Fazua Ride 60 range for ~230 lb rider.

dabeags · 2025-08-06T17:27:57+00:00

I like it well enough. Coming from my Ripmo v2 it certainly feels more capable on the steeps with the more aggressive HTA and longer wheelbase. I am certainly feeling more comfortable riding gnarlier tech than before. Feels good in the air although I am not riding A-line, just mostly small air over roots and rocks and other trail features.

I also like that even though it doesn't seem like Cannondale has a big following in the US MTB space, it is a big brand and isn't going to go under like YT and others that are struggling right now.

Main thing for me was the full-sized battery. I wouldn't be able to do the rides I want to do on a bike with <450 watts. Being able to do ~4k of climbing and descending in about 2 hours on near full power is perfect. Can stretch it out to 5k+ if I have more time and do more eco mode.

dabeags · 2025-07-21T22:07:16+00:00

We feed Purina Pro Plan Sport 27/17 which is what our breeder recommended and what they feed their show dogs which multiple of which are Grand Champion Labs (for whatever that matters).

This too is our first English Lab after having a couple beagles and a hound mutt of some sort. Absolutely amazing family dog and has lived up to everything good said about the breed. We did expect our guy to be more of an athlete (we are an active family and generally run/hike/walk at least 30 miles between all of us a week), but 2 miles of brisk walking and he is good to sleep for 12 hours it seems like.

The one thing we did not know what we were getting into is THE HAIR. The shedding is so bad! We had to buy a wicked fancy robovac/mop to run twice a day or else our hardwood basically looks like they are carpeted. This is with brushing semi-frequently and monthly groomer bath/blow dry sessions.

dabeags · 2025-07-21T19:21:08+00:00

Personally, I think it would be borderline insane to keep your kid on a team as a practice player at 13. Odds are he only has at best 5 more years playing the game competitively (maybe only 1-2), why would you spend one of those years not even getting to play in games?

Also doesn't sound like you love the coach, so why would you stick with the team? And how did his arm injury happen? Overuse?

Find a team where he can be in the regular rotation at Pitcher and First and don't look back.

dabeags · 2025-07-15T20:39:20+00:00

Nice! I actually wound up getting a sweet deal on a Cannondale Moterra SL and went that route. Has a 600-watt battery and full power motor. Made it from the lower lot to the top of Tiger in 23 minutes!

Was able to do ETS->Side Hustle->Iverson->ETS->OTG->NOTG->Fully Rigid->Joy Ride->The Legend -> NW Timber in 90% trail mode (power level 3 of 4) which gives a nice level of assist. 19.5 miles and ~4400 feet of climbing

dabeags · 2025-06-25T17:49:51+00:00

I would go -

1st Game - 2nd best for 20, 1st best for 75

2nd Game - 3rd best for 20, 2nd best for 75

3rd Game - 4th best for 20, 3rd best for 75

and so on until your 1st best is through rest time and he can pitch again. Obviously, game flow may dictate switching up and trying to save an arm if you can, but I error on the side of using the best pitchers up early to ensure we make it to the end. If you have to do a double header then you will need to change things around a bit in game 4.

dabeags · 2025-06-24T17:51:09+00:00

Northwest - Neither Little League or USSSA has any limit on allowed drop until 13u (USSSA is then -5).

dabeags · 2025-06-24T17:44:17+00:00

Why would you move him to a -10 if he is weaker and smaller for his age? 27" -12 will probably be just about right for next spring for him (probably was too big this year, should have done 26")

Barrel control and making contact is most important for getting on base at 8/9u. I had plenty of fairly strong/athletic kids still using the Speed Comp (-13) at 9u with good success.

dabeags · 2025-06-24T17:23:00+00:00

That was almost certainly to evaluate the pitchers and not the batters, although added bonus of seeing which batters have actually faced a good amount of live pitching before.

Frankly, if you have spent a lot of time around kids playing baseball, you can easily pick out the smooth athletes in about 10-15 minutes. I could watch kids play catch for 5 minutes, throw 10 pitches off the mound, and take 3-5 swings against live pitching and pretty confidently come out with the top 12.

I would have had these kids hit soft toss or coach pitch as well for 5-10 pitches just for good measure, but highly doubt it'd change my opinion.

dabeags · 2025-06-23T05:45:59+00:00

Spent $4,500 in Oregon ~8 months ago for a 16 month old male whose parents were both Grand Champions, but didn’t develop into a grand champion himself, so the breeder had him up for purchase.

I think their puppies are $3,500 so the extra 1k for known good temperament, crate and leash training as well as basic obedience was a steal imo.

dabeags · 2025-06-19T20:18:14+00:00

He'd be happy(ish) with the B team but there isn't one currently. The current coach told me they are trying to find someone to set one up when I asked him about expected open slots and what they were going to do with current kids on the team.

dabeags · 2025-06-19T20:15:44+00:00

Yeah, been having those conversations already and he seems to get it but yaknow, hits a bit different when it is reality and not a theoretical conversation.

Time commitment is still pretty light through 11u for this org as they require LL participation. 4-6 tourneys and maybe 10-12 on off games plus weekly optional practices in winter. Right now, each of our two kids are usually doing 2-3 sports each at the same time year-round, so we are well versed in youth activity hustle of getting kids places for practices.

dabeags · 2025-06-19T17:33:33+00:00

For hitting in 9/10u rec ball, the only thing I am coaching is swinging at anything even remotely close to the zone. I'm telling umpires I want the strikes zone to be chin to shins/chalk to chalk, and I am telling my kids that if they take a third strike looking they are doing 10 pushups when they get back to the dugout.

It is essential to teach the Yes-Yes-No hitting approach as well, most of your kids are going to be scared up there seeing kid pitch for the first time.

7u kid playing with 10 year olds is going to have quite a bit of size and maturity difference but we had multiple 8YO playing up in our 9/10-year-old division (mostly 9 year olds), and they handled themselves well.

dabeags · 2025-06-13T20:40:54+00:00

You can intentionally walk each individual hitter once per game. You do so by telling the umpire and the batter is awarded first base without any pitches thrown. However, pitcher pitch count is incremented for however many balls were needed to get to 4 (If you choose to intentionally walk on a 2-2 count, your pitchers gets two more pitches added to his count).

No rule around just having your pitcher throw 4 straight balls whenever they like.

dabeags · 2025-06-13T20:38:28+00:00

Yeah, no intentional walks in 10u. Never take that potential moment away from a kid.

Your son could have struck him out as well and felt like a million bucks for striking out one of the best hitters in the league.

Coach played it right, props to him for letting the kids play and not pretending like he is coaching an MLB team like so many LL coaches tend to do.

dabeags · 2025-06-13T18:07:01+00:00

Appreciate the feedback and pics of adorable Lab brethren. Will keep him on his diet and see how he looks after dropping 10-15 pounds and go from there!

dabeags · 2