TonyJ profile

Cooper is right, if you don't have the patience to wait for a permit to come through, you will never have the follow through to maintain a trail that you have built.

Best choice for people like this, is to get involved with maintaining existing trails, either through your local trail advocacy group, or hook up with some builders. If you find the right group and work with them, then you might have the opportunity to help build a new trail, offer some input into the trail design..... 

There are very few new trails being built each season, so to think that you can just rock up thinking it's your turn, well, that would be delusional.

Thanks for the correction Mr Burgundy, didn't know the colour thing, but that makes total sense.

I've only seen an XT/resin once on a bike that a friend got, it was a while back. I can't be sure it was the correct spec part or not, I just remember thinking that it was total BS. The SLX is a super common one for sure.

Kenwood,

The white and yellow sidewall tires are still exactly what they say on the sidewall. So if the spec list is the same, the tires are the same.

Maxxis uses the different colours so they can tell where tires are going/coming from. It helps them control the grey market sale of OEM tires, which they sell for a lot less $ than aftermarket tires. OEM tires still appear on the grey market, but the manufacturer can figure out the source and control it better in the future.

As somebody else stated, tires are a consumable, so I am sort of indifferent to that spec (I will replace with my choice, as they probably wont spec my choice anyways).

The place I have a problem with spec is shifter/derailleur. Don't give me an XT derailleur with a Deore or SLX shifter, it should be the other way round, I've broken 2 or 3 shifters in my life, but replace the derailleur once a year. 

The other spec issue is brakes/rotors. Shimano resin only rotors with XT brakes, or even SLX, that just pisses me off. Again, don't down spec brakes Deore/SLX instead of XT, to put on better tires, give me the better brakes, I am going to wear the tires out anyways, so......

My 2 cents.

Ahhh, Woodlot Gold, I remember that 3 exit stunt all to well, and the epically long and high bridge/log ride (that was intimidating). 

Similar experience falling backwards/headfirst into the Ladies Only swamp at full depth (wasn't terraced in the old days, just deep and muddy beside the teeter), only thing that was dry were my feet, but I had to stand up, so..... Cold winter day, rode the rest of the ride soaked all the way down to my saturated skate shoes. I don't think I'll ever feel that cold again.

For inspiration, I offer words sung by the Specials;

"Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think"

Thanks Andrew, I enjoyed that.

I will give you that Cam.

I will add a caveat though. 

If your only issue is mtn biking, then you're either so rich that none of the other real issues affect you, or, you will no longer be able to afford to live on the North Shore. The developers and the council members they have pocketed will see to that. You think it is expensive now, wait until Mosaic (trail sponsor for NSMBA) mow down places like Emery in LV and put up smaller more expensive suites, with less rental options than they have now.

Sorry. End of rant, this is a mtn bike web-site after all, politics shouldn't be discussed here unless it is about access.

R.I.P. Mark E. Smith. 

Great cover of a a great Kinks track, the Kinks  seem to be an overlooked influential band of their time.

Another great Kinks cover, by Wye Oak, performed live, with little rehearsal (AV Undercover is/was a cool concept)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jB3YK1T0_c

PS. Used to do/organize the big ride groups, now I would rather ride on my own or with a few friends. Timeline rule seems to be, for every person in the group, add 10 minutes to the total ride time. "Ain't nobody got time for that".

Was he armed with an M-16?

Yeah, that will always be a problem, especially with no trail rating signs. Wutang proper is a harder blue trail, with one black feature (the ramp). The exit you use is a full double black, there are steep rocks and a couple super tech moves (steep and off camber + roots), but it is easy to get on it and it doesn't look bad at the start. Plus, people see the ramp on Wutang proper and think the other way might be easier.

I guess you don't ride the Roach's corners at the bottom much. I did a pile of work on them last summer, drainage and dirt, I'm hoping they are holding up OK.

Posted by: Kieran

I've done quite a bit of work on the lower half.

Glad to hear somebody is keeping it running, the bottom would completely overgrow if nobody did any work. Last time I rode it, there were a bunch of braids around the top rock faces, still the case, or did you cover them up to keep the original line?

So I guess it's Mach 1 down the gravel path, with lots of skidding around the corners then. ;)

Air to dirt is a pretty hard landing, I try and keep my wheels as low as possible, small air to ramp at the most.

Although, earlier this year I came in hot, tried to squash it and landed front wheel first on the edge of the dirt, scared the crap out of myself, but it worked out. Lesson is, if you are going in too hot, you might as well send it, it's probably safer.

Pull over for motorized riders at your leisure, that's what I do. They have a motor to re-accelerate (and it's not like you're making them stop), I do not, so I will get out of the way in a spot that I do not have to stop or slow my cadence. 

I think it's the same as downhill riders yielding to uphill riders on a 2 way trail.

Yeah, That is the trail Layne built, how is that running? Not sure if somebody else has taken up the maintenance on it, or not.

You should be able to put it together with a a few long spikes and a hatchet/axe. Just need to get a good piece of wood under the riders right side of the 2 logs at the top edge. You may need to flatten/taper one side to sit solid/evenly on the rock.

As you know the bridge going out to the down was never level. Without rebuilding the whole thing from scratch, I couldn't get it to level last time either, so I wouldn't fuss about that. 

I take it, you normally go out on Layne's trail.

i fixed the ramp about 3 summers ago, after somebody had torn it out. I added slats and re-nailed the existing ones, plus added rock at the base for the run out. I haven't been out there since the closures, so I won't be doing anything to fix it again anytime soon.

If somebody else wants to step up....

Nobody and no trails exit near or around that house, so what is the concern?

What do yo consider short travel? I would say under 120mm maybe, that still isn't full XC, but is shorter than a "trail bike". 

Travel to me seems less relevent now, because you can get a 120mm bike with a 66 degree head angle, so intended use from the manufacturers end, becomes the question.