Indoor mountain bike park Lumberyard opens
Congratulations to Lumberyard. I look forward to riding it.
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PORTLAND, OR (BRAIN) Tuesday May 29 2012 8:56 AM MT—The Lumberyard, the first indoor mountain bike park west of the Mississippi, has opened for business. A launch party with pro riders and a vendor expo is planned for 3-9 p.m. June 9.
“This has been a long time coming, and it’s amazing to see it finally become a reality,” said Lumberyard co-founder Michael Whitesel.
Source: addtoany.com
I’ve never ridden it and have to say even though it was uphill my whole ride (it was getting dark so I turned around) it is a really nice trail. It needs some tree cleaning from the storms, but the tread is really nice.
Typical oregon
Snow?
the bike likes the view
the view
Riding Wilson River Trail in Tillamook State Forest.
Travel Oregon - Mountain biking Bend, Oregon with Cog Wild.
Let the Lion guide your way.
Add this to the tattoos I want to get.
Firelane 5.
I shot this video yesterday morning. I think it came together nicely. I place all the shots, ride them, then retrieve the camera afterwards like Les Stroud (Survivorman) would.
The goal is to show the essence of mountain biking. The ride to the trail, the sounds for the trail and forest, the click of the free wheel. I hope you enjoy it.
I make these videos to make my wife smile, if they make you smile send me a tweet, facepage, or plus let me know what you think of it.
Oregon farm country.
I took the Dirty Disco out for a long ride on Sunday to break it in a bit and test various settings. I still need to adjust the body fit, but am already digging the bike so far. The disc brakes make me smile and going back to Shimano shifting was nice. It was like putting on a well worn baseball hat.
I added a water bottle cage and my turtle sticker to make the bike a bit more personalized. I put a turtle sticker on all my bikes. It represents the tortoise and the hare story. Slow and steady.
Mounting up old road tires i had on mountain rims was interesting. I probably need new tires for the summer season. I’ll have to see how wide Conti makes a GatorSkin.
One interesting note is that we went with a 34/46 up front when we changed out the rings. The old ones with the chain and cassette were pretty well abused on my Jake and needed replacing badly. A mishap in shipping and a 34T is now on there. I am really curious how this will work during cross season. I may be able to do more climbs but will probably end up staying in the 46T mainly during high speed sections. i find myself almost forced into the big ring more now, which can be good for my muscle strength. Time will tell.
Flat road. Hillsboro I think.
Strava Link for ride stats if you are into that: http://app.strava.com/rides/6820632
I could see myself getting one of these visijax for next winter. Bright jacket with LED and reflective stripes.
Graham spent the better part of this morning laying some decals on this team bike for the Trailhead Coffee Roasters Team.
If you need decals to match your kits let us know.
Check out this decal job from Ruckus. Nice!
Source: ruckuscomponents
Riding in LL Stub Stewart Park today with the FTM. I took the opportunity to sneak out of the house and get a ride in today with the blessings of the wife. She said go for a couple hours, but cut the grass when I get home. That meant ESCAPE!
I took the Banks-Vernonia State Trail from the Manning trailhead in. I have been wanting to do the BV trail for a while now and figured today would be the day (it was sunny). Banks-Vernonia State Trail is a Rails to Trails project that connect the little towns of Banks and Vernonia here on the west side of town. It was a old railway so the grade is nice the whole way into the state park. It got me thinking about connecting a tandem with a tag-a-long and a Burley to tow the whole family in for a picnic.
I ended up going into the park and up to one of the scenic overlooks that has a great view of the Coastal Range. It made for a lot of climbing, but was worth it.
Past that range is Ocean, son.
After that I headed to the mountain bike area to see what was happening there. A bit of it is still under construction, but it will be sweet once done. I am really digging the twisty slaloming between the trees they created up top. You really have to be on your toes or you will run into a tree or off the trail. I look forward to when it connects to the trail I helped build last month. It will make for a great destination and probably my go to trail system once finished.
Before you go check the maps and trail status online at the Oregon State Parks website.
Did I mention I like riding this bike?
Same spot, different angle.
Who doesn’t like pictures of trees?
A view of the Coastal Range today while in LL Stub Stewark State Park.
Titus FTM Aluminum, ride it.
As you may know from my previous post, I took out a aluminum FTM from Titus yesterday. I got a maiden voyage on her today. I was really impressed with this version of the bike. Firstly, this may dominate my whole line of thinking, but the bike is sized as the Large instead of the Medium I was riding. The fit was spot on and felt immensely better. Dare I say that the Medium was too small for me? I guess so.
The other HUGE difference is the suspension duties performed by Fox on this bike whereas the carbon FTM demo had Rockshox. The Rockshox Monarch was new and needed more time to open up but the Fox RP23 is in prime condition on this frame since it has been around the block a bit. The RP23 also has more of a lockout which is really nice feature for gravel grinding in Forest Park.
The shifting experiment also went well, but I would rather have XT or XTR than the XO shifters. The shifting was precise and great, but I am just use to the Shimano trigger shifters over the SRAM ones. Kind of a personal choice decision more than a technical decision.
The ride was pretty sloppy, so I scaled the speed back a bit to maintain control. There were some fallen trees and debris from our last couple storms so going balls-to-the-walls was not recommended. You may run into a tree if not careful out there.
All in all, I have to admit I like the AL version of the FTM and was thinking that you could go either way and still have a pretty nice bike setup. The AL version will save you some cash which you could invest in a few more road trips. I don’t think I have to give this one back for a while so I may go get some extended rides in.
More to come later.
J
Classic “leaning on a post” picture for bike forums.
Did I ever mention I am getting tired of this mud?
Titus FTM Aluminum.
I picked up a Aluminum version of the FTM yesterday to see the difference between this and the carbon version. Yes, the carbon will be lighter and sexier, but I was looking to see the build differences and ride characteristics between the two materials. Normally one doesn’t get a chance to compare each frame a company makes, so I am taking advantage of the situation.
This bike is a older demo, but still had a really nice build kit. SRAM XO shifting, FOX suspension, and Magura braking. As most of you know I am mainly a Shimano guy so switching shifters is always a fun experiment for me.
Check out that 3K carbon weave and shiny gold. Ride like a king!
It also came with some bling to spruce it up. As I posted earlier it came with Portland Designworks Speed Metal grips which are really nice looking and feeling.
Love that anodized frame color.
On a ending note: You can pick up Portland, OR made Aluminum FTM today either at the Portland warehouse or online store for $899.99.
Look what I acquired this at the Mudslinger. A @DeschutesBeer coaster made from leather. #beer
Just a reminder the Team Zendoughnut pre-order store will be closing on Saturday. Get your orders in if you’d like a jersey.
Source: panachecyclewear.com
Bike Geek, Cancer Survivor, and geeky dad. Writes about cycling, two wheeled culture, and the bicycle industry.