After several months of Knard, Knard and nothing but Knard on the front of my either my Lynskey Pro29 SL, fits nicely in the Black sheep fork, for everything short of the Maah Daah Hey after a rain or on my old Ferrous and Switchblade fork combo (plenty of room there). Except for some railbed riding.
Click here for my First Look at the Knard.
Click here for Follow Up
The Knard Rolls pretty good on the Velocity's Blunt 35. I am running it tubeless, but I was pretty conservative on the pressure and only ran it 17.5, just 1.5 psi lower than my 2.35 Ikon. I dropped another half PSI when I got back near the car at Games Loop/UWF Pensacola Florida. It was great in the sugar sand of course. Slid out on some fresh pine needles. Usually I could feel it slide and hook back up though. I had to keep it weighted, more on top of the front wheel, kinda like riding a hardtail with a big fork up front.
As I slowly lowered the pressure, like half a PSI each ride, I had to ride on top of the front end less. I worked down to 14 PSI. That was just starting to feel more shock absorption at 14. I stayed here a while, as I am concerned about breaking a bead and rolling the Knard off of the Blunt 35.
I settled at 13.5 psi, getting just the occasional bottom out clank. I weigh around 200 lbs. No scale in the bus so not 100% sure.
Now I always break something at Stokes, Stokes has my number, you could say, Stokes is pretty much all rock garden, even though rock gardens are usually my forte. My Stan's sealant was getting thin I guess. I burped or punctured and was able to put the Knard/Blunt 35 up a few times, but ended up putting in a tube.
Back at a compressor, I removed the tube, added some Stan's and reinflated and it has been good for a couple months now.
Wet rocks seem to be the Knards nemesis. Particularly on technical rocky climbs, the Knard hunts around a bit, sometimes finding the wrong line, accentuated on a single speed.
Having a 29er+ up front and a weekend on a fat bike, got me jonesin for a 29er+ rear as well. The Surly Krampus and the Carver Titanium Gnarvester, if you guys are listening :-) Lynskey said they could build me a custom one. A guy can Dream.
My Lynskey was down for a while, when I got her back together, the bike's handling felt a little slower than I remember with the Knard. The Ferrous has slightly steeper head angle, and maybe I got used to that. I gave the 2.35 Ikon another try for comparison and it just worked better with my Lynskey geometry.
This is where I will share mountain biking epic rides. Such as the IMBA epics. Riding the coolest trails on the planet by bicycle. Ride Dirt!
Showing posts sorted by date for query games loop. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query games loop. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Monday, August 11, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Bruce and Lois
Bruce, messaged Tammy and asked for some medium rides, for a trip they are planning later in the year. Years ago back in Jersey, Bruce and Lois helped me through a tough period in my life and helped keep me riding after I got slow and fat and depressed. I don't know if they know how much it helped. I have had many friends that seem to come into and out of my life. I like to think of it as our paths coming together for a while, before they diverge. Even when I met, Bruce and Lois had been riding for many decades and liked somewhat technical riding and would not interested in Strava KOMs or accumulated feet of climbing. Just having a good ride. There have been times that they had to put the Mountain Bikes away for various reasons. It is good to see them even planning such a trip, leaving sunny California.
I would recommend the following Epics:
Kansas Switchgrass
Kerr Scott, North Carolina
Dupont State Park, North Carolina
Ocoee Trail, Tennessee
Big South Fork, Tennessee
Rock Lake, Cable, Wisconsin
Levis-Trow Mounds Wisconsin
Cuyuna Lakes, Minnesota
Alafia River State Park, Florida
Santos, Florida
MOCO Epic, Maryland
Maah Daah Hey, North Dakota
But only well after a rain and when it is not scorching hot, kind of a small window in the end July, early August I guess.
Copper Harbor, Michigan
This does have some tough climbs, but they are not too long. But it may be my favorite trail system yet.
For rides not on the IBMA list:
San Felasco Hammock Preserve, Gainesville
Bethel Biloxi Mississippi
Games Loop/UWF Pensacola Florida
Balm Boyette Florida
Lake Leatherwood Eureka Arkansas
Redbug Lake Overstreet Tallahassee, Florida
Tom Brown Tallahassee Florida
San-Lee Sanford North Carolina
Tannehill Forge Alabama
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I would recommend the following Epics:
Kansas Switchgrass
Kerr Scott, North Carolina
Dupont State Park, North Carolina
Ocoee Trail, Tennessee
Big South Fork, Tennessee
Rock Lake, Cable, Wisconsin
Levis-Trow Mounds Wisconsin
Cuyuna Lakes, Minnesota
Alafia River State Park, Florida
Santos, Florida
MOCO Epic, Maryland
Maah Daah Hey, North Dakota
But only well after a rain and when it is not scorching hot, kind of a small window in the end July, early August I guess.
