped the Tuesday night ride to install it, skipped the Wednesday hammer ride to test it in the woods, while watching Dorian the whole time to see if he was turning inland. Since he stayed out on the coastline; I registered for Pisgah Monster Cross... a 72 mile gauntlet of 70% dirt and gravel with 8600 feet of climbing through the Pisgah National Forest.

Took a half day Friday to drive the four hours into the mtns, find a campsite with a couple trees to hang a hammock, curse myself for forgetting my sleeping bag, realize my front brake was again inoperable... fack! Scramble to find a bike shop that was open. Luckily, I found Squatch Cycles (the irony is not lost on me that I have a Yeti and this was the only bike shop open). They really hooked me up with a new take-off Shimano Deore front brake, cut it to fit, bled it, and bedded in the pads for me... $75 out the door for that and a local Dunkel from their taps.

Crashed in the hammock, awakened at 6am by the garbage truck rumbling through the campground emptying dumpsters... @#$&! Eff it, already awake and with 2 hours to race start, I broke camp, set up the bike, and rode out to the start. Rolled out with the pack, but was dropped in the first two miles because singlespeed, then passed all those that dropped me on the climbs because, well, singlespeed... ebb and flow, pass and be passed; screaming, knee out descents, floating over the rip-rap fist sized gravel sections with my 2.3” tires while all the gravel bikes braked and checked up. Fueling went good, no flats, actually had to air down the tires at the first rest stop to calm the bike down for the chunky descents out on Wolf Mountain Rd. Hooked up with a couple buddies I hadn’t seen for awhile, then rolled back to the finish. Placed better than I expected considering I’d never raced this event or ridden any of the course before. 5th in Singlespeed and 3rd in my age group.

 

I was looking at those, I ended up getting the 2019 5010 27.5 plus. Matte Grey. I love it!! I bet you'll dig the hightower!

 

It’s dark, but doesn’t have the markings of a brown. I’d say but it’s a rainbow/golden or rainbow/cutty hybrid. It looks a lot like the mature Goldenbow hybrids we have out here. Beautiful fish regardless.

 

Any of you guys with tailgate pads have any paint wear? Or any small differences between them that give one an edge over the other? Was using a Kuat rack on the last car, but now not sure how I want to transport in the Tacoma.

 

@ridge solid day man, and yeah those descents definitely split the difference between a cross bike and a mtb for sure. I only had 33's on last year but think a 40 or 42 would be ideal!

 

There was some serious chunk and gnar on that outer loop that made me damn glad I was on MTB tires. I even overheard one of the other riders comment how they were disappointed because someone had marketed it to him as a gravel race and he'd not expected all the technical descending. I kind of looked at him sideways and asked him if he knew what Pisgah was and that was just accepted as normal for Eric's races.

 

yeah, Eric is a madman. definitely easier for a mtber to ride the cross bike out there versus a roadie trying to for sure. Aint no dirt pavement out there!

 

Whut? No phone mount on that bike; just a Garmin 830 up on the stem... Revelate mtn. feedbag hanging off to the left is holding my phone and car keys.

 

Tracking rides is fun, it’s like competing against yourself. I like seeing how I’ve improved over the year

 

I used a moving blanket from harbor freight. $4 with coupon. Worked great wasn’t pretty but it worked great. And if it got stolen so what. It did however rub the paint off the down tube of my bike where it contacted the tailgate.

 

Nice man I got the same bike pad.

 

Not sure I follow, but yea man its cool how many it can hold.