James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

rick81721

Lothar
So a block away from the office there are 2 ? trees that I ride between in my hood single track. They were at peak fragrance yesterday. Better than anything.

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2Julianas

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
magnolia is another great spring flowering tree.

All caught up! I’ve missed this blog.

I planted a small eastern redbud, a flowering dogwood and a plum tree on my property a few years ago. They are so gorgeous in the spring! And native (=good for wildlife)

I feel guilty as I’ve been secretly hoping it rains a lot so I don’t have to see happy mountain bikers on trails all over my social media. I’m sorry. I will stop....
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
i think this is an ornamental plum - never was able to determine exactly.
it is a mess after another tree took out half of it. it also will drape down to the ground if left untrimmed.

not yet in full bloom. colors not well balanced here, it is more on the red side of purple.

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the near tree on the left is a black walnut that is 25ish years old. the one behind that is a silver oak, 16 years old.
(for @Fire Marshal Max tree planting thread)
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Ok the weekend+ is over so we are back. Here is what happened:
  1. I got on the scale at the end of March and it said 207
  2. Man I wasn't happy about that
  3. I then rode 60 hours in April, actually 60:04
  4. I hit 202 last week
  5. I tried on a medium shirt last night and it fit
  6. Fuck you scale. Just...fuck you
  7. I'm going for another 60 in May which should be possible with Kingdom Trails on the radar
Mooch Madness

We are come and gone and in the end @UtahJoe owes me $1. I have a lot of thoughts on this but I think things need to change in 2020 and they will. I am a fan of the NICA finish where everyone has podiums at the end, all together. So for Stewart I decided to start everyone at once and have podiums at the same time. But I was overruled by Utah and D. So we settled on 2 waves:

(8:30 - endurance races) - ok this is a "wave" but they're sort of like time, it just always goes
9:00 - cat 2 & cat 3 races
10:30 - cat 1 races
11:30 - cat 2 & cat 3 podiums & raffles
1:00 - cat 1 & endurance podiums & raffles

I also want to do away with giving swag to the podium racers, and put all money & efforts into 2 sets of raffles/giveaways that we will give out during the 2 sessions. I think we need to make these races more like events, and de-emphasize that we are racing for money, or merchandise. I think over-focusing on the race and under-focusing on the event is hurting the sport. I believe we as a collective need to address that.

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New Teammates

We've added @shrpshtr325 and @mbruno to the team. They both raced for the team on Sunday. Not really much more than that.

Bike Riding

So obviously from point #3 above, I have been riding a lot. I don't remember what I did Friday. Oh yeah, it was raining so I just did an easy ride inside.

* Saturday did 2+ hours of Mooch
* Came home after lunch and ride 2+ more on the road bike because D was down in NICA-land and I had free time
* Sunday was the race and I just rode inside when I got home
* Monday rode LewMo with @Ryan.P
* Tuesday did a MAFW ride

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Bike Work

New front tire on the MTB. Cleaned up the cross frame and some of the parts came but I am so jammed up with work meetings I haven't been able to get to anything. I'm thinking to put a dropper on the CX bike this year. @seanrunnette tried it last year but it wasn't working for him. But I want to try. He gave me his last week but it turns out the FTB has a sealed BB shell so I'd need to drill too many holes to make it work. Me + carbon frame + drill = bad idea. I'll have to get an external, for better or worse.

Today
  • Welcome to May!
  • Julia gets braces
  • I have 8 meetings scheduled
  • No idea what I am going to do on the bike yet, or even how
  • Zac has soccer
  • I think we are going to rewatch Avengers: Infinity War to get ready to see Endgame
May

Like I said, I want to get another 60 and that Kingdom Trails is on the radar. We've got a crazy month ahead with 2 more NICA races, KT, and the Stewart race. No work trips planned, which is nice. I think they realized it's sort of important now to keep me happy so they have stopped asking me to go anywhere. My new boss this week gave me a new retention offer if I stay another year, which is larger than the retention I was originally given for the buy-out. IDK how that will play out but while I may not love my job today, I was able to ride 60 hours in April and I don't have to travel. Hard to complain.

Also D's birthday is in May. I should start shopping for that now. Maybe I'll buy her a new bike...
 

ChrisG

Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
I went back to Strava and it turns out we were both wrong, that 2007 was the one we did a week before my Rattling Creek triple-flat race. I guess I must have screwed up the GPS because I remember we did 28 miles that day, which is a lot out of that park, those parks. I am game to do them again, but I think you are strictly an after school kinda guy? Well, until school is over then maybe you can do mornings?
Yes, I'm stuck on after-school until June 25; after that my time opens up exponentially.

I'm actually off the Thursday before and Tuesday after Memorial Day (give-back on snow days we didn't use) but I gather you'll be at KT for at least some of those days.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
It seemed silly to me at first, but I think a dropper on a gravel bike makes a lot of sense. It was all the rage at the Philly Bike Expo last year to run 1X and use the front shifter as the dropper lever. For cross the turns are so tight and so many, that it may not be as useful, unless you are really fluid with using it.
 
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Robin

Well-Known Member
I knew you were busy this weekend with Mooch - and I emailed you, but if the planets aligned, I would have raced it. Well, maybe not race, but ride. I will start pushing Poison Ivy (I just emailed our team about it) - and if I had more coaches available to cover our practice that day, I would *consider* racing. Maybe something will happen...
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I was going to do a recap of the first 4 months of the year but it's boring, so why bother? Just 2 things of interest:

1. Jan/Feb/March I watched 15 movies per month for a total of 45. In April just 1.
2. I have done 1796 pushups through April this year.

