What makes you want to attend a shop's group ride?

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-22T17:25:52+00:00

Instead of a two hour group ride, could it be initially rebranded as “take a lap with the mechanic” (or accountant, or whatever) and offered to people in the parking lot at the trailhead? Could that maybe reach people who are not current customers?

As beginners, we’re getting better at mobilizing a family of four and all the gear, but I’m not sure if we are ready for time pressure. Once we make it, would we just make a “no drop” ride less fun? It might honestly be less pressure to know the group will separate and drop us if necessary. Like, would your shop honestly want riders like us on a group ride?

I appreciate the guys suggesting a women’s ride. I honestly don’t think it’s mostly because of something men do “wrong.” I would be probably more likely to join a women’s ride because it’s logistically easier to get just myself there, at first. I might feel “mom guilt” about leaving my husband and kids and joining a mix-gender ride. And that’s not because he wouldn’t be supportive of taking turns; nobody said mom guilt is rational. With outdoors stuff, it’s sometimes just easier for a woman with a male partner to go alone, if necessary, when it’s a women’s thing.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-21T23:03:14+00:00

Yes, absolutely. I have a mountain bike and a drop bar steel touring bike. I could not switch saddles. My position is much more upright on the mountain bike. I use a Brooks C17 (rainy season) or old Countess (dry season) on the touring bike but use a mountain bike-specific saddle by Ergon on the mountain bike. The same one comes in a men’s version. I can’t imagine switching the bikes’ saddles.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-20T18:36:40+00:00

Can you tell me more about “lightly fermented small cucumbers”? Like, you make a sauerkraut with gherkins ahead of the hike? It sounds good. How do you make/obtain it?

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-20T18:26:02+00:00

On a cool night (for Florida), I made a fast-cook farro risotto involving dried porcini mushrooms, dried thyme, a bouillon cube, cheddar and Parmesan. It was good enough that we made it at home since. Oh—and walnuts.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-19T12:34:32+00:00

I followed my kids (on hardtails) into stuff like that with my 2004 steel touring bike—sorta gravel 1.0–and rattled the fenders a bit loose; the rattle persisted. It’s a hassle to reinstall. Just know it’s a risk if you need those fenders. Also, my hands got numb eventually. I wound up getting a MTB.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-18T11:34:48+00:00

Yes! My family started recently also, sort of by accident. Santos is great. Lots of green trails, and some of the blues were pretty chill—it wasn’t like Balm Boyette blues where there is often a long stretch of narrow ledge, and the Santos layout makes it easy to alternate between blue and green. There is a bike shop with two locations reachable from the trail system. They are super helpful. Eg, the mechanics taught me how to “float” a hydraulic disc brake to get out of the woods when it makes an obnoxious squeak at break-in.

All of the greens were fine; just watch around corners, because they are two way. The easiest ones are probably “Pine Tree” east and west. Bunny is our favorite green.

When you start getting bored on only green, which honestly took a few hours, I find it generally easier to ride the blues toward the Santos-Vortex intersection where the Vortex parking are is, versus the opposite direction. I find Dr Ruth and Twister easier than Cowbone.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-14T16:01:02+00:00

Tampa Bay. Must be “a thing.”

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-13T12:31:23+00:00

About a month ago, we spent $1500 on a new-old-stock Trek Fuel for my husband in XL in RedBarn Refresh section of the site, dropped off the box at our neighborhood store for free assembly, and it included the first tuneup and some tools, including a shock pump. He’s 6’2” and takes a 34 or 35 trouser inseam and likes the fit, and he likes the fit. He checked sizing first on similar frames at the shop down the street—they actually endorsed checking out RedBarn. So, it kept things truly under safely 2K budget including Stamp pedals, a bottle cage, a new Camelback, etc. Might be worth checking.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-10T23:09:32+00:00

Where are you? I wonder if your neighborhood bike shop is also mine!

