Project Beastie Bike

There are powered mountain bike options out there now that would astound and delight you, if you had the 5 grand to spend on them. That's a thing out here where I live now. People spend amazing amounts of money on their outdoor toys.
 
Well Tony, I thought of you today. I managed to find the exact bike we borrowed for the Pittsburgh-DC trip, used here in Portland, for a decent price. Today, snow be damned, I took it up the hill to the car-free section of the Old Columbia Highway. It was very, very hard to get going, and it was sloppy and chunky as all hell. But with that boost from the motor, I was able to muscle a quarter mile or so up the trail and stop for a few "I made it here" pictures. I longed to have the 4" tires you probably have... mine are half that width and sank in. Managed to keep it at around 8-10mph over the gross stuff, bouncing around as I went.

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KBRX7993 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRX8012 by gordopuggy, on Flickr
 
KillRamsey said:
Well Tony, I thought of you today. I managed to find the exact bike we borrowed for the Pittsburgh-DC trip, used here in Portland, for a decent price. Today, snow be damned, I took it up the hill to the car-free section of the Old Columbia Highway. It was very, very hard to get going, and it was sloppy and chunky as all hell. But with that boost from the motor, I was able to muscle a quarter mile or so up the trail and stop for a few "I made it here" pictures. I longed to have the 4" tires you probably have... mine are half that width and sank in. Managed to keep it at around 8-10mph over the gross stuff, bouncing around as I went.
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I took my bike out in about 5" of snow yesterday. It was not as easy as it looks. I followed an abandoned railroad bed that slowly but inexorably climbs as it progresses from a lowland stream bed into our southern mountains. We sank where the snow was deeper, and I just lost steam here and there and got off and pushed. The return leg back to my car was easy, however. The total weight between me and my bike is about 280 right now - with my goal to reduce that to 240 by Christmas. 40 pounds of that is my bike. A few pics with the X30 (By the way, it's 25' from the center of that bridge to the rocky stream bottom. I pushed my bike across - slowly):

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And because you enjoy it, you'll likely keep at it.
And because you'll keep at it, you'll begin to get even better at it.
And because you'll get better at it, you'll have even more fun.
And meanwhile, when you weren't paying attention, you'll lose the 40 lbs.

Or so the theory goes.
 
KillRamsey said:
And because you enjoy it, you'll likely keep at it.
And because you'll keep at it, you'll begin to get even better at it.
And because you'll get better at it, you'll have even more fun.
And meanwhile, when you weren't paying attention, you'll lose the 40 lbs.

Or so the theory goes.
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Well, as of this morning I've lost 8. I've already surpassed my goals for JAN 23 and FEB 23. Another 2 pounds and I'll be past my goal for MAR 23. Hoping to be able to get in a long ride on a remote river trail in southern WV this weekend. Never been there, but I've heard it is beautiful and moderately challenging.
 
Took the bike on an 11+ mile spin on a trail entirely new to me in southern WV. I was going to ride it's entire 11 mile length and back along the Bluestone River, but stretches of the trail were poorly drained and swamp-like, forcing me to get off and slowly push the bike through muck. Then I had equipment problems and had to stop a couple of times to conduct field repairs on the bike. By the time I reached the 1/2 way point, it was almost noon and I was wiped. I sat down on a big rock and ate my lunch while enjoying the rapids, then headed back. It was almost dark by the time I got home, but what a day! The second pic is the spot where I had lunch. X-E1 + Rokkor 24mm/2.8.

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Awwwesome. Oh man.

Also, I don't suppose you saw the World Fatbike Championships this past weekend? Someone on my Instagram feed was there, so I saw photos and video... hundreds of them, trucking across snowy fields. And they did whiskey hand-ups. (For anyone unfamiliar, "hand-ups" are a bike racing thing that came about in the cyclocross world, which has really defined itself as being UNlike the more stodgy, traditional, snobby road racing crowd. People will often line the route and "hand up" a beer, or food, cookies, brownies, or in this case, shots of whiskey to the passing racers, who greatfully down the hand-up as they speed off.)
 
KillRamsey said:
Awwwesome. Oh man.

Also, I don't suppose you saw the World Fatbike Championships this past weekend? Someone on my Instagram feed was there, so I saw photos and video... hundreds of them, trucking across snowy fields. And they did whiskey hand-ups. (For anyone unfamiliar, "hand-ups" are a bike racing thing that came about in the cyclocross world, which has really defined itself as being UNlike the more stodgy, traditional, snobby road racing crowd. People will often line the route and "hand up" a beer, or food, cookies, brownies, or in this case, shots of whiskey to the passing racers, who greatfully down the hand-up as they speed off.)
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Thanks Kyle. I didn't catch the Fatbike Championships . . . would have enjoyed seeing that. I just ordered a new chainring and cranks for my bike. I find my current gearing won't let me climb hills very well at all. I'm hoping the new setup will improve that.
 
Took the bike with the new cranks and chainring on an 8 mile spin along the Glade Creek Trail in southern WV. Cold but sunny. Didn't notice a huge difference in leverage from the cranks, but the slightly different gearing in the chainring helped a bit. Here's a couple from the X-T1 + Tokina 17mm/3.5. The lens could use a hood - notice the J.J. Abrams flare in the second pic.

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KillRamsey said:
I like the flare.
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I agree, but Abrams makes stuff unwatchable with his gratuitous use of (what I assume is) post production flare. I nearly had to stop watching the first Star Trek pic he made. I was loudly groaning out loud and when my wife asked why, I pointed it out. She hadn't noticed it, but once she had....she couldn't UN-see it.
 

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