CX Dropper

I feel like dropper at Six Mile and sprinting out of the turns is what made me really start to think long & hard about the dropper for cross. I think getting the sync down on the MTB is/was easy enough. In talking to Sean he said that was hard for him on the cross bike. I think the problem lies in wiring up the dropper to the front shift lever. I think that's possibly a mistake because I'm not sure that works well in terms of useability. I think the thing I had on those 5010s in Arizona with the joystick-like trigger would be great. This will need to be external which I know begs a lot of questions. Another half-ass wire to get caught on things. So it'll need to be real tight in how it's cabled.

I am not 100% sure this will work. But I'd love to give it a shot. For today I cleaned up the rest of the frame, got the bearings in, and put on the 40t Wolftooth to run this as a 1x.

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The Braces

They have happened. This took a big chunk out of my morning. And wallet.

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NICA

So as I posted elsewhere or maybe here too, I'm a NICA coach now and am getting involved in the team. I took a bunch of pics at the first race and did that blog post and then I skipped the 2nd race and they all decided that I am now in charge of social media for the team. So with that, if you are on IG I will ask you to follow this page and of course, like the things worth liking:
https://www.instagram.com/nica_somerset.hills/?hl=en

We'll be out there Saturday to pre-ride then Sunday all day for the race. If you're part of this, or just NICA-curious, come on out and say hello. LewMo is a frantic day as there are a lot of people due to the central location. It's a good/fun venue to watch.

As @Robin alludes to, we would love to get more of these kids racing at Stewart and H2H in general. I need to get Ken some material to send out as we would like to encourage the older kids to try that race. I'm going to wait for Monday to do that because I think most of the families are focusing on this weekend. Having said that, by next Monday it'll likely be too late to hook many of the racers so it is what it is.

Today

I don't know yet.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
PNW makes a drop bar specific lever. I think other companies are jumping on board too. It seems like the idea for droppers on cross bikes is getting momentum. It's probably really gravel riders adding most of the momentum, but it will apply equally.
I'd like to try one, but last season ended pretty abruptly so I never got to it.
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
PNW also makes shorter travel droppers as well. Also 27.2 if that's your thing.
Would the video from last year be worth including?
I had a kid from my team last year that never raced any of the NICA races due to lacrosse games, but showed up to a lot of the practices do our Stewart race as his first race ever and loved it.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Curious why using the front shifter lever wouldnt work? It would be similar to shifting, which is second nature for us with the rear. However, if you are on the flats alot, it is inconvenient, but if you are on the hoods alot, the top lever style would be annoying.
FWIW, I barely use my dropper at six mile in the twisty stuff.

The PNW pine comes in 27.2 and external and is solid.
 

Paul H

Fearless OOS Poser
I have the internal PNW 27.2 which is 85mm
Not sure on the external one... but I am at minimal insertion and I am 5'10(on a good day... early in the morning) on a Large frame so I would suggest to measure well if you go this route.
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
My one comment about the dropper on the cross bike is the mental capacity to use it can be an issue. With all the other shit going on while redlineing in cross trying to deal with a dropper can really screw with your head. If you have to think about it and it's not second nature I see it more of something to cause issues.

Would be great in the more technical descents though. Would have been nice at the old Providence course with that sketchy downhill. Only NJ spot I can think of is the BubbleCross woods downhill into the sand.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
My one comment about the dropper on the cross bike is the mental capacity to use it can be an issue. With all the other shit going on while redlineing in cross trying to deal with a dropper can really screw with your head. If you have to think about it and it's not second nature I see it more of something to cause issues.

Would be great in the more technical descents though. Would have been nice at the old Providence course with that sketchy downhill. Only NJ spot I can think of is the BubbleCross woods downhill into the sand.
this is my feeling too, i don't know how much time you'd really gain versus the mental strain of screwing it up... and i'm not even talking negatively about it in a weight penalty sense. i think gaining enough of an advantage to open up a gap in a group EVERY lap would be worth it, but where on the course would that be? if the only spot is bubblecross...

i did 3 gravel events this year and not once did i ever think of a dropper post, 2 of them had gnarly descents and were sketchy AF, swoopy turns, what i would imagine being perfect for a dropper, but i didnt see anyone in our group with one, and don't think there was any advantage in those descents.

i mean, i also use a GXP bottom bracket and quick release wheels on my cross/gravel bikes, so you can take my opinion for what its worth ;)
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
this is my feeling too, i don't know how much time you'd really gain versus the mental strain of screwing it up... and i'm not even talking negatively about it in a weight penalty sense. i think gaining enough of an advantage to open up a gap in a group EVERY lap would be worth it, but where on the course would that be? if the only spot is bubblecross...

i did 3 gravel events this year and not once did i ever think of a dropper post, 2 of them had gnarly descents and were sketchy AF, swoopy turns, what i would imagine being perfect for a dropper, but i didnt see anyone in our group with one, and don't think there was any advantage in those descents.

i mean, i also use a GXP bottom bracket and quick release wheels on my cross/gravel bikes, so you can take my opinion for what its worth ;)

-Quick release on my cross/gravel bike and see no downside. Especially for cross where I may need to quickly swap a wheel.
-You should do Monster Cross next year in VA
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I don't have too much today, yesterday was hectic.

I did put together this post on the race from the promoter's lens:
Mooch Madness from the Promoter’s Lens

Will discuss dropper more next week, but the main problem I have now is that I currently have 4 droppers in this house, and none of them are 31.6. So this experiment just got more expensive.

NICA decision will be made today at 12, so we'll know what the weekend looks like soon.

I was in an 8.5 hour meeting yesterday, but managed to skip out for a 2 hour bike ride. I stopped around halfway to check in and I see, "Oh the schedule may have changed again," but thankfully I did not need to give my presentation in my o&b underoos in Loantaka Park.

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