Today's Ride

yesterdays ride


was last months slide

Got out for first time on new bike down here in the jersey shore area...found a local NJ MTB group that does group rides every tuesday - first one of the season was last night.  I'm about 15 minutes from a pretty big system of singletrack.

After my parking lot fall at the end of Feb I have been pretty sedentary, the wife is about to kill me - we are bickering all the time now. I was hoping to be able to do Tucks but the Doc said it will be another 6 weeks, the curse of old age. I finally got out on the road bike last Sunday (against doctors orders), did about 30 miles and was in a lot of pain, not only because I was getting out of shape but the broken arm let my arthritic shoulder atrophy to the point where it has just started to ach, and on a long bike ride this gets very annoying. Road shorter rides this past week and then a repeat of the 30 today. There was a brutal head wind for about 10 miles, the shoulder and arm still hurt like an SOB but the ride was better. I am hoping to be able to do the Pat Stratton again this year, I have done every one except for the one Irene closed down. It will take a lot of riding to get ready, and to think just a few short years ago I was able to ride 10 centuries in a season and do the Bumps series as well, if I do just one century, the PS in late Aug is it this year I'll be happy. I freak'n missed all of slide season this year - what a pisser.

(6) Syntheticsax Mikhail Morozov by faizan-maqsood

Got out on Friday for a 10 mile ride - hit some of the more advanced stuff now that I'm getting used to the bike...followed by a leftover Switchback Porter that's been in the fridge since February.

Still don't have any pics from on the trail ha...leaving the phone in the truck..not much scenery down here...kinda flat.

In addition to "under the radar" powder skiing in WA state... we've got some really sweet pedal powered entertainment too.

Looking Southeast down the Columbia River from Horselake Mountain (el ~4400 ft)

Looking Northwest from the same spot at Glacier Peak (el ~10500 ft)


2400 vft of non-technical, relaxed climbing on a forest road over about 4.5 miles... with a super-fast and smooth single track descent that dumps you out about 1/4 mile from where you start.  

that looks amazing!

^^THAT is insane!

Went back into the new shop in town. Really starting to dig it.



Owner took a run down former residence on main street and reno'd the crap out of it. Everything behind the small front part is new.

That black box in the lower left of the pic is a "24/7 Bike Shop"... a vending machine that he customized to dispense chains, inner tubes, patch kits and other small stuff you might need when they are closed.  There a sweet schrader presta pump bolted to the side.



The interior is sweet.  He feels that women are an untapped market and are more likely to come into a bike shop with lots of light and less packed with inventory.  An expensive idea maybe but it's a very cool space.


Electric Bike with Tesla Battery


Ride du Jour

Mike asked me to come back at 3pm (closing) and he took me out for a ride.  There is a ton of open space that surrounds town.  The newest piece is 200 acres and I had never been on there.  I rode the $700 Giant and he was on a BMC that was like 3 grand. We switched back and forth and that BMC was really nice.

I liked the Giant. Still couldn't decide on a frame size. Medium felt to small and the Large felt too big.

I rode the $1000 Giant too. Same frame and wheels with better components. I felt like I could tell the diff with the shifting and braking, but who knows.

After the ride we came back to the shop and he cracked a couple cold ones. We talked bikes, Adirondacks, beerz, SEO, web dev and marketing. I like where this is going.

That is one cool bike shop. The vending machine is pure genius. Does this guy have shares in Tesla?

Can't believe a large frame size is even in the running. You should be debating between medium and small.

Fit is a very tuff thing to achieve sometimes. It makes a huge difference.

A good shop will tweek the fit by swapping stems, seat posts, etc.  If you are between sizes, on a hard tail go to the smaller, on a full suspension go to the larger.  Just my 2 cents from riding mountain bikes since 1984, but others will probably argue the other way.  

K man wrote

A good shop will tweek the fit by swapping stems, seat posts, etc.  If you are between sizes, on a hard tail go to the smaller, on a full suspension go to the larger.  Just my 2 cents from riding mountain bikes since 1984, but others will probably argue the other way.

That's what was recommended. Smaller frame with front stem that extends farther out, and also pushing the seat back on it's track.

Thanks for the input on frame/suspension combo K. Really appreciate it.

Rode east shore of lake George last night.  Instead of climbing shelving rock mounting we first went down to the lake, rode south, to log bay and headed up the trail to the waterfall. From there we continued south and took the trail up to shelving rock rd, back down shelving rock rd- and then toon the great climb up to Dacy clearing and looped back down to the lake. That is one hell of a climb. I know this post is boring without photos, it's just so damn beautiful back there I want more people to enjoy it

Gotta disagree huge here.  A long stem is going to make the bike feel sketchy, especially when the pace picks up.  Anything longer than 80mm and you're on a frame that's too short.  60/70mm would be better, paired with wide-ish bars something in the 725mm neighborhood.  Yeah, there'll be a few spots on singletrack where you either think you're going to clip your bars or actually will, but it's worth it the rest of the time.  

Also, while it's certainly important to choose the correct frame size (and make the right coarse adjustments to your saddle, bar, and stem, etc), I'd argue that a bike fit on a mountain bike is overrated, or at least to the extent that roadies often obsess over a proper fit being able to increase your power and efficiency.  If your body is in any one position long enough on a mountain bike where minute adjustments add up to have large impacts, then you're either riding your mountain bike on a road or you're just not riding it right.  Mountain biking demands incredibly dynamic body positioning, even while in the saddle but much more so out of the saddle.

Before that tangent/rant goes any further, I guess my point is that your shop guy is off-base or stuck in 1996.  

^ Agree with all of this, but I think it's due to the "Stuck in '96" reason. Short stem, wide bars is a relatively new phenomenon as far as mountain bikes go. This shop guy sounds like he isn't up on recent trends (which isn't great). But really, you want a Medium. I ride Larges.

Depends on the brand still.  Bike sizing isn't as varied as women's clothing, but not all mediums are created the same.  And in this case, if a medium only fits with a long stem and the saddle pushed way back on an offset seatpost, then the frame is too small.  

Very nice Chris!   That's the best bike leaning on something pic I've seen in a while on this thread.