We're staying at some condos with a kitchen and have been cooking rather than going out. Out once, to said Thai place. We actually had a pretty good meal there. Mondo is no longer Mondo, but some other coffee place. A few other places new in town we've not tried. We're going to try Center Cafe either tonight or Monday night. Flying home Wednesday.

I do my own wrenching, so can't say anything about the mechanics one way or another. As for the shops, I've bought stuff in the past from pretty much all of them - whichever had what I needed at the moment got my business. Over the years, have gotten a cool vibe and attitude from all of the shops at various times.

The girlscout and I hit Bennet Gap in Pisgah this afternoon. It was a great ride.I also grabbed a camp site for N2bikeN and his buds from Iowa. They'll be down this way on early Thursday morning.

Bennet Gap pics.....

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...ennet08001.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...ennet08006.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...ennet08008.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...ennet08010.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...ennet08013.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...ennet08014.jpg

nice photos. It looks like the leaves are changing a little early, but I could be wrong. It's been a while since I've seen the changing of the leaves.

Joel was gaffled.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...IMG_0020b2.jpg
Mans best friend.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...IMG_0023a2.jpg

Got up to Perry Lake trail yesterday with the wife. Didn't take the camera. The rockgardens of Blackfoot, and Copperhead were reminding me of how little technical riding I've been doing lately. Did quite a bit more Hike-a-bike, than I want to admit. I did sucessfully navigate a couple tight, rocky, ascending corners that have always beat me before. But... other sections that I have cleared many times, were getting the best of me. I guess it the way of things.

PS. Did that dog drink the whole six pack Scrub?

Hmm, no 60 ft jumps or broken bones, but I did get in just over 30 miles of mostly singletrack in two hours forty-five minutes on Sunday. It was a sunny, cool fall day in Maryland and the trails were surprisingly empty. I rode Schaeffer Farm, the Hoyles Mill Connector and a little in the Black Hills. This was taken at Schaeffer:

http://251.org/shared/bike/Eriksen/E...fferFall08.jpg

http://www.kollaranderson.com/photos...-Images/16.jpg

Not my pic, but gives you an idea of how the trails were looking on Saturday for the local MTB Halloween party. Lots of things set up like sculls and stuff. Our fall isn't really going well because its so dry here. Lots of dust, but the trails were fast.

Edit: most of trails at this place were covered in leaves, but this one must have been swept.

Crypto what?

*belch*

yeah. not so hot on that point. dug himself a nice cool spot. in randal's defense, he did only do it in that one spot very well off the beaten path.

Thanks for the FAQ for newbies...
 

The article doesnt suggest any forks I might buy that would be compatible. Any ideas?

I juat got in from 4 days of riding and camping in Pisgah. I'll put up a few pics a little later.

Ok......It was a great long weekend of riding with N2bikeN and his bud Rob.....(AKA the lung,the machine,animal,beast......).We got a big ride in on Thur.N2 and Rob wound up with around 40 miles. We had a wash out on Friday but it was cool, we still got some good riding in. Satuday was slick roots and leaves. N2bikeN was having a hard time keeping the rubber to the ground and Girlscout found that 20+ mile of riding with extended climbs on a 44 pound freeride rig will make you bonk hard. We had a blast......good food,good riding,good friends. Thats about as good as it can get. I didn't get but a couple of riding pics but you'll get the idea of what the weekend was like....

Sara is a sissy dog that hates the cold.....
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/KCRob004.jpg

one of the few times I couldget a pic of N2 while was upright on Bennet...
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/KCRob017.jpg

N2 brought these killer chops(highlight of the weekend)
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/KCRob025.jpg

Girlscout loves the climbing........
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/KCRob019.jpg

Playing around camp.....
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/KCRob026.jpg

Much BS went on here....
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/KCRob031.jpg