Copper Harbor, Michigan
This does have some tough climbs, but they are not too long. But it may be my favorite trail system yet.
For rides not on the IBMA list:
San Felasco Hammock Preserve, Gainesville
Bethel Biloxi Mississippi
Games Loop/UWF Pensacola Florida
Balm Boyette Florida
Lake Leatherwood Eureka Arkansas
Redbug Lake Overstreet Tallahassee, Florida
Tom Brown Tallahassee Florida
San-Lee Sanford North Carolina
Tannehill Forge Alabama
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Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Bethel Biloxi Mississippi
Always looking for 20-40 miles of riding, I saw Bethel in Singletracks.com, listed 30 miles. Well that was an error or old info. The Directions are for the northern Trailhead, which is now for Motorcycles and ATVs. I put in a correction to Single Tracks, so it may be accurate when you read this. There may have been 30 miles when the north trails were for bicycles and the south was for motorcycles and ATVs. A few years ago, to keep everybody happy, things were switched around. So while there is a Bicycle TH sign of of Bethel rd to the north, after a fair ways on a graded dirt road, you come to an unmarked clearing with only a couple orange arrows and ATV tracks on the trail. The current TH is just a short way up FSR 426, just off of route 15, with a map kiosk, cinder block restroom, picnic table and fire ring (bring your own H2O). Located in the De Soto National Forest, it is easy to feel that you are nowhere near civilisation. Strange how quickly that happens after leaving Biloxi Mississippi.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/gulfcoastbicycleclub/
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There are currently between 19 and 20 miles of mountain biking at Bethel, with only one on the forest service road and another on old double track. I bumped into and rode with Tracy and John from Bethel Mountain Bike Trail Group. Tracy said there were plans to replace the fireroad between the Couch and the Badlands, trail with single track. While there are no bluff on the Badlands trail, the tall grass was reminiscent of the Maah Daah Hey, though it was named for the oppressive heat in summer due to the lack of shade, also much like the MDH of North Dakota. The sandy soil handles rain much better than the slough of the MDH, Tracy pointed out several places that used to be big drainage problems, that they had successfully ameliorated. Some bridges were replaced with spaced pavers on the bottom of the washes. Different sections of the country have different views on paver is the water crossing, I am not sure why, yet. There are a just a few places that still hold water. Pavers have also been used make berms, in certain fast corners to firm up the sand. There is still sand inside the turns so those die hard old school riders can still play in the sandbox and get their sand on! They are also working on new sand management methods.
To me the trails have an old school, natural feel, not overly manicured, yet well maintained. Some sections flow and some corners test your skills more than others, a nice mix. Pine needles made themselves known as well, they have good traction up to a point and then just slide out!
No big elevation here, about 1k for the Full Monty. But it is not as flat as the non-pit sections of Santos, more like Paisley in north central Florida. It is more akin to the Games loop in Pensacola FL(but longer), which is not surprising as they are so geographically close to each other, even down to the touch of clay. But not the elevation change of UWF, just across the street from the Games loop.
You won't find pump or jump tracks or pits, just good old fashioned singletrack, with enough personality change from trail to trail to keep it interesting. There is a nice section of Couch that follows the Tuxachanie river. The system can be done as one big loop or shortened at several places that cross the main fire road or FSR 426 or a trail aptly called Bail Out. All the major intersections are well marked, most with a map with a "YOU ARE HERE" star. The only tough spot is the Clay climb, which is basically a stair case for giants. It suffers from erosion, so a much more gradual switchback was made around it. There are may water drainage, mainly dips between humps and usually small, though a few bigger ones sneak up on you.
They have a really cool Google Earth map for your smartphone. You need the Google earth App on your phone to open it, but once you load it, it uses your phones GPS signal to show you where you are on the map, regardless of cell reception! Pretty darn cool.
Here are some videos
There are a few other trails that are available like these from SAMBA
Standard trail Map
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/bethel-bike-trails.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BethelMountainBikeTrailGroup
http://www.gulfcoastbicycleclub.com/index.htmlYou won't find pump or jump tracks or pits, just good old fashioned singletrack, with enough personality change from trail to trail to keep it interesting. There is a nice section of Couch that follows the Tuxachanie river. The system can be done as one big loop or shortened at several places that cross the main fire road or FSR 426 or a trail aptly called Bail Out. All the major intersections are well marked, most with a map with a "YOU ARE HERE" star. The only tough spot is the Clay climb, which is basically a stair case for giants. It suffers from erosion, so a much more gradual switchback was made around it. There are may water drainage, mainly dips between humps and usually small, though a few bigger ones sneak up on you.
