apak profile

I just wanna know where you got that amazing short-sleeve flannel shirt that is comfortable enough to bike in.

Seriously, I must have it!

Morgman, that is good to know. I have never tried the Mallets myself, that is just what I heard from multiple users around town who had tried them. Their opinion convinced me to just get the Candy pedals, and a seperate pair of classic DH pedals which I interchange depending on the day's type of ride.

The consensus is that these are not any good without cleats. The wings of the slip body stick out too much to provide any practical platform for riding with just flat soles.

Just going to double check my calendar what day it is before I read the whole article.

Fair enough. Specialized seems to make a dozen variation for all their specific models so everyone is bound to find exactly what they want at a given price point.

Wouldn't you agree that for $8000 there are much better buys?

For example, in that same high end market, why not a Cannondale Scalpel Carbon 29er? If I am not mistaken, that fellow is some 3-4 pounds lighter, and some $1000 cheaper… with only slightly less travel, but with all the awesomeness that is a Lefty.

27 pounds for a $8000 XC ride?

The lower end models are good value, but that Pro Carbon version makes no sense whatsoever at that price. Too heavy for the XC racer, too dainty for the aggressive trail rider.

sorry but you're wrong here.

while the original post was inflammatory, there's nothing inherently wrong with complaining or wondering why a log got cut of the trail when it seems that it was not a big hazzard or detriment to the trails current or future condition.

Perhaps I am, it happens often.

But what makes its idiotic is not because someone is voicing their opinion or expressing a concern. It is the childish tone of entitlement that drips from it in every sentence. No one owes this dude anything - especially the trail builders - and he/she should get it hammered in the head.

I am, just like the OP, a non-contributing no body that just heads on these amazing trails and reaps the benefit of hour and hours of hard work volunteers have put in to make it possible. I am sure that every single one of these volunteers would have preferred to be riding their bike, rather than hours in the evenings and weekend breaking their back shoveling. I for one, just count my blessing and try to enjoy every second my wheels touch the golden gravel they pave.

Sure, if they came and directly asked my opinion, I might make a few suggestions. Or if I headed out to every trail day, then yes, I might express something. Otherwise, I keep my yap closed and encourage the other non-contributing parasites to do the same.

Question.

Why is it assumed that the OP is acting like he's hardcore?

…Judging by the poll on this thread,as flawed as it may be,it appears to be more of a reality that smoother trails aren't the product that the masses desire.

…And going for a ride with Simmons to prove how HC you are won't change a thing about the direction of trailwork on trails that folks are talking about,so let's put that one to rest.

You are actually giving dignity to that poll? Can you see the two options to choose from? The choices are:

1) You agree with me that NSMBA is turning the Shore into gravel path, and you don't care

and

2) You agree with me that NSMBA is turning the Shore into gravel path, and you don't like it

It is an idiotic poll, and an idiotic complaint.

Everyone, let's focus on the real problem here! The gravel trail NSMBA is making on Bridle Path is just a ploy to take our attention away from the real destruction they are doing elsewhere, which is:

Making the Bobsled exit wheel chair accessible! I mean WTF?! The 5 meters of eroded gnarly rockfest at the end of that trail was the best experience in all of the North Shore. How dare they remove all that shit and flatten it out? They should have left it to its "natural" state. Now it totally messed up my enjoyment of that trail and the North Shore is now so stupid is not worth riding anymore, and I'm gonna sell my mountain bike and buy a hybrid. It also totally fucked up with the KOMs of the whole Bobsled segment on Strava. I mean fuck, now someone has to make a new segment, because all the previous KOMs are invalidated.

Fuckin trail builders are ruining my life. Why can't they just go fix their own trails, and leave my trails alone?

Stop the whining and try to be less of an entitled little drama queen. Were you there help build the trail in the first place? Were you there helping NSMB volunteers restore it? Or were you riding it, enjoying it, and then decided to come bitch about something you have contributed nothing to?

News flash, you aren't entitled to having the trails the way you want them.

Another news flash, the entire North Shore is defined by an overabundance of technical gnarly shit. Are you too lazy to haul your ass half a km up or down to find them? To complain about obstacles being removed on a few sections here and there on Bridle and calling it "dumbing down of the Shore" is pure non sense.

Last news flash, all the trails originally started as dumbed down. With every winter passing, they go up in gnarl a notch. These mountains are so rugged that they can't be dumbed down.

Read an interesting article in Singletrack where Chipps spent a day at Scottish Cycling and the XC team. On a training ride with them he observed that part of their training was riding pump tracks and lap after lap of the tabletop line. The goal was to get them comfortable with getting air time. This was based on coach Paul Newnham's observation of the direction the technical features of World Cup and Olympic XC are going.

Interesting… but it seems like UCI has other plans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0qXxXRTwUQ

Not a single tire left smooth smooth gravel on that day anywhere even a mm into the air.

Some nail biting downhill technical sections at 1:38 ish.

Don't get me wrong, the lowest ranking of these pros can absolutely rip any kind of terrain, but the world cups don't push them anywhere near the envelope of their handling abilities.

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/articles.php?ID=94

V-brake fail. Even for 2005.

So far, that's just two Specialized bikes. That's a pretty far cry from the entire future of XC racing.

Besides, I wouldn't call a rigid bike the future of XC; I would however say it's the past.

But isn't also Specialized that has single handily transformed the mass opinion on 29ers from nay to yay within just a few seasons?

They weren't the first there, but their marketing beast is roars the loudest. They can probably convince pros to race with this, and then the weekend warriors with $8000 to spend on a 4th bike will probably follow en mass.

I've ridden the xc trails there…..buff, more buff, and even more buff.

That is just it though. That is what XC means to the rest of the world. Here in our beautiful bubble, what we call XC, most other places in the world wouldn't rate lower than black-diamond full-face + neck-brace kind of riding.

Just saying that no one should be shocked to see bunch of Olympians riding on this exact kind of bike in 2016.

It is happening. Mark my words… the 16-pound XC "mountain bike" is born. Source: Sea Otter:

How many laps for the expert cat? Is it three like the last Cardiac?

Dat two massive climbs in each lap. By the end of the third lap coming down on Nicole's will feel like pure murder.