martyz profile

Wish they'd engineer a different way to attach their cassettes. My XO Eagle cassette is seized to the XD driver; LBS sheared off all the splines trying to remove it (and yes, it was greased, and torqued to spec). A quick internet search tells me this happens a lot. I'd love to have seen SRAM address that before adding two more teeth. Looking quite seriously at an e-thirteen replacement at this point.

Re: bending the link wing: I did almost exactly that in almost exactly the same way to the top link of my V1 Hightower when I did a bearing swap. Whoops.

I found last week that my riding was as good as it's ever been for early season. I think it's because I've been extra careful and mindful on each move, making sure a moment's inattention didn't throw me off my bike. Nothing like a public health crisis to keep you in the moment.

EGBC membership is good for employment opportunities and even better for enhanced home insurance coverage limits on bikes. Despite that, I'm now a bit more paranoid and lot more callous toward bike thieves. And am spending my retirement on bike locks for everywhere.

My bike was lifted off my north shore rack a month ago or so. Similar story: stopped by somewhere briefly, had forgotten my lock, thought I had a good sight line. Checked the view a few times and it was still there. Except when I was leaving. Gone.

However - my insurance company was solid and paid me out. Which was good. Except that I was more or less rewarded for my own stupidity.

Moral of the story: agree with Dave. It's not if, it's when. I've come to accept that humanity is the worst and everything needs to be secured like you live in Fort Knox.

I’m 80%(ish) sure I have a 36 mm headset wrench lying around. It served a Rocky Mountain Sherpa I owned 2 decades ago and has stuck around. All yours. Social media acknowledgement here we come.

The 2013 Santa Cruz Blur TR we picked up for the lady came stock with Maxxis Crossmark pinners. It might as well have come with road slicks. I called a friend who was working for SCB at the time; his diplomatic response was along the lines of "our old product manager made a few weird calls". They've dramatically improved since. The Hightower I picked up three years ago came stock with nice Minions, which I'd guess ought to make 9 out of 10 riders pretty happy. Worked for me.

Here's the thing. You might be really good at biking. But that doesn't mean you're the best teacher for your own kid. It's not about the riding. It's about all the other stuff. The lectures, the little resentments, the baggage that's piled up over the years you've been developing your relationship. Your kid might not be able to hear you through all that noise. That's why you get a pro every now and then. It's not because the pro is better than you. Or because the pro knows what your kid needs. It's precisely because the pro doesn't: there's no background noise. Side perk is that absence makes the heart grow fonder, or something like that. Your kid will be stoked to show you what they've learned. Sometimes it's nice when it's not always you downloading onto your kid. Even if you do it better.

Or: prove me wrong and teach your kid yourself. Sometimes that works.

For the record: I coach my kids' sports. Team sports. I'm not a team-sports guy; never have been. They get a lot from me coaching their teams, I think because they have peers and can see in real time how other kids respond and learn, and that sets a standard of behaviour and engagement for them. But I don't push biking or swimming or skiing instruction much, if at all, because it's better that they have fun with me at those things. So they get lessons for those things, and they look forward to actually doing them with me. And I get to shut up for a change.

"I haven't even bothered to ask anybody else to go with me because I kind of want to sit there alone and bathe in the awesomeness." I did exactly this a couple weeks back. It's the best.

Sure, but then you get cocky, muck around with the brakes on your car, and get your offspring and innocent bystanders killed.

This climb trail is great and keeps getting better. More than anything else, it’s opened up the place to a whole new kind of rider: one who likes a good singletrack climb too. Love the work and am looking forward to more.

Soquel demo forest. Otherwise there's not much reasonable downhill-ish riding that's legal.