They have a really cool Google Earth map for your smartphone. You need the Google earth App on your phone to open it, but once you load it, it uses your phones GPS signal to show you where you are on the map, regardless of cell reception! Pretty darn cool.
Here are some videos
There are a few other trails that are available like these from SAMBA
Standard trail Map
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/bethel-bike-trails.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BethelMountainBikeTrailGroup
https://www.facebook.com/groups/gulfcoastbicycleclub/
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Friday, February 28, 2014
Games Loop/UWF Pensacola Florida
If you are ever near Pensacola, and need to get in a ride, check these trails out. Don't let the No Trespassing signs throw you. The sandy Trailhead parking lot is to the right, with it's entrance right before the first No Trespassing sign, this is the UWF side, the Games side is directly across from that entrance with a closed gate. It was not obvious, there were no TH parking signs. Nor were there trail markers pointing to the Games side, until you get past the gate. The directions from SingleTracks.com were spot on though.
The trails are marked well with really nicely carved and painted wooden posts. The posts are Supplemented with the original arrows and blazes. There are a lot of cross trails that lead into the pits and stunts on the Games Side. The UWF has less of that, but there is an unmarked turn, that probably goes to the 10 mile TH and once you get to the far end, you get a red arrow to turn you on to a power line or fire road for a short bit. But the wooded posts keep you on the the fun stuff for the most part, just don't overthink it, like I tend to do the first time out. Just don't turn unless there is something pointing you in that direction. The one exception is in the Bayou on the Whiskey trail. The trails old flow is the the left, but there is a right turn at a piece of orange tape. You don't want to miss the WTF section, more on that later. If you hit the Dogs trail, you just missed WTF!
Both sides handle water/rain very well. It is said that they are actually better after a good rain. The first time I rode these trails, was the day after a good couple days of rain. The Games side hardly had a wet spot on the single track. There were some big puddles on the fire road and the clay in the pits looked wet in places. The UWF side was similar, but the elevation change actually had runs that flowed the water to low spots, that still had standing water even two days after the rain. Both sides had a enough pine needles laid down to keep you on your toes! The UWF side seemed to roll faster the Games loop, that first ride after the previous days rain. The 2nd time, two days after rain, the Games loop rolled faster than the first time.
At about 11 miles, Orange marks the outer Games Loop, it is mostly easy, with some intermediate sections. Mainly big V-gulches, some with bridges at various heights, some at the top, some almost at the bottom, this section is aptly named Donkey Kong. The Blue trail is about 6 miles with milder intermediate sections and the Pink trail is 3 miles of the easier single track. The XC trail loops around a pit like in Santos. This pit is mostly drop ins, dirt jumps and wooden stunts, including a one story tall start ramp, leading down to bridge like drop into a set of dirt and wood ramps jumps. The pit area seems to be in a constant state of evolution, with new features among the old, as well as discarded stunts scattered about. Unlike Santos that is constantly changing but always seems complete! I saw enough rotted bridges and stunts on old decommissioned trails (often right next to or criss crossing the active trails), that made me pay special attention every time I rode over any wood structure! All active bridges on the XC trails were solid though. I rode the XC trails mostly, but dabbled in the Twister section a bit. There was a center ridge with barely enough room for the the trail tread. Several drops fell from either side of the ridge. It was pretty cool. Outside the pit there are some mild climbs that fuel some of the twisty single track downward slants. The Games loop is a good warm up for the UWF trails across the street at the Trailhead.
The University of West Florida trails has four loops, Red, Blue, Green and White. The longest loop is all of Blue at about 12 miles. At over 1000 feet UWF has more than double the elevation change of the full Orange Games loop and more than you would expect in Florida. The trails seem to always be going up or down and rarely a straight section. Plenty of rooty stepped climbs and descents. One local wished it was cut with more flow, but I like the raw, rugged natural old school feel to much of the system. he also clued me in on the Whiskey/Tango/Foxtrot or WTF section. Very twisty with a couple good change up surprises, such as a flow into a short steep climb that fades away to the left and drops immediately into a 10 foot V-gulch, completely boarded. You'll want to do it again. Except for probably the most drastic change up on Foxtrot near the fence line. After a few short moderate to steep rooted climbs, you drop down say 10 feet into the bottom of a steep 15-20 foot wall, with a big cement block semi-protruding from the dirt, with a hard left at the top. I made it all 3 times that I did it and am not sure quite how, especially on the SS with a 34x19 gear. Keep your speed up and get around or over that cement block and you got it!
