Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[Ted Striker]

+1 on spears.

[jm2e]

I hit one like a jousting pole years ago. Literally just stopped me cold while the bike kept rolling forward and I crumpled to the ground. Fortunately close to the car and came away unscathed but for some sore ribs.


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[smmokan]

I did the laramie enduro a few yrs ago after a lot of rain and several miles of the race go through pasture. needless to say I was mud spackled by the end.

wasn’t feel well later that evening, but figured it was just bc of racing 70+ miles. By the next day I couldn’t eat anything without being in the fetal position within a few minutes so I went to urgent care and turns out it was a stomach infection most likely from getting face splattered with cow patties during the race (or also potentially from getting on my water bottle during the race and then drinking from that)

But I’d probably have to say dog shit mentally would be worse for me than cows since it’s used as fertilizer on crops etc.

all pretty disgusting though

I hear this is what made the guys at Yeti finally redesign their frames.

[Thaleia]

"oh, you're on one of THOSE"

Yeah that's some bs.

[Boissal]

Spears...motherfuckin' spears. I understand when peeps can't move a fallen log across the trail, I do my best to get fallen trees completely off the trail and without a saw can usually roll it off. But leaving spears sticking into the trail...there's no excuse. They almost always seem to be old fallen tree tops or broken branches sticking into the trail towards the direction of the oncoming rider. Move the thing aside if you see one or break of the offending branches, easy.

Yes, I ran into one today, fortunately not too badly as it scratched up my arm but it was in a fast section after a blind corner with a natural wall ride and I can see on Strava multiple peeps had been down the trail already before me, took me all of 10 seconds to break of the offender and continue on...FUCK THEM!!!

This x 1000.
Had an encounter with one earlier this season, fortunately it didn't skewer me. I was hauling ass around a slightly bermed switchback, probably a bit too fast so I couldn't really do much damage control when I noticed it. Big old branch coming off the brush right at the exit on the inside of the turn. It clipped my fork and spun the handlebars, completely stopping the bike. I front flipped off the trail and landed on my face in the brush, ripping off the visor of my helmet and smashing my sunglasses on the bridge of my nose, scraping the shit out of it. I climbed back on the trail and pulled the branch out with 0 effort. There were at least 10 people ahead of me on the trail...
I ended up with a really sore neck and some nice lacerations and punctures on both arms and legs from the mature scrub oak (that shit is heinous). When I got to the car I found that a 4" long 1/2" diameter sharp branch had gone through the outer pocket of my pack and was still dangling there. One of the reasons I never ride without a pack...

[plugboots]

Related to spears the bears are feeding on Serviceberry where I ride now. They pull the thin willowy trees down to eat the berries, and the tree stays hung down across the trail. They're actually pretty hard to see until you're right on them. Not a rant really, cuz seeing bears is cool, but...

[jamal]

A few weeks ago I was riding and then was suddenly on my head- end of a tree stump just slightly protruding into the outside of a corner, obscured by brush. Thankfully a cracked helmet was the worst of it but I'm thinking that one could stand to be trimmed back a bit.

[skaredshtles]

A few weeks ago I was riding and then was suddenly on my head- end of a tree stump just slightly protruding into the outside of a corner, obscured by brush. Thankfully a cracked helmet was the worst of it but I'm thinking that one could stand to be trimmed back a bit.

Don't sanitize the trails to suit your ability!

Oh, wait.

[EWG]

Don't sanitize the trails to suit your ability!

Oh, wait.

Clearly, after my latest knee smashing high side bullshit on a smooth-ass downhill, with enough speed you can make any trail technical. Well, and rain. And clay.

[skaredshtles]

<snip> and rain. And clay.

[XXX-er]

I'm working on a leaking/leaked shower in my rental suite and can't go biking or paddling,

the good news is the plumber aced it quick & cheap

[rideit]

Those things can be lethal.

The closest I have had to a lethal accident was a pedal clip. I was deeeeeep in the middle of nowhere exploring a game trail (no one knew where I was), I clipped a pedal, and went down on my head/helmet. It was dusk when I went down, it was fully dark when I came to. Very scary.

The other time was skidding off of Porcupine to the right of the trail above a 500 foot drop...but that was a different issue, it was a handlebar> tree clip...

[beaterdit]

Ripping down Ridge trail in Steamboat in a hailstorm/rainstorm. Top 1/2 is nice crushed granite and loam and we were hauling despite the weather. Apparently about halfway down it turns into clay, which I didn't know - the kind that turns into snot that coats everything. Hit a corner that looked fine (no one else was there so only a couple of tire tracks) going far too fast and totally lost the front end on the super slick clay.

You know how sometimes when you sort've high side you can smack your stem with your knee? Not sure exactly what happened, but I think I essentially did that, but hard enough to take a big chunk out of my flesh over the kneecap. Deep.

Now I'm fucking sidelined with stitches on the front of my knee. I've got tons of stuff scheduled over the next couple weeks that I'm going to miss. Knee's all swollen and even if it wasn't I can't bend it enough to bike or run without popping the stitches. Fucking trail is probably the least technical trail I've ridden in years, and somehow I do this shit.

