Breaking News thread!

You never know... I saw two bikes and assumed it was two people riding together. But any time there is a blind (or at least vision-restricted) trail intersection, anything can happen. Since no one knows, I'm going to make up a story:

Dude on e-bike, riding Santiago TT for first time. Dude on Santa Cruz floater, taking extra credit trail. Both coming down that stretch at same time. Dude in SC enduro bike shoots into trail, dude on e-bike is like "WTF!", hammers down the front brakes, and 70 lbs of e-bike launches him 20' down the trail. Dude on SC bike stops... looks... dials 911 before the body stops rollin'...

The extra-credit question: does SC enduro biker walk the e-bike back out? Or does he shrug, pull e-bike off trail, and morality satisfied, hit a PR on the Luge with extra YOLO motivation?!!!

 

I don't even know any extra credit on STT. Though I have hiked to the other flagpole just before Vulture Crags. Looks like I can see a couple of options on Google maps sats.

 

Well... in the CNF there is extra credit... and then there is EXTRA credit. Extra credit in small letters is for people who can't ride the big trails, and cut short little single track lines at half the elevation.

 

Fortunately, all the "extra" credits on STT are steeper and much more difficult than the normal line.

 

I never knew they were as extensive as they are. And they start right at the entrance to STT.

You can see this from the grade on the way up...

 

A bra tree?

 

And some barbed wire... A shrine to things left behind?

 

For you aggressive HT types with a small budget.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/fathom

 

It's great seeing all these capable trail bikes coming out. The price points make them a very attractive option.

 

Kittens...

https://laist.com/2020/09/03/los-angeles-mountain-lion-kitten-photos-record-year.php

 

Hardtails. They're all over the place. Carbon, Al, Cro-mo, Ti...
With the latest geometry, big forks, and thick 29" tires. Finally seeing them being spec'd with dropper posts and realistic size seattubes.

 

....same video on bvaders post.

 

Did you feel the earthquake ?

 

Felt it in Lake Forest.
A mild jolt and then about 3-5 seconds later about 10-15 seconds of good shaking.

 

Felt stronger than 4.6 magnitude.

And it was "loud" since it was so close to my location.

 

Well, this sucks

https://m.pinkbike.com/news/bike-surfer-powder-snowboarder-magazine-shut-down.html

Travis Engel posted on Instagram yesterday... Didn't say outright but I had a suspicion... Now pink bike confirms.

Too bad. They had good content. Could really feel that it was by people who had a passion.

 

Bike Magazine was always waaaay more about riding than about products. Great writing by Kristin Butcher and others, amazing photos and a mature and energetic view on riding. As opposed to Mountain Bike Action which always seemed like a cheap rag schlepping as many products as possible with over-lit, washed-out photos and endless gushing about the latest crap. I hope this shutdown is not permanent. Maybe if we all purchase a subscription we can save them!

 

It’s been happening in slow motion for years, as the number of issues kept decreasing. I stopped bothering to subscribe when it got to about four issues per year, with most issues pretty thin. I can’t imagine that any of the content creators or editors were at all surprised.

I think there’s enough demand to support professionalized MTB journalism at some level that doesn’t require running yourself through a Google algorithm. But it’s going to be online, and Pinkbike got there first.

 

BIKE used to have the best photos in the history of print media but somewhere along the line they tried to get too artsy and it went DH in my opinion. They had some great articles but the way they chose their layouts made reading them difficult at times with my aging eyes.

POWDER was by far my favorite ski/Winter related magazine. The articles, photos and even ads increased the stoke like no other. As much as I love MTB'ing on some epic loam, NOTHING beats snowboarding on a powder day!!

All that aside, I never surfed a day in my life but I'll miss the Reef ads in Surfer most of all.

 

Preach. Even in a short amount of time I think I can say that mtb has enriched my life more, and even become a more integral part of my life than snowboarding. But I haven't found any sensation on this earth that provides the pure, unadulterated joy that snowboarding in powder does.

 

Traitors!!!!

 

Not traitors - truthsayers! A day of light knee deep powder on a perfectly pitched slope is beyond description. Ethereal, orgasmic - call it what you will.

I've heard the same said about either a perfect wave or a perfect tube. Well, unlike Johnny Utah, I've never been able to tell my boss "I caught my first tube today."

There are a few brief moments in surfing that have captured the same feeling as powder - but lasts mere seconds on a wave and minutes on skis/snowboard.

Mt. biking is awesome and I've had some portions of some downhill runs - almost every time I ride - that feel amazing and make me glad to be alive (not in a death defying way) - but still not to the level of a great powder day - or even one run.

 

Fully concur! I haven't ridden any powder in well over a decade. Turns, slashes, hoots and hollers that I will never forget. IMO one thing that came REALLY close was riding MX on freshly groomed track. Railing ruts in chocolate cake was a dream in itself.

 

What about playing on the 1st PP unit, breaking into the offensive zone, drop pass to D, D to D, down low, spin-o-rama evading pressure, back to D, deep cross to far side winger, tap to center who is tied up but uses his skate to direct the puck back to D, D to D to D...one-two-deke backhand saucer pass mid-stride to your wheelhouse at the left circle (assuming you play right handed), you nail a ONE-TIMER off the crossbar that slams down behind the goal line without hitting the net...every pigeon within a mile takes flight and the netminder yells out, “somebody answer the phone!”


On the other side of the puck one of these is hard to beat as well...

 

As wonderful as team sports can be, and the magical moments of poetry in motion that can be created, it ain't the same feeling as an open field of untracked powder (or a perfectly pitched glade of properly spaced trees). Real powder - not just fresh snow.



And I'm a left hand shot... Mostly due to years of working with a shovel.

 

Wsj just today reported that the publisher of Cycle World, Field & Stream, and Popular Science has sold most of their US-based magazines to a company that runs online content. I hadn’t realized that those titles had dropped to quarterly as well, but I expect the same fate for them.

I get the appeal of print magazines, but stacks of old magazines are a pain to deal with.

 

Received an email from Cycle World that they'll be online only from now on (maybe one last print issue). I like magazines even though about 99% get discarded after being read. Bike had really interesting reviews and articles when it originated, but focused too much on the more esoteric (and expensive) as the years progressed (IMO).

 

30 years ago, riding a fat tire bike on unpaved surfaces was pretty esoteric. Bike’s editorial decisions were fairly reasonable responses to the evolution of the sport.

I remember an editorial they wrote not too long ago responding to reader requests for more SoCal content from a SoCal based magazine. The response was that they were not interested in publishing a piece about the author’s 500th luge lap, and they acknowledged that it was a subjective choice. They did write two paragraphs when Lizards was placed on the map, the only SoCal content I can think of in recent years.

I think that was a reasonable choice for a national/global magazine. While a well written piece about Luge laps and beers at Cook’s could be done, it’s probably a single one page article , with maybe a photo of a flag or a Harley. Contrast that with the early 2000s British Columbia scene that was new, exciting, quickly evolving and photogenic.

Our daily rides are great, but not newsworthy. Annual trail maintenance is great, new trails are newsworthy. Our trusty steeds are great, the latest suspension progress is newsworthy.

 

You must suck at skating...I kidding.

I'm a lefty too, but I couldn't find a photo of Brett Hull shooting that way, so I just went with the current sniper.

Pre-COVID, I would put my old magazines in the drop off bin at my local library. Later I would see them on a shelf for public viewing and for sale at a quarter each. Post-COVID, they might be useful as TP I suppose.

 

Some of the ones (Harper's) would be better served as TP (I know and canceled the subscription).