Mountain Biking - Ry, Miller, others?

[ryguy79]

I am also super interested in this bike. 29, 29+, and 27.5+ compatibility with one bike.

http://reviews.mtbr.com/first-ride-revi ... rek-stache

[ryguy79]

And its been raining here for the past 6 days, with thunderstorms forecasted through Sunday, so I am really itching for a ride. Trails are all slop, except one area that's mostly rock/gravel.

[thewalrus]

Bought one. Got the Trek Superfly 6. So the blue one earlier in this thread.

Took it out to some local trails in the river valley and spent an hour or so riding. Love it. Prefer mountain biking to road biking - at least right now. The single track stuff around here is nice, but I can't wait to take these down to Banff for some real mountain trails.

Also bought my wife a Trek Cali SLX - since she didn't have a proper mountain bike and we're thinking this'll be something good to do together.

First time riding a mountain bike with clips. Went well. Fell once - when I went around corner on a single track trail fast, and came face to face with a fallen tree. Slammed on the brakes and forgot to unclip. Other than that I think that you see an even bigger advantage in mountain biking with clips than you do in road biking...

[thewalrus]

Shitty photo quality - I had to shrink things down a ton so they didn't require endless scrolling to see.

[thewalrus]

[thewalrus]

Couple more pics from today's second ride. 2 hours, all on single and double track paths… and this gravel / grass road that led to some sort of industrial area. Turned around there.

[millertime]

Where in the river valley did you take those pictures?

[thewalrus]

[ryguy79]

Nice. Unclipping will come naturally. I remember a few falls like that when i started riding clipless pedals. I still ride clipless on my hardtail but go back and forth with flats on my full suspension bike.

Interesting that you like it more than road biking. I've never been able to stick with road. I've bought and sold 4 road bikes in the last 7 years. To me road biking was just not as interesting. It's just pedaling. Mountain biking requires reading the terrain, adjusting to the trail surface, changing body position to maximize traction, especially when climbing hard stuff, which all makes it more enjoyable to me. Plus no cars.

[thewalrus]

[ryguy79]

I still do 'road' biking, when I ride to and from the park that I do the majority of my mountain biking at. Love having this place 2 miles from home, half on bike path, half on very low traffic residential street. And a lot of my winter night rides are to and through the park roads when the snow conditions aren't good for non-fatbikes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Par ... Springs%29

[ryguy79]

Feel lucky to live here every time I ride.

https://vimeo.com/87918409

This gives an idea of all the riding around Colorado Springs. Most of the video was shot here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6aA5X9O8jo

[ryguy79]

sorry to derail the thread, i just still get excited about riding here after 8 years.

[thewalrus]

Those are fantastic videos. Gorgeous scenery. And it's pretty amazing what these guys can do on a bike… I liked 1:00 on that second video.

The stuff around Edmonton isn't that awesome. But it's still pretty good. Especially once you get into the river valley. Some great, nearly empty, trails right by the water.

A lot of stuff like this:


And this:

[ryguy79]

That first pic especially looks fun.

[ryguy79]

[ryguy79]

Love this place.

Buffalo Creek. Fast fun singletrack.

[thewalrus]

Some local single track we just got back from riding on. Really green and humid in there. Fantastic. No where near a road, but pretty close to an equine centre. So you could smell the horses.

[ryguy79]

Jealous of your real dirt. Without driving a while here it's decomposed granite, sand, or clay. Miss real dirt.

[thewalrus]