Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[muted reborn]

This goes way beyond the end of mechanical drivetrains. I won't be surprised if 5 years from now they only make ebikes except for niche stuff like XC/DH race bikes, DJs, etc.

This is a logical conclusion based on the dumbfuckery of the industry in the past 15+ years, ha. I don't feel bad when any bike company goes under, I know I should be sympathetic but a ton of them are mismanaged by idiots who are better bikers than workers, and I'm sick of all the upgrade non-compatible bullshit pushed on consumers over the years in the name of progress and also how complicated bikes are now. Biking was just as fun 10+ years ago, better trails have made this sport so much better, not the bikes necessarily. I mean, I love how easy it is to go up and down now but what a painful fucked up process is was to get here. And we aren't done.

If i rant anymore Toast will say I'm obviously a shitty biker and my ego can't handle that so I'll stop here.

[joetron]

We are living in a golden age of mountain bikes. Live it up.
There will always be regular mountain bikes. Probably fewer to choose from, but they will probably be awesome.
I’d rather ride older trails on new bikes than newer trails on bikes from 10 years ago…that’s some worse case scenario shit, gross.


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[muted reborn]

I’d rather ride older trails on new bikes than newer trails on bikes from 10 years ago…that’s some worse case scenario shit, gross.

I never said I'd rather only bike on new trails - the combo of being able to ride old trails and new trails now is pretty sweet. So many options and a ton of variety too these days has made biking a lot more fun!

[joetron]

Worst case scenario shit is actually riding e-bikes in Bentonville


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[smmokan]

Worst case scenario shit is actually riding e-bikes in Bentonville


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Fuuuuck…. I’d rather ride the Whole Enchilada on a rigid single speed.

[toast2266]

If i rant anymore Toast will say I'm obviously a shitty biker and my ego can't handle that so I'll stop here.

I would never!

But anyways, yes, rant away. I'm always down for an anti-industry / anti ebike bitch session.

Despite owning an ebike an occasionally being associated with the industry.

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[SchralphMacchio]

Rant, the annual league lockout (smokeout) begins earlier and earlier each year. Of course it starts with some players threatening strikes (well, 1500 CG strikes on Tuesday night, to be specific). Then the owners smolder in anger over the strikes for a few days and just decide to lock (smoke) out basically all of the major venues. It won’t end until late collective bargaining (September rains). Thankfully, even in some of the worst lockout seasons in recent memory, the playoffs of mountain biking have always delivered.

[hick]

^^^Ha!!! I love it!! (Well, not the smoke…)


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[HankScorpio]

I crashed hard on a downhill only, bike only trail a few days ago after I took a corner and had to avoid two octogenarians hiking up. I managed to avoid both of them but still ate it pretty hard. They looked about as old and frail as a dry leaf so me crashing was probably the best outcome. I wasn't too banged up and my bike was fine.

The trail has "DO NOT ENTER, BIKES ONLY" signs at the top and the bottom. I refrained from screaming at them because the wife was very apologetic and yelled at her husband that they shouldn't be hiking here.

This is the second time recently I've almost destroyed a hiker hiking up a bikes only, directional trail. There are clearly posted signs on these trails. How are people this oblivious so often?

There are also miles and miles of amazing hiking only trails around so why are people hiking the bike trails? I just don't understand the connection between going on vacation here and completely shutting your brain off. Fucking pay attention.

End rant.

[SchralphMacchio]

^ hope you recover quickly. I had a similar situation except the couple was my age and I didn’t eat it when I had to go off the trail … but same thing, directional trail signed with “Bikes only, Downhill Trail, Wrong Way, Fast moving bikes cannot dodge hikers,” and the female hiker was apologetic and angry with male hiker. I asked if they saw the signs and they said yes but they said they were confused and someone told them to go this way. That’s only happened once to me on this system though, and it’s close enough to the city center that it gets a lot of bike and hiker traffic every day.



More ranting, watching your local bucket list trails getting roasted is the MTB’ers doomscrolling porn.

Pyramids Epic Loop
(I had a camping trip scheduled here for next week, my friend and I were trying to line up a schedule for the last 4 years to ride this whole thing … time to redirect)



North Umpqua Trail



Oh yeah, Tire Mountain Trail (ATCA) is also on fire, but that one didn’t look so bad because it doesn’t have too much fuel back there and the fir trees are pretty healthy in that area.

[Boissal]

^ hope you recover quickly. I had a similar situation except the couple was my age and I didn’t eat it when I had to go off the trail … but same thing, directional trail signed with “Bikes only, Downhill Trail, Wrong Way, Fast moving bikes cannot dodge hikers,” and the female hiker was apologetic and angry with male hiker. I asked if they saw the signs and they said yes but they said they were confused and someone told them to go this way. That’s only happened once to me on this system though, and it’s close enough to the city center that it gets a lot of bike and hiker traffic every day.

Had one of these last season or the one before, less than 100' from the end of the trail. A couple had just ignored a giant sign and was on the inside of a berm which saved their asses. I slid across the lip of the berm and rolled into scrub oak, no harm done but everyone got really sketched out. And as both of you experienced, the woman was bitching out the man who decided it was OK to ignore the sign. Dude in my case got a brutal tongue lashing and probably spent the night with the dog.