I caught myself getting a little too soft on the trails and losing confidence so I turned it up a few notches today, and I had a great ride! It was slippery and muddy so learned a few more lessons, too. I started not too long ago, and the climbs that seemed impossible are now easy (well, not all of them!), and learning to take sharp turns on descents a little harder. I had more than a few close calls, and reminded me of the early days when I fell hard and got back up, so I did that a few times, not so much out of not knowing before but more of learning different weather situations and felt good (no major injuries but a few scratches and a black and blue). There was one fall I took, could have been a lot worse than it ended up being. I was on a trail and came up to a bridge with a sharp turn and took it, I had NO traction and almost fell off the bridge, and my bike too! It was funny kind of cause it should have gone over but my chain was hanging off the side and I was hanging off the side and then the guy who was gaining on me saw me fall and said "Wet bridges are slippery, you should always get off when it's like this! Are you ok?" Yes, I said. Was a little shook up but kept going hard until my legs said "Ok, you've had enough!" I didn't stop much, only to take a swig of gatorade but got some of that confidence back. Then rode back home on the road. I just got an old road bike (80's Nikitia competition!) But still rides well, so it really helped me out on the trails, cause on the road I kept pedaling consistently through the burning and when I was on the trails, when I felt the burning, I kept going more cause I remembered riding on the road and pushing it. By the time I got home from leaving the park and riding home I was SPENT!!! Good day!

Beaver Dam in Gloucester. VA. 14 miles on the road there and back. 10 x 2 miles of trail. There must have been 20 horses and three Trick or Treaters.

Horse crap ride today in Capital Forest. Stinkatration. Thank god as of Nov. 1st the horses and motorized will be gone for the season.

Finally took a jaunt on the new one...I'm havin' a ball.

I went downtown b/c the trails are soggy. I did some fine-tuning of the air assist cart. and got it dialed enough to be plush without bottoming out. Did my favorite 2 footer that gets big when you go big. I usually end up dropping 6-7' going around 20' long or so. (long gradual tranny)

It was a good day on the new bike.

Ok, I keep hearing it but no idea. What is "bottoming out" and does it only happen on the trails??? thankx

Had an OK ride at Harris Lake. Met another rider from the Triangle MTB forum there and we took about a one hour tour of the trails. I tried increasing speed last Friday on the same trail. I took a left turn I must have taken over a hundred times, funny, I don't remember that two foot wide tree being there before. Anyway I hit the tree right in the center with the front wheel, went over the bars and hit the tree again with my helmet. After that mess, I just didn't feel like pushing it today. Not a bad ride, just sort of slow.

Did some campus MTBing last night. Its fun, lots of steep hills/streets stairs and drops. I really messed up a 3 foot drop... bruised my arms and my ribs up pretty good, I guess it was pretty spectacular looking so it was worth it. I didn't hit my head though so that was good. My friend jacked his back wheel and it wasn't ridable so I rode back to the dorms and to get a truck to pick him up. We had met a cute girl walking on our way to the "trailhead" and I ran in to her again when I was getting the truck. She asked me to roll back to her house so she wasn't by herself. I didn't get her number though, Next time.

Recap.
Cute girl
Good ride
Good bail
Cute girl

mmm, pork chops. I bet they weren't as good as the venison sausage from last time...

Oh yeah,we had that too. I've got some in the fridge.

mmmmm, that sausage was deadly!

What campus?

Bottoming out is when your suspension has reached its limit and gives you the finger:thumb:

With respect to my fork...I put a zip-tie semi-loosely around the stanchion and push it all the way down to the bottom of the stanchion where it meets the seals. When you sit on the bike, the fork sinks into its travel a bit and pushes the zip tie up the stanchion. This is how you set your "sag". If you leave the zip tie on there while you ride, you will see how much your fork compresses on your terrain. In my case, I did a stair case drop to set it up initially. (we don't have much for drops to trannies 'round here) I set my preload so the fork would be about 10mm from bottoming out on that little drop. Then I took it downtown and tried it on some bigger stuff. I ended up adding a little more preload b/c the zip tie was pushed all the way up to the top of the stanchion after the bigger drops. I wanted it set so it was as plush as possible w/o completely bottoming out.

ku