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Nice way to start November . . .

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Another weekend, and this time 2 days of racing with Sunday being costume rides for Halloween...

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^^Obviously I liked that spot...

My costume: Lord Helmet, from Spaceballs...... and I came in 16th out of ~25 wearing that thing, I may proudly point out.

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This guy made it around the course every lap, which was incredible.

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Adding more carbon bits to my bike like a Sith Lord adding more cybernetic components to complete the transition to the dark side! My main goal was to improve my uphill climbing with these wheels and also swap my alloy wheels for a potential gravel build update! Also the past week the colder/drier weather here in LA have been flaring up my allergies! I have to assure everyone around me I don't have the 'rona and all my coughing is just due to the dry air! 🥴 :roflmao:

I also installed a generic 4K/60fps w/EIS action camera that attaches to the GPS mount. Battery life is pretty good, lasting almost 2 hours of continuous 4k footage and quality looks halfway decent for a $50 camera!

I can't decide if it's a road or gravel bike?
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Spy cam!
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(Road vs. gravel) I'm gonna say until you get something fatter than those skinny little 28 meats on it (?), it's a road bike. :)
They're actually 32c tires! I have 38c GK slicks and semi-knobby tires and this particular frame is supposed to fit 45c tires. Though I've opted to keep this bike more road oriented, with the ability to ride paved fire roads with it's gearing on a 50:34t front / 11-32t cassette. It's also due to where I live in LA, since I'm more central we have way more hills and terrible roads. The west side of LA is generally flatter with smoother pavement and the gloriously flat beach bike lane that stretches for several tens of miles.

My other gravel bike is running 46:30t front / 11-42t cassette and that bike can ride up single track trails meant for MTBs and all the other uphill mountains here in LA. Though that's the bike I've been thinking of upgrading to a steel frameset (currently alloy) and keeping my GRX groupset with hydraulic brakes. I really wanted to pick up a Surly steel frame, but finding anything bike related is near impossible right now!
 
A rail trail two-fer this week: 20.5 miles on our Elk River Trail on Monday, and 32 miles on the North Bend Trail Friday. Yesterday it was 26F, dark, and foggy when I started, but turned into a beautiful, sunny day that was still noticeably chilly by the time I got back to the car. The western end of the NB Trail passes a lot of wooded residential areas, and it's a popular trail, yet I had the trail to myself yesterday; no hikers or bikers to be seen all morning.

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It was a "chilly" 70 degrees today here in LA, but beautiful weather nonetheless!

Blue skies:
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Hello Hollywood:
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New kicks:
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Suited up for the hill attack:
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Another 21+ mile ride along the Elk River this morning. Weather was a touch chilly most of the ride, warming to the mid 60s F by afternoon. Most likely the last day of good weather around here for a while, and I was a bit surprised I saw not a single person along the trail all morning. We've had some excellent weather the past 10 days, and I've gotten in some really nice woodland rides.

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Today I took my alloy GRX bike on my weekly hill climb and wow, I didn't realize how heavy it rides compared to my carbon 105 bike + carbon wheels! Honestly, I think I could probably build out a carbon gravel bike and just run wide tires to negate the stiffness. Though I'm trying not to spend any money on bikes for the rest of the year! 😆

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A Veterans' Day Memorial at the Griffith Observatory:
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Friday, I did 27 miles up the trail and bumped into some wildlife along the way! I find I like mixing my trail and road miles up. When trail riding I work on high cadence spinning. When road riding I can focus on out-of-saddle climbing. Saying that, I'm not much of a flat sprinter, I much prefer the hills!

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Yesterday was the last 'cross race of this season, so I won't be bombarding you with boring race pics anymore. :) And I shot plenty of video again, but this time I made one last push for some stills that I would like... I wanted to get something good before it's all done again for another year. Here are shots I liked:

One of my guys, looking back.

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It's been a rough season on my gear. Most weeks (MOST) were pouring rain, and/or mud, and usually below 60 degrees F. My XE-3 still has the stuck AF/MF switch, and the sensor is really dirty, and the grip rubber is peeling off. 2 of my 3 remaining SD cards are either dead or dying - one writes so slow now that I can't get beyond 10 seconds of low-res video without it hanging up. One of them had its lock tab break off, effectively locking it forever. 3 of my 4 batteries are so swollen they won't come out of the cameras anymore without whacking the body. The XT1 is working well still, though it continues to have the "purple shift" issue where its Tint is fundamentally off, everything has a SLIGHT magenta cast that I can see, and which didn't use to be there, that I have to fix in post.

So my gear needs a vacation.
 
Yesterday was the last 'cross race of this season, so I won't be bombarding you with boring race pics anymore. :) And I shot plenty of video again, but this time I made one last push for some stills that I would like... I wanted to get something good before it's all done again for another year. Here are shots I liked:

One of my guys, looking back.

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It's been a rough season on my gear. Most weeks (MOST) were pouring rain, and/or mud, and usually below 60 degrees F. My XE-3 still has the stuck AF/MF switch, and the sensor is really dirty, and the grip rubber is peeling off. 2 of my 3 remaining SD cards are either dead or dying - one writes so slow now that I can't get beyond 10 seconds of low-res video without it hanging up. One of them had its lock tab break off, effectively locking it forever. 3 of my 4 batteries are so swollen they won't come out of the cameras anymore without whacking the body. The XT1 is working well still, though it continues to have the "purple shift" issue where its Tint is fundamentally off, everything has a SLIGHT magenta cast that I can see, and which didn't use to be there, that I have to fix in post.

So my gear needs a vacation.

Quick question, did the single speed bikes race in their own criterium or were they also mixed with geared bikes? All that mud can't be good for a geared bike drivetrain!
 
(Singlespeed) The answer is "both." There is a separate category for s.s. (one men, one women), but some people choose to race in the normal cats with a s.s. bike anyway... usually some of the strongest folks. And no, that mud tears up drivetrains regularly. My wife's, for example... just replaced everything a week ago, which was a nice upgrade.
 
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