Manatee Mentors 2015.2 CLOSED (Poptarts? Pet pics?) (Page 54)

More figuring out what all it should do. Tri bike was really simple. Go that way, really fast. With the other bikes it becomes more about how much you want to be able to run over. A cross bike could handle the gravel areas better than a road bike would, but would I really go off-road that much with it? I'm not sure. I don't have interest in CX races. A mountain bike would run over everything (I'd be going full suspension), but is also a lot slower on the roads. Disc brakes may or may not be coming more into play on the first two. 11 spd is working its way into all of them.

That was going to be my follow up question to you would be whether or not you thought Cx would be enough to cut it on gravel/pot-holed roads? I think maybe my long term would be to get a mountain bike for now (they are a lot cheaper than Cx, even at the "lower end") and then sell my roadie and get a Cx to more or less cover my road riding. If I find myself doing it much.

Competitive Cyclist and Strava have a thing going now -- a coupon, basically, for every hour that you ride.

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/strava?cmp_id=sm_fbcc01

lol I just noticed I keep saying Cx. At work Cx stands for commissioning and I use it regularly. 

I mean CX

For my MTB I went with a hard tail, because there are only a handful of races each year for CX, and the hard tail is serviceable for that while doing its primary job very well.

ETA:

Having ridden an aero road bike on gravel and bad roads for quite a bit of mileage I would be more than comfortable with a CX for anything other than singletrack.  Even then I could probably get away with it if there weren't a ton of roots.

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother but I'm glad that you were able to help your dad and aunt out by spelling them.  The good news is that the end of tax season is in sight!

Hang in there!  I've got a couple of friends who are accountants and we know to just leave them alone from approximately the beginning of March until at least April 15th, and then they get to be humans again.  Yay!  

Speedy healing vibes being sent to your grandmother   

8 more days! 8 more days! 8 more days!

Lots of healing vibes to your grandma too.  Glad you and your family are able to help, even if it does come at a bad time.  (((Hugs)))

Yeah, XC will take priority this year just because last year was such a shyte show between it being secondary to marathon training and my broken face. That being said, the season goes mid Sept - December so training for a Jan marathon (Houston for example) won't work.

I will just pick something for late April or May and start a plan in Jan or Feb. Actually, having a nice XC base, a short time off and then marathon training will be great me thinks. 

But yeah, that whole PCT 100 mile thing should likely tide me over for distance running  

Best wishes to your grandmother and to your sanity because of tax season!

Sounds like kind of a fun project to see what you can make of it.  Good luck with it!

Had a friend recommend a hard tail MTB instead of a CX bike this morning.  His thinking is that the CX bike doesn't do much except CX well (not sure he's right) and that a MTB would give me more options without sucking on the commute.  My only concern is that the commute will be a bear, although my comparator is my old MTB which I've had since something like '92 or '93.  I'm guessing the new ones are nicer and easier to commute on with slicks and such, but not sure how much so. 

Anyone think a hard tail MTB would be overkill for commuting and trail riding (with maybe some light single track thrown in)?  I probably won't do a CX season for a while, as I'm still more enjoying tri and plan to stick with it into the fall racing season (although that can always change) and then a winter run block (which I enjoy), so wonder if the MTB would be a good expansion of riding options...

Gonna spend a few days reading up on options, but curious to get any suggestions.

Matt

ETA: this is really the flip side question that Salty asked above (CX for gravel?).  MTB for commute?  I know, n+1 is always the right answer!

M

Ha funny, yeah, we are totally asking inverse questions.

I'll tell you what I decided and why.  

I think a CX would be great for the commute. Almost as good as a roadie with the flexibility to go off road, as Matt S. said, almost to the point of single track and roots. To me, it sounds like CX is going to suit your needs a little better. 

However, those are not really the qualities I am looking for. I already have a roadie so if I want to commute, I can use it. What I wanted was something almost purely trails and something that is totally comfy to ride. I had ridden my friend's MTB a while back and it was such a blast. I could ride right up and over the curb etc. To me, THAT is fun. Also, J isn't huge into biking but she likes to ride here and there. She would be much more inclined to hop on a MTB with flat pedals and upright positioning. Finally, the entry level price point for a MTB is significantly less than a CX (at least from what i have seen.) I was able to buy a couple year old MTB with a quality frame, good components and reasonable suspension for a couple hundred bucks. And for me, it will be totally fine. 

So with that being said, I am a proud owner of a Jamis Hardtail  

And THAT is rad. I plan to do some "bike packing" with my MTB. There are some great fire roads with some backcountry camping opportunities all over the place. Plus, I've already got a fair amount of lightweight backpacking gear so there is a ton of crossover in my hobbies. 

Anyone following the live tweet of the trial accusations? 

Guilty

Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty

How many counts are there, 30?

Can't be surprised by the verdicts - especially since his defense team admitted he did do it!  But, it's nice to hear the "guilty".  The interesting part will be the sentencing.

Yeah lol. 

Although the more serious conspiracy charges I think were a little less in the bag. Sort of.

I was curious if he was actually responsible for his brothers death? He did run him over after all. 

I thought I heard that that was what caused the death, but even if not under the felony murder rule he is legally responsible for the death.  So, he could get the death penalty -in part, because he killed his brother.  Which is interesting since the defense is little brother was just the dupe of big brother!

Right! Plot twist! 

Didja see they got Marky Mar...errr Mark Wahlberg 

HaHa

You mean Mahky Maaaaaahk, of course.