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basscyclist thread picture thread

#421
elgecko said:
I've been riding Chino Hills State Park for over a decade and have never ridden the trail I rode yesterday. What a doozie! It was like a dirt luge cutting down though golden grasslands. It's guarded by a heinous climb but I've ridden past the drop in more than a couple of times. It had me smiling like an idiot. :D

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I've gone back and done this trail a couple of more times. I found a better way to approach it and I finally cleaned the nasty, bottom section. I literally had the back of my saddle pushed up against my gut.

Here's a shot from higher up the ridge.
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San Juan Hill
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#425
Doing my first ever overnight bikepacking trip the first weekend of October. It is with a group of about 50 people sponsored by my favorite local bike shop. It will be about a 46 mile ride on the Rock Island Trail, which is a "rails-to-trails" trail so it should be a nice ride. Camping overnight then ride back. I have not been camping since I was in Boy Scouts in the early 80's so I am a bit nervous about the camping aspect! If anyone has any good tips I would appreciate it!
 
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#427
gjbassist said:
I have not been camping since I was in Boy Scouts in the early 80's so I am a bit nervous about the camping aspect! If anyone has any good tips I would appreciate it!
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My family did a huge amount of camping when I was a kid, and we've done some in recent years with our kids.

Don't trust stuff that needs to be kept dry, in bags that claim to be waterproof. I learned on a trip this summer that my 35+ year old backpack has completely lost its waterproofing.

Also, if your basic bodily needs are taken care of (food, water, clothing, shelter), then everything else can go to hell. For just one night, I would not bother with anything that needs to be cooked, and might even consider just packing sandwiches for supper. A "recovery beverage" at the end of the ride might be a nice comfort, if you enjoy that sort of thing.

Do lock your bike in the campground.
 
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#429
fdeck said:
My family did a huge amount of camping when I was a kid, and we've done some in recent years with our kids.

Don't trust stuff that needs to be kept dry, in bags that claim to be waterproof. I learned on a trip this summer that my 35+ year old backpack has completely lost its waterproofing.

Also, if your basic bodily needs are taken care of (food, water, clothing, shelter), then everything else can go to hell. For just one night, I would not bother with anything that needs to be cooked, and might even consider just packing sandwiches for supper. A "recovery beverage" at the end of the ride might be a nice comfort, if you enjoy that sort of thing.

Do lock your bike in the campground.
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Yeah I had wondered about keeping things waterproof if needed. Probably going to pack certain items in heavy duty Ziploc bags.
As for the food, I really only need to bring snacks and water for the ride itself. Dinner and breakfast are provided along with beer and coffee! It's probably going to be pretty far from a "roughing it" type camping experience, which is fine with me!
 
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#430
JMacBass65 said:
Ummmm....no thanks! Never in a million years would I be doing that. Holy crap!

You guys are completely insane!!
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Nah, but it does take some skills and a certain level of commitment to ride trails like that. TBH, I'd rather take my chances with near vertical rock faces than the drivers and the roads around here. :D


elgecko said:
The saddle was actually halfway down from where it is in the pics, which I'll do manually for long, steep descents. I'm a holdout with regards to dropper seatposts. I just can't bring myself to overcomplicate something as simple as a seatpost.
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It depends on your terrain. If you have long climbs followed by long, uninterrupted descents like you seem to have then it's not worth it to have a dropper because it's not a big deal to stop for a few seconds to manually lower the saddle. On terrain like ours where there are a lot of short steep ups and downs a dropper is a game changer. I literally cannot imagine riding here without one any more. I have the remote mounted where my front shifter would normally be and I definitely use the dropper more than I ever used the FD.

carl h. said:
That's why I ride hardtail. But I did put a dropper on the Pugsley - it's helpful in deep snow.
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I can see that. I can't see me ever going back to a hardtail for standard trail riding but a rigid fatty for winter is the next bike I will buy. I've been riding studded tires on my MTB and that's fun but it's not as fun as a fatbike.

Few pics from a pretty epic day on Sunday. The first three are on that last section of the video I posted above. See if you can spot the person in the second one. Gives an indication of just how steep the rock face is. Hmm, not sure why the pano is blurry, looks fine on FB...

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EDIT: Should probably finish the sentence about manually lowering the saddle. :D
 
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#431
Mark Reccord said:
Nah, but it does take some skills and a certain level of commitment to ride trails like that. TBH, I'd rather take my chances with near vertical rock faces than the drivers and the roads around here. :D




It depends on your terrain. If you have long climbs followed by long, uninterrupted descents like you seem to have then it's not worth it to have a dropper because it's not a big deal to stop for a few seconds to manually On terrain like ours where there are a lot of short steep ups and downs a dropper is a game changer. I literally cannot imagine riding here without one any more. I have the remote mounted where my front shifter would normally be and I definitely use the dropper more than I ever used the FD.



I can see that. I can't see me ever going back to a hardtail for standard trail riding but a rigid fatty for winter is the next bike I will buy. I've been riding studded tires on my MTB and that's fun but it's not as fun as a fatbike.

Few pics from a pretty epic day on Sunday. The first three are on that last section of the video I posted above. See if you can spot the person in the second one. Gives an indication of just how steep the rock face is. Hmm, not sure why the pano is blurry, looks fine on FB...

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OMG NO!!!!
 
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#432
Back from my weekend bikepacking trip on the Rock Island Trail. It was a damp weekend but we got lucky for most of the trip. It had rained but stopped. The only time I got soaked was for about a 10 mile stretch on the ride back. Had a good time though. Riding on a packed gravel trail is so much different than riding on roads. Much more resistance, especially when the trail is wet! Since it was basically flat, I pedaled the entire time. Those two factors plus carrying about 30lbs of gear made for some sore legs!
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#436
Stempelloos said:
Just after I opened a link to this thread I read this:
British cyclist shot dead by hunter in French Alps

It's not only traffic that can be life threatening..
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This is an issue here, especially in the Fall when it's moose season, even on the trails within city limits. We suggest that everyone wear bright colours (blaze orange) while trail riding at this time of year. It's legal to hunt essentially anywhere as long as you are more than 1km from a dwelling and lots of hunters don't even pay attention to that. Thankfully no one has been shot yet but it wouldn't surprise me if it happens eventually. I have run into moose hunters on trails well used by hikers and mountain bikers. I'm not worried about the folks hunting ducks and rabbits because they use relatively short range shotguns, but with moose they use high powered rifles with very long ranges.
 

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