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2021 Mountain Biking

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4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
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Rode Sardine near Snowbasin today. Best air quality we have had in a while!
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Me too ;)
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& last nights rain made it extra special :) .
 

Tom K.

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Well, today was perfect. AQI of about 0.001, high temp of 63, perfect dirt after a surprise rain last night, and a light shower after the ride to refresh the velcro dirt for tomorrow.

A few too many pics:

First, some cliff action that is always backlit in the summer, when I want to be done riding by noon!

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General interest:

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In this shot, note the lighter, kelly green grove of trees. They are larch, which will be in peak golden beauty in another couple weeks. In mid-summer, they are nearly indistinguishable in color from the surrounding trees.

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Finally, me being a kook, but it KILLS me that this one is blurry, because the rest of the composition is great -- mostly by accident!

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Doug Briggs

"Douche Bag Local"
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I haven't been out much lately due to travel and projects that can't be put off. I have done some easier rides and got out on a ride that took a bit more effort today. It felt good. I didn't lose much other than lung (at sea level for three weeks).

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Someone had fun with one of the signs that the Breck Open Space & Trails crew put up to encourage respectful use of trails. Not all the sloth signs have googlie eyes.

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A view from an overlook on the new Upper Weber Gulch trail. This trail is super nice.

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In case you don't know which way to go. I presume a neighbor in the 'hood placed this here.
 

AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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I snuck in another ride this morning. AQI is yellow again. Views of the haze to the east
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Vs views to the west (and much closer mountains-Snowbasin to be exact)
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I’ll be monitoring the air daily, as I really want to get my fitness back before ski season.
Fall is in the air, too
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nay

dirt heel pusher
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Picked up a 2019 Fox Float X2 for a reasonable price after grenading my coil setup. I really like this shock on my first ride, it’s buttery smooth and handling big hits really well.

I’ve been musing that this might be my pony for some time…and it might. Fits nice and snug.

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Primoz

Skiing the powder
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It looks like winter is coming :) I went for sort of standard afternoon ride (40km some 1000-1200m of ascend and around 2.5h all in all), and this was view when I was still about 5km from home.

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Days are getting quite short, so I guess there's not much chances for real rides on afternoon. Not to mention that weather forecast is still promising something like +26c for today afternoon, but tomorrow cold front is coming over bringing some rain and temperatures well under +20c. Combining wet stuff, temperatures around +15c and no sun on afternoon, it will be slowly start to start getting ski equipment out, even though at the moment, I still don't feel like skiing just yet. :D
 

Tom K.

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Picked up a 2019 Fox Float X2 for a reasonable price after grenading my coil setup. I really like this shock on my first ride, it’s buttery smooth and handling big hits really well.

I’ve been musing that this might be my pony for some time…and it might. Fits nice and snug.

I've been venturing into the coil sprung world this season. For now, I think it's unbeatable up front, but still prefer the air stuff in the rear.

I've still got at least some of the pedaling efficiency mindset of an ex-racer, and I've got regular local rides where I know the optimum pressure in my rear shock varies by 10 or 20 psi. Tough to make that adjustment with a coil in the back.
 
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AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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I've been venturing into the coil sprung world this season. For now, I think it's unbeatable up front, but still prefer the air stuff in the rear.

I've still got at least some of the pedaling efficiency mindset of an ex-racer, and I've got regular local rides where I know the optimum pressure in my rear shock varies by 10 or 20 psi. Tough to make that adjustment with a coil in the back.
I've been having a heck of a time getting my shock feeling "right" this year. Maybe part of the issue is that I need to adjust pressure per ride (oh lordy.) One issue I have is if I adjust it low enough to feel more compliant on super rough terrain (we have one trail in particular that has hundreds of yards of chunky rock gardens that I typically descend) I have more pedal strikes on the climb which also has several chunky rock gardens. I also hear a weird rattle from the shock that goes away when I have more pressure in it. Oh, and brake bumps for long stretches just SUCK, but I'm not sure anything makes brake bumps palatable.

Oh, and the shorter stem felt great yesterday. It definitely centered me better over the front wheel which made climbing switchbacks feel easier again, and I didn't have to drop my own front end as low to maintain front tire contact. I still suck mightily at downhill right switchbacks.
 
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4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
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Oh, and brake bumps for long stretches just SUCK, but I'm not sure anything makes brake bumps palatable.
I rode Sardine Clockwise on Monday. Getting on & off the brakes before the bumps made them almost tolerable. :huh:
I think if people just learned better technique there wouldn’t be brake bumps :doh:.

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Tom K.

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@AmyPJ, you almost definitely have a defective rear shock. It happens -- though less and less frequently -- with the Reaktive/Thru-Shaft combination.

Before shipping it off to Fox, try one Hail Mary move: Completely depressurize shock, reinflate in 50 psi increments, cycle suspension 5-7 times between each 50 psi event.

Report back. If that doesn't do it, I'll PM you the contact info for The Big Kahuna in Fox Service.
 

Rod9301

Making fresh tracks
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I've been having a heck of a time getting my shock feeling "right" this year. Maybe part of the issue is that I need to adjust pressure per ride (oh lordy.) One issue I have is if I adjust it low enough to feel more compliant on super rough terrain (we have one trail in particular that has hundreds of yards of chunky rock gardens that I typically descend) I have more pedal strikes on the climb which also has several chunky rock gardens. I also hear a weird rattle from the shock that goes away when I have more pressure in it. Oh, and brake bumps for long stretches just SUCK, but I'm not sure anything makes brake bumps palatable.