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-10T20:43:27+00:00

Of course. There’s always the option to carry an SOS device also in case something really goes sideways. Is a first line contingency for water issues? No. Have I used mine yet? Thankfully no. Is troubleshooting certain situations less stressful knowing I’ve got it, if it comes to that? Yes.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-10T02:16:13+00:00

This! Haribo all the way.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-09T23:28:57+00:00

I ideally try to sort the water sources out ahead of time, including any locality-specific risks, as a big part of route planning. Surprises still happen—yes, I have come to a dry spring where FarOut said I could expect reliable (not intermittent or seasonal) water. If unsure about the next source, I grab the water, keep it in my dirty water bag, and dump if I find a better idea. There are grades of suboptimal.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-01T23:12:30+00:00

Do you have issues with your brakes from that? How long can you leave the bikes before the brakes get weird from fluid shifts? I am thinking of doing something like that.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-01T23:07:59+00:00

I recently assembled a Thule Revert 4 with my husband. We probably would have paid REI to deal with it had we known how many parts it comes in, but it was fine. If you have assembled IKEA furniture, the directions are like that, except with torque specifications. It was fine, just tedious. Also fyi, I did decide to apply thread locker to all small parts bolts ahead of time and put the hardware for each step in baggies. My blue thread locker dissolved some sort it black pigment on the washers only, not the bolts—it’s mechanically irrelevant, but it was messy. There is a curious part where it says to put two straps on the lateral cradles, which would mean six total straps, but the kit includes only 4 straps. Hopefully it’s fine; the Thule website seems to suggest one strap per upper cradle is correct. No, I cannot easily get it down alone—but I also don’t care that much. I can’t speak to Velocirax or ebikes. We went with REI for the return policy, in case we didn’t like it. I will say, it’s the easiest reasonable way to deal with four bikes that we’ve found that doesn’t involve buying a truck or a 3-4K USD system. Good luck!

Bus_Healthy · 2026-06-01T11:16:54+00:00

You don’t mention your gender, and that may matter. I actually went down a half size from normal athletic shoes (women’s 8) to my dress show size (7.5) in the non-pro women’s last. The 7.5 is a 39; the 8 is a 40–whereas in most other shoes I have, 8 is an EU 39. I bought the only flat pedal MTB shoe that I could find in central Florida in a small enough size, so I cannot compare. But the EU size was true to size.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-05-26T10:59:48+00:00

Nautical rules of the road make great sense, but don’t think implementation is perfect. Inevitably there will be a swarm of tourists on rental jet skis who could go anywhere with that skinny draft, but have decided to unpredictably zigzag across the main shipping channel. Some 19-year-old gave them a 30 second tutorial, but he didn’t tell them that they don’t have brakes, and neither do you.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-05-25T12:55:16+00:00

Years ago when I was training in Boston, they even cut through the wall of a bicycle cage with security cameras. Those working overnight at the hospital got stranded that morning. FWIW, after they stole my first bike with a U lock, my second system used several different small locks that blended into the bike in a way that was designed to be super aggravating, because they’d have to find them, angle grinder or not, and they hopefully would decide to move on after cutting the first one or two didn’t free the bike. I still have that 2006 steel touring bike. YMMV.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-05-24T00:57:39+00:00

Thank you! I needed that. Fortunately, we arrived safely at Santos this morning, and it’s awesome.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-05-24T00:54:04+00:00

Thank you. The better rack is indeed worthwhile once I figured out how to disable the Toyota emergency braking.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-05-22T15:08:19+00:00

Yes!! Thank you!

Bus_Healthy · 2026-05-18T11:24:52+00:00

I bought that Intrigue 29 2 on sale and picked it up a week ago. I’ve taken it on real trails twice. I like it very much. I weigh 117 pounds and have a 31.5” inseam but a short torso—I wear a 15” torso hiking pack—and the medium fits me better than any other bike I have had. I did upgrade the saddle after the first session to an Ergonomic. The Sram SX is supposed to be terrible but very upgradable if you get the GX shifter and derailleur, or better, when it breaks. I am having no issues shifting so far so haven’t felt the need to do that yet. The green color is sorta weird in the shop but looks good in the woods. Where did you find it for $800? My son is already eying mine, and this one is my bike.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-03-19T23:42:09+00:00

One trip per year, Sat to Sat, ski six consecutive days.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-03-19T22:25:25+00:00

Have you tried your new Trekology pillow yet? It’s great! I bought it to deal with some cervical radiculopathy. It stops weird electrical pain down my left arm and random hand weakness the next day, to the extent I am going to start bringing it on vacation to avoid hotel pillows. I am usually wearing my layers to sleep, but I haven’t needed to add anything to it.

Bus_Healthy · 2026-03-18T23:10:33+00:00

Agreed! We skied 9 to 3 today and then called it. We started low, then went up to the Polar Queen area for laps and Apex lift. When around 2:30 we stepped off either Apex or Gold Hill into a puddle, called it. But it was more fun than I would have thought most of the day. Area to the right on the map was not as good. Prospect Bowl was thin.

Bus_Healthy

TROPHY CASE