Bicycling

Kuriin

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
4,046
1,020
Wow. Out of Berkeley? Was that a 80 or so mile bike ride? I love Diablo. It's a triple Tamalpais ride due to the elevation; but, it's never really difficult until the final hill where the grade goes from about 8% to about 15% (Cat 3 to Cat 1). It's insane but amazing. Didn't think I was going to make it. Heart felt like it was going to pump out of my body rofl.
 
Famm

Famm

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
11,041
794
Uh, no I think it was like the first hill. Isn't the big ride called three bears or something, and includes three total mountains? I think we just did that first peak and back down. One guy offered to let me tag along with him for the next descent, then he was going to turn around and climb back up to where I took those pics and down again to Berkeley. I just turned back with the rest of the group though since I was hungover and kind of over climbing for the day after that. It was only like 15-20 miles I think with about 1k feet of climbing.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,436
2,220
I did Mount Diablo the day before I left California and I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner. What a great ride. I did it in the middle of December and I forgot my helmet and I got rained on and had to get off and push my bike across a couple stretches that were covered with ice. Then I got to descend on wet roads with no helmet, which made me a bit nervous. The people that were helping me move that afternoon were not impressed with the fact that I went for that bike ride when I should have been putting shit in boxes, but I'm really glad I did it. When you think about going uphill continuously for 10+ miles it sounds really daunting but it's not as hard as it sounds and I wish I had tried it sooner.

Another really great ride that I did a few times to get off BART at the Embarcadero station and ride down past Chrissy field and then across the Golden Gate Bridge and take a hard left up the hill to that old Nike Missile site on top of the hill. It starts out steep as fuck but it only lasts for about a quarter mile and then gets more manageable. The view there is awesome and you can check out the Nike site and then ride down the back side where it's rolling hills and really beautiful scenery. When you get to the bottom you can go check out the beach or just ride out through that tunnel. The wind will push you right out of the valley and it doesn't even feel like you are going uphill. The tunnel is downhill with the wind at your back and I could usually hit 40 MPH going through it. Then when I got back to SF if I was still feeling my oats I would ride up to Coit tower before getting back on BART and heading home. Man this is bringing back good memories.
 
Kuriin

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
4,046
1,020
That hill to the right of the GGB is known as the Marin Headlands. It's really not that bad. Tamalpais and Diablo are obviously harder. I'm impressed you did Diablo without a helmet and on wet roads. You've got some big balls, rofl.
 
Leadsalad

Leadsalad

Cis-XYite-Nationalist
5,965
11,930
Grats on finally doing Diablo Kuriin. That last section is just a kick in the balls after everything before it.
 
R

reo_speed_sl

shitlord
6
0
Anyone know where you can go to buy nice bikes for good deals? Craiglist doesn't have much on it and ebay is even worse (not hyperlocal) and who wants to pay an extra 70 bucks to ship a bike? Just wondering if anyone knows where all of these nice 2013/2012/2011 bikes go after their owners get new bikes.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
5
Well obvious answer is your local bike shop. They will usually blow-out last years models or whatever isn't popular at the moment. Usually you will have even better luck finding a deal like that if you are an odd-ball size. For example, my local bike shop had great deals on any 26" wheeled mountain bike near the end of last season because everyone was buying 29ers. On the flip side, my buddy was shopping for a deal on a 29er but since he is a pretty common size they didn't have any close-out deals on one his size.

Another choice iswww.bikesdirect.comYou generally are buying an off-brand frame, but because of that you get a great deal on the component sets. And many of the frames are made in the exact same factories as the brand names. They don't charge any tax and offer free shipping. Problem with ordering from them is you have to buy a bike sight-unseen.
 
Famm

Famm

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
11,041
794
reo_speed_sl said:
Anyone know where you can go to buy nice bikes for good deals? Craiglist doesn't have much on it and ebay is even worse (not hyperlocal) and who wants to pay an extra 70 bucks to ship a bike? Just wondering if anyone knows where all of these nice 2013/2012/2011 bikes go after their owners get new bikes.
Click to expand...
You can eventually find something on CL in most places but you really have to camp it a while to find the size/type/price you want. If you want a bike right now, seriously just use bike shops. You're a little late, January/February tend to be the big closeout sale months for leftover model years. All depends on what your shops are like though really.

Also, if there's much of a cycling community around you try swap meets and message boards for the local bike clubs.
 
agripa

agripa

Molten Core Raider
589
499
For about 10 years I did a ride calledhttp://ragbrai.com/. It is a week long ride across Iowa in July. It is some of my best teenage memories, and the food was amazing during the ride. Has anyone else done this ride?
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
5
So I already have 30 miles and about 5500 vertical feet in on my mountain bike this year. Considering that I usually don't even think about starting to ride till May, I'm pretty stoked about it. At my favorite riding place they have put a lot more effort into building the trails with drainage in mind which has really expanded the riding season in the area.

I'm really thinking of trying to do a couple of Enduro style races this year. There are a couple in my area and they look like a lot of fun.
 
Ao-

Ao-

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
<WoW Guild Officer>
7,879
507
Wooo new bike!

rrr_img_19189.jpg



edit: upside down bike? let's see if this fixed it

rrr_img_19189.jpg
 
Famm

Famm

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
11,041
794
You sticking with the toe clips? I know its a kind of hipster thing to use them now, and it is a bit retro of a bike, but there's no way I could deal with that personally.
 
Ao-

Ao-

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
<WoW Guild Officer>
7,879
507
Famm_sl said:
You sticking with the toe clips? I know its a kind of hipster thing to use them now, and it is a bit retro of a bike, but there's no way I could deal with that personally.
Click to expand...
Ah no! I pulled them off of my mountain bike as I have zero other pedals. I'm going to eventually get a crappy pair of shoes and some crappy pedals. The bike is sort of retro, but it's last year's model (and the last model, they discontinued the caseroll).
 
ham

ham

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,462
79
pulled the trigger on rapha shoes last week. could've upgraded my wheels instead. yolo
 
F

fat12_sl

shitlord
20
0
Hey guys, I am planning on doing a bike tour with a couple of friends from Austin up through the central part of the U.S (Colorado) and then start winding towards the West with our final destination being Portland.

I am on a shoestring budget, and am going to be either rolling on my Mercier Corvus (steel geared roadbike from bikesdirect) or try and borrow a friends Cross Check. I was just curious if some people might have some old parts/gear for sale. Somethings that I will definitely be needing and that I don't currently have our some bike shorts and a wearable pair of SPD shoes.

I am looking on cl and ebay of course, but seems like some of you (looking at you Ham) buy way too much bike shit, so maybe you one of yall needs to get rid of some clutter.
 
Famm

Famm

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
11,041
794
Keep your eye on Chainlove constantly. Easy to do with a smartphone. Good deals abound on clothes and shoes depending on your size.

Ebay isn't a bad resource for cycling stuff either, depending on what you want.
 
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