Oh, and the shorter stem felt great yesterday. It definitely centered me better over the front wheel which made climbing switchbacks feel easier again, and I didn't have to drop my own front end as low to maintain front tire contact. I still suck mightily at downhill right switchbacks.
Get 155mm cranks and you will not get pedal strikes in the uphill
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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Colorado
I've been venturing into the coil sprung world this season. For now, I think it's unbeatable up front, but still prefer the air stuff in the rear.

I've still got at least some of the pedaling efficiency mindset of an ex-racer, and I've got regular local rides where I know the optimum pressure in my rear shock varies by 10 or 20 psi. Tough to make that adjustment with a coil in the back.

And no matter what the leverage curve says, trail bike designs with an inline shock are never really progressive when it comes to absorbing big hits so air is a lot easier to set up and maintain. Progressive rate coils + a shock with an air bladder allow a lot of tunability, though, and with a 550-670 lb coil I always left the shock open.

I have to play more with the X2 - at 220 PSI it didn’t have the pedaling support of the coil (although a quick flick to “closed” helped), but downhill it stayed more in its travel sweet spot. I’m going to go up to 240 and if I really want to keep it maybe a 2021 version since they made some improvements that may address this. I need a bench shock no matter what and didn’t pay too much for this one.
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Posts
6,476
Location
Colorado
I've been having a heck of a time getting my shock feeling "right" this year. Maybe part of the issue is that I need to adjust pressure per ride (oh lordy.) One issue I have is if I adjust it low enough to feel more compliant on super rough terrain (we have one trail in particular that has hundreds of yards of chunky rock gardens that I typically descend) I have more pedal strikes on the climb which also has several chunky rock gardens. I also hear a weird rattle from the shock that goes away when I have more pressure in it. Oh, and brake bumps for long stretches just SUCK, but I'm not sure anything makes brake bumps palatable.

Oh, and the shorter stem felt great yesterday. It definitely centered me better over the front wheel which made climbing switchbacks feel easier again, and I didn't have to drop my own front end as low to maintain front tire contact. I still suck mightily at downhill right switchbacks.

Glad to hear the stem helped, amazing the difference and really don’t know why long bikes are still being sold with longish stems.

Only solution to brake bumps is being off the brakes. Suspensions don’t perform properly under braking (like hitting a speed bump in your car under braking vs. letting off right before you go over) and there isn’t much that can be done except hit quick pumps to speed check.

Long alpine descents are awesome outside of getting brutalized by people who don’t know how to ride them. I guess that’s why we have grooming in skiing.
 

Tom K.

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Glad to hear the stem helped, amazing the difference and really don’t know why long bikes are still being sold with longish stems.

Only solution to brake bumps is being off the brakes. Suspensions don’t perform properly under braking (like hitting a speed bump in your car under braking vs. letting off right before you go over) and there isn’t much that can be done except hit quick pumps to speed check.

Well......I'm 6'2" with a stumpy little 31 inch inseam, and love a stretched out bike, so ride both of my XL mtbs with 80 mm stems. Never felt balanced with the shorter stems that came stock.

The part of being off the brakes in stutter bumps is golden, but keep in mind that Amy is riding a Trek with ABP rear suspension. Not the most efficient pedaling system in the "open" position, but inarguably one of the best in terms of minimizing brake jack. I think she's got something funny going on with her shock.
 

Primoz

Skiing the powder
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Autumn maybe but hoping winter is still a ways off.
For me there are only 2 periods.... Winter, part of the year when I ski and bike is stored away, and this part of the year is always too short. And then there's summer, or part of the year when bike is out. Well. sometimes also skis are out. But as bike is never out in winter, I guess bike is measure for defining what time of the year it is :ogbiggrin:
 

AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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I rode Sardine Clockwise on Monday. Getting on & off the brakes before the bumps made them almost tolerable. :huh:
I think if people just learned better technique there wouldn’t be brake bumps :doh:.

View attachment 142395
Are you feeling OK? You rode Sardine clockwise?! (Those brake bumps are like freakin Volkswagens!) I try modulate before I get to them, then let off, but let's be real, they are for long stretches and into downhill corners. It's the rapid-fire ones that give me fits anymore.

Let's ride Sunday!
@AmyPJ, you almost definitely have a defective rear shock. It happens -- though less and less frequently -- with the Reaktive/Thru-Shaft combination.

Before shipping it off to Fox, try one Hail Mary move: Completely depressurize shock, reinflate in 50 psi increments, cycle suspension 5-7 times between each 50 psi event.

Report back. If that doesn't do it, I'll PM you the contact info for The Big Kahuna in Fox Service.
Yeah, I've had this same shock on different bikes for what, 3 years now? FWIW it was leaking a bit earlier this season, but it only did it once and then quit. My bike needs a few other shop fixes, so I'll have my husband take it over and have the shop owner take a look at the shock. I will also try your solution above. I don't want my bike to be out of commission! It's definitely not right. It's rough and noisy. Doesn't seem to absorb hard hits as well, either.
Get 155mm cranks and you will not get pedal strikes in the uphill
True, but I'm not sure I'd want to go that short, plus finding cranks right now is nearly impossible. 165 is my happy length and I haven't even been able to find those.
 
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