Category: Mountain Biking

Cool Places: Black Mountain Cycles

jimmymac

When you pull into the dirt parking lot of Black Mountain Cycles (some riders carry their bikes to avoid a dusting), you don’t expect this humble little shop to be run by a totally over-qualified guy named Mike Varley. I met Mike when he was the shop manager (and a mechanic) at North County San Diego’s most respected bike shop. It didn’t surprise me when he left the shop to work for Haro Bikes and Masi as a bicycle product development manager. The guy is sharp and I believe both…

How Much Trail Do You Use In An Hour? (A Trail User Speed Comparison)

jimmymac

Four major user groups share unpaved recreation trails designated for non-motorized use; hikers, trail runners, equestrians and mountain bikers. A change in California law (that other states may adopt) has permitted electric-motorized bikes access to these same trails, thus adding a new user group into the mix. While these five different user groups share the same trail, how do their speeds and amount of trail used in a specific amount of time compare? Anecdotal answers abound, but finding quantitative data on the question is difficult. My solution was to conduct…

Riders Learn To Mountain Bike

jimmymac

There is nothing I like better than to arrive at the trailhead and see a bunch of eager, young riders chomping at the bit to get on the trail. This group got an early start and were able to let the morning mist cool their ride before the day’s heat kicked in. Congrats for the effort riders, and welcome to the club.

Hitting This Link Will Cost You An Hour Of Your Life And Unveil 6,821-Miles Of Mountain Biking

jimmymac

I love maps. Printed, digital, 3D or street view, it doesn’t matter. Open any map and I’m already off on a trip in my head. That’s why hitting this link to the Colorado Trail Explorer is going to cost you some serious time units out of your life. But if you are a mountain biker, think of the next hour as an investment, not a cost. The map details a claimed 39,000 miles of trails and over 1,400 trailheads. There are an estimated 6,821 miles of mountain bike trails (sounds…

Illegal Mountain Bike Clubhouse Built On Private Property

jimmymac

One of my favorite trails in Hill Canyon (located west of Wildwood Park) was initially constructed illegally by some still-unknown groms. Fortunately, park rangers were able to improve the rogue trail and actually add it to their trail network. This news item out of Great Britain takes illegal trails to a whole new level. The Courier is reporting that “Police officers are hunting the unknown individuals who turned part of a Perthshire estate into their own personal playground.” The photos show a clubhouse, basketball court and shooting range. The story…

A Toast To Tilford Planned For July 4th In Cable, Wisconsin

jimmymac

The Rivers Eatery in Cable, Wisconsin, (probably Steve’s favorite town on earth) is hosting a Toast To Tilford on July 4th from 6-9 PM. Join Trudi (Steve’s widow) and friends for a toast to our great friend and cycling legend. As recorded on his epic blog site, Steve loved the Fourth of July in Cable. As busy as he was, he almost always cleared his calendar to come for the parade, pies in the park, dinner and drinks at The Rivers Eatery and then the fireworks. The event is aimed…

E-bike Fires More Prevalent Than Claimed?

jimmymac

While e-bike publications claim fires are a rare occurrence, more reports of exploding e-bikes and e-bike fires seem to point to a larger problem. The latest report comes from the Sun, a British newspaper and website. The story includes video footage of the bike burning and exploding. You can read the story by clicking here. The exploding bike is a mountain bike that appears to have been converted to an electric-motorized bike with the addition of a hub motor. These inexpensive and popular conversion kits can turn bicycles into a…

Nuns Mountain Bike To End Human Trafficking

jimmymac

Reuters Business Insider has a great story about hundreds of Buddist nuns who are mountain biking across the Himalayas to raise awareness of the region’s practice of human trafficking. “When we were doing relief work in Nepal after the earthquakes last year, we heard how girls from poor families were being sold because their parents could not afford to keep them anymore,” 22-year-old nun Jigme Konchok Lhamo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. We wanted to do something to change this attitude that girls are less than boys and that it’s…

$20 Audi Hood Renovation

jimmymac

This has nothing to do with motorcycles (or mountain bikes or electric bikes) although this product could be used to great affect on any of them.  My 2004 Audi A4 Avant started to develop paint issues five years ago.  I’ve always suspected the problem was caused by Audi wrapping the car (for shipping) too soon after it was painted.  The creeping fog looked to be trapped between the paint and the clear coat. Audi tech guys said it was not their problem.  I don’t believe Audi wants owners to hold…