On the upside, the Steamboat ER was really good and really quick. So there's that.

..... Same thing happened to me 10 yrs ago. Riding down a narrow trail on steep side slope my front wheel rode up the slope slightly and then washed out. The entire side slope was dirt except for a single embedded cobble. Guess what my knee slammed into, splitting it wide open just below the knee cap - worst possible spot. Had to wear a full leg immobilizer for 10 days and stitches were in for 5 weeks. For what should have been a trivial wipeout this kept me off the bike longer than any other injury including 2 ACLs and various broken bones.

Kneepads guys! I learned long ago not to get on the mountain bike without them, no matter the trail. I'll find a way to bash my stem or frame even while climbing, or crash for no good reason. After five knee surgeries and a lifetime of abuse, my knees are real sensitive to even mild knocks, let alone splitting them open on rocks. Shit happens, and they've saved my ass many times.

Not even close to the same as cow shit splatter.

..........

I'd prefer cow shit to dog shit in my teeth 100%, Baby Bear's story notwithstanding. Down tube water bottles are a no though.

[beaterdit]

The closest I have had to a lethal accident was a pedal clip. I was deeeeeep in the middle of nowhere exploring a game trail (no one knew where I was), I clipped a pedal, and went down on my head/helmet. It was dusk when I went down, it was fully dark when I came to. Very scary.

The other time was skidding off of Porcupine to the right of the trail above a 500 foot drop...but that was a different issue, it was a handlebar> tree clip...

Pedal clips are bad, handlebar clips can be worse.

I was moving pretty quick down the LCC trail and a spindly, branchless little tree on the inside of a corner grabbed my bars and sent me superman head first into a big tree off the trail. Thought I broke my neck had a concussion with some short term memory issues. Went to the ER and the neck imaging looked OK. Was real sore but went and raced the Hoedown the next week. Back hurt for months. Found out later I had compressed a thoracic vertebra, fuck. The little tree was only about three feet tall and an inch across, no branches. Didn't even register in my vision until I was headed for the big tree face first.

I guess I can rant on building corners around trees so close you can't get your lean on. Also when the trail crews trim but don't get the insides of the corners enough. But I could get out there and trim more myself so...

[robnow]

The other time was skidding off of Porcupine to the right of the trail above a 500 foot drop...but that was a different issue, it was a handlebar> tree clip...

I think we've all seen this:

[Boissal]

I hadn't. I'm not sure I'd be laughing...

[rideit]

Holy crap, I hadn’t seen that.
Mine was not that close, for sure.

[skaredshtles]

That rider is a complete dumbass... Specialized bike, of course.

[Dantheman]

Pedal clips are bad, handlebar clips can be worse.

Bar clip is how AC got a concussion and snapped her steer tube off (at the stem/upper head tube connection ) while taking an easy cruise down Ghost Falls.

I guess I can rant on building corners around trees so close you can't get your lean on.

That shit is the worst.

[jono]

Very interesting clip. Ridden past that almost 100 times and never even knew it was possible to be that close. Consciously, that is. Pretty sure my brain won't let me look 3 degrees from forward when crossing that crack.

[Redsmurfer]

Heli-biking kills baby polar bears!!! Come On!! Do you really need a helicopter for biking?? How can you justify the carbon foot print of a day of heli-biking? Do mtbers have no shame? flame away My bitchen ride below

[muted]

Heli-biking kills baby polar bears!!! Come On!! Do you really need a helicopter for biking?? How can you justify the carbon foot print of a day of heli-biking? Do mtbers have no shame? flame away My bitchen ride below

Apparently Instagram influencers have told me I'm not the issue, big corps are, so I am free to ride a million dollar machine burning Jet A to the top of a mountain and I'm not worry. Yes!!!!!!

Is that a coal-powered electric car?

[Dantheman]

My JoeBlow Booster pump is proving to be absolutely useless for my new wheels. Worked great on my old wheels, but the god damn thing hasn't successfully inflated a single tire since I got my new bike. *This* close to chucking it in my recycling bin. Pretty sure there's a Harbor Freight air compressor in my future.

[Andeh]

My JoeBlow Booster pump is proving to be absolutely useless for my new wheels. Worked great on my old wheels, but the god damn thing hasn't successfully inflated a single tire since I got my new bike. *This* close to chucking it in my recycling bin. Pretty sure there's a Harbor Freight air compressor in my future.

I've had a hell of a time with mine on certain wheels and tires, others I don't even need to use the chamber. What I have found works on the stubborn ones is taking out the valve core (to allow greater volume of air burst), and to over-pressurize the thing to the 6:00 position. Disclaimer: do this at your own risk.

[Dantheman]

What I have found works on the stubborn ones is taking out the valve core (to allow greater volume of air burst), and to over-pressurize the thing to the 6:00 position. Disclaimer: do this at your own risk.

Tried both of those tricks already with no success in over a dozen attempts total. Looking at this little guy: https://www.harborfreight.com/air-to...sor-61615.html



Seems like it should be up to the task at hand.