There are 2 mile(Yellow), 5 mile(Green), 9 mile(White) and 10.5mile(Red) options as well.
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/uwf-mountain-bike-trails.html
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/bump-trails.html
http://porc.org/localtrails.htm
Add your Comments below and share it on your favorite Social media if you like it.
The trails are marked well with really nicely carved and painted wooden posts. The posts are Supplemented with the original arrows and blazes. There are a lot of cross trails that lead into the pits and stunts on the Games Side. The UWF has less of that, but there is an unmarked turn, that probably goes to the 10 mile TH and once you get to the far end, you get a red arrow to turn you on to a power line or fire road for a short bit. But the wooded posts keep you on the the fun stuff for the most part, just don't overthink it, like I tend to do the first time out. Just don't turn unless there is something pointing you in that direction. The one exception is in the Bayou on the Whiskey trail. The trails old flow is the the left, but there is a right turn at a piece of orange tape. You don't want to miss the WTF section, more on that later. If you hit the Dogs trail, you just missed WTF!
Both sides handle water/rain very well. It is said that they are actually better after a good rain. The first time I rode these trails, was the day after a good couple days of rain. The Games side hardly had a wet spot on the single track. There were some big puddles on the fire road and the clay in the pits looked wet in places. The UWF side was similar, but the elevation change actually had runs that flowed the water to low spots, that still had standing water even two days after the rain. Both sides had a enough pine needles laid down to keep you on your toes! The UWF side seemed to roll faster the Games loop, that first ride after the previous days rain. The 2nd time, two days after rain, the Games loop rolled faster than the first time.
At about 11 miles, Orange marks the outer Games Loop, it is mostly easy, with some intermediate sections. Mainly big V-gulches, some with bridges at various heights, some at the top, some almost at the bottom, this section is aptly named Donkey Kong. The Blue trail is about 6 miles with milder intermediate sections and the Pink trail is 3 miles of the easier single track. The XC trail loops around a pit like in Santos. This pit is mostly drop ins, dirt jumps and wooden stunts, including a one story tall start ramp, leading down to bridge like drop into a set of dirt and wood ramps jumps. The pit area seems to be in a constant state of evolution, with new features among the old, as well as discarded stunts scattered about. Unlike Santos that is constantly changing but always seems complete! I saw enough rotted bridges and stunts on old decommissioned trails (often right next to or criss crossing the active trails), that made me pay special attention every time I rode over any wood structure! All active bridges on the XC trails were solid though. I rode the XC trails mostly, but dabbled in the Twister section a bit. There was a center ridge with barely enough room for the the trail tread. Several drops fell from either side of the ridge. It was pretty cool. Outside the pit there are some mild climbs that fuel some of the twisty single track downward slants. The Games loop is a good warm up for the UWF trails across the street at the Trailhead.
The University of West Florida trails has four loops, Red, Blue, Green and White. The longest loop is all of Blue at about 12 miles. At over 1000 feet UWF has more than double the elevation change of the full Orange Games loop and more than you would expect in Florida. The trails seem to always be going up or down and rarely a straight section. Plenty of rooty stepped climbs and descents. One local wished it was cut with more flow, but I like the raw, rugged natural old school feel to much of the system. he also clued me in on the Whiskey/Tango/Foxtrot or WTF section. Very twisty with a couple good change up surprises, such as a flow into a short steep climb that fades away to the left and drops immediately into a 10 foot V-gulch, completely boarded. You'll want to do it again. Except for probably the most drastic change up on Foxtrot near the fence line. After a few short moderate to steep rooted climbs, you drop down say 10 feet into the bottom of a steep 15-20 foot wall, with a big cement block semi-protruding from the dirt, with a hard left at the top. I made it all 3 times that I did it and am not sure quite how, especially on the SS with a 34x19 gear. Keep your speed up and get around or over that cement block and you got it!
There are 2 mile(Yellow), 5 mile(Green), 9 mile(White) and 10.5mile(Red) options as well.
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/uwf-mountain-bike-trails.html
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/bump-trails.html
http://porc.org/localtrails.htm
Add your Comments below and share it on your favorite Social media if you like it.
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