[XXX-er]

330 million rugged individualists

we also have those people but ours were taught to read eh

[sfotex]

The press fit Shimano BB has been creaking and was feeling crunchy so I decided to replace it last night. God damn that thing was welded in there. I was using the 4-prong claw of death but that fucker didn't want to move. Finally resorted to a big screw driver to get the bearings out and then the sleeves came out pretty easily. I'm using the Shimano tool next time I have to do that job...

[zion zig zag]

Condensed rant, because my long drawn out story was lost when TGR decided to refresh in the middle of my typing.

Short story: Fuck Eden Valley Trails and the sanitization of North Fork Park. I have no doubt that the place will only be for terminal beginners within another year or so. RIP old school fun trails.

[Dantheman]

Never rode those trails but there's no reason for that shit.

[SchralphMacchio]

Condensed rant, because my long drawn out story was lost when TGR decided to refresh in the middle of my typing.

Short story: Fuck Eden Valley Trails and the sanitization of North Fork Park. I have no doubt that the place will only be for terminal beginners within another year or so. RIP old school fun trails.

Look on the bright side, you can go back to stuffing three tokens in your fork and dropping air pressure by 20 psi [emoji12][emoji12][emoji12]


Couldn’t resist [emoji23]

[zion zig zag]

Look on the bright side, you can go back to stuffing three tokens in your fork and dropping air pressure by 20 psi [emoji12][emoji12][emoji12]


Couldn’t resist [emoji23]

Why I oughta…..

But yeah, totally deserved!

[zion zig zag]

Never rode those trails but there's no reason for that shit.

I saw a photo of the trail work on their instagram page and I was so curious that I had to create an account to read it. They said that the old trail was “too steep and unsustainable” and that “water was going to expose rocks and dish the tread.” I have a terrible memory, but I know I’ve been riding that trail for the past 10-15 years, maybe longer. It has endured with virtually zero maintenance in that time frame.

The issue is the trail builder. This is all he knows how (or cares) to build; flat, over bermed, needless corners with grade reversals on both sides. He really has perfected the uphill both ways technique. Ugh, so bummed out after seeing it today.

[smmokan]

Sounds like what’s happening to the legal trails around Denver/Boulder…. Dumbing down just about everything, because apparently everyone needs to be able to ride everything. That’s what we get when the local trail associations are completely out of touch with the local MTB community. But hey, we got a flat, wide 3-mile connector trail to nowhere that took five years to build.

Thank god for the unmarked stuff.

[evasive_MT]

I saw a photo of the trail work on their instagram page and I was so curious that I had to create an account to read it. They said that the old trail was “too steep and unsustainable” and that “water was going to expose rocks and dish the tread.” I have a terrible memory, but I know I’ve been riding that trail for the past 10-15 years, maybe longer. It has endured with virtually zero maintenance in that time frame.

The issue is the trail builder. This is all he knows how (or cares) to build; flat, over bermed, needless corners with grade reversals on both sides. He really has perfected the uphill both ways technique. Ugh, so bummed out after seeing it today.

Having some of those conversations here. I’m arguing that there isn’t one definition of “sustainable” and that a rubble-armored trail is sustainable, and actually desirable in some settings (e.g. backcountry). Erosion only becomes an issue when it degrades the environment, the resource, or the experience. In the case I’m thinking of, none of those are happening. And the trail hasn’t changed perceptibly in decades.

[toast2266]

Steep trails are unsustainable.

Until you go to Italy and ride a bunch of ridiculously steep trails that the Romans built a couple thousand years ago that are still doing just fine.

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[evdog]

That’s what we get when the local trail associations are completely out of touch with the local MTB community.

It's also what you get when you hire a professional trail crew led by someone who barely knows how to ride a bike, has no formal training and no real background in trailbuilding, and has barely ridden anywhere outside of local trails. And then you go buy them a mini excavator and set them loose without any oversight. They've done well on a few things but mostly what they've built can be described as trail that a land manager will love but no mountain biker will be excited to ride. aka dirt sidewalks.

[Bunion 2020]

On Friday I went to a project site to ride the new "trail" that a landscape company is building to connect to an existing network.

3' wide, rolled and flattened and then topped with 1/4" gravel with a binder mixed in and rolled again. Just pave the fucking thing already.

[zion zig zag]

It's also what you get when you hire a professional trail crew led by someone who barely knows how to ride a bike, has no formal training and no real background in trailbuilding, and has barely ridden anywhere outside of local trails. And then you go buy them a mini excavator and set them loose without any oversight. They've done well on a few things but mostly what they've built can be described as trail that a land manager will love but no mountain biker will be excited to ride. aka dirt sidewalks.

This kinda describes it. The guy is a stay at home dad/trustfunder type. So he's always been there, and has always done some light maintenance, and now a lot of people that don't really mountain bike think he's great. Looking at the comments on Insta looks like he's got a group of supporters that tells him how great he is anytime he lifts a shovel.

So, what's the play? Contact county commissioners and ask them to institute some kind of public input process before giving him cart blanche? Talk to the county parks director (I know him personally and professionally, but we're not close)? Or just accept the fate of this trail system and move on? This is honestly less about me than my kids. I am getting old and will likely move away, but this is one of the closest trail opportunities to where they live.

[Dantheman]

I seem to recall being repeatedly told that if you didn't help build new trails or pay for them you have no right to complain if they suck.