noobowner

Hello I'm Austin 19 years old; last year I weighed my self and i weighed 280lbs and I'm 6' 4". After riding in the spring and summer and with my new job I weighed 235lbs in the fall. I really like riding bikes always had a bmx bike when i was younger. Being really tall its hard to ride a bmx bike so i quit riding for like 5 years. My dad gave me his mountain bike , 2001 GT Rebound 17" frame with rockshock judys and a rockshock seat post, that's when i really got into riding trails and street riding. I live in Rockford, Illinois and don't have many local trails besides Rock Cut state park and Espinchide Park. This year im trying to get down to 200 lbs but i don't know if my body will let me I now weigh 250 after gaining some muscle at my job and gained some fat from not riding over winter. I work at Fed Ex BTW as a package handler, i average a 4 mile walk and 500 calorie burn at my job 5 days a week, that's not even including the calories burned from picking up packages. So my plan is to get in really good shape this riding season and get more basic repair skills down.

I just bought a Park Tool ts-2 truing stand at a garage sale for $30. They sell for $250 on amazon
I also bought a Park Tool repair stand, cant think of part numbers right now, for $85. Sell for $140 just for the clamp on amazon.

I tend to bend my rim a lot so I got tired of paying to get my rim trued and thought that was a really good deal on the true stand. I am going to do some test trues on my old rim just to get the basics down.

I joined this site just to get other opinions and tips on mtbing and maybe meet some people locally that will go on rides. I got a few friends that like to ride the streets at night around downtown.

Well that's me Austin from Rockford, Illinois. Going to Rock Valley College for Computer Networking and Data Security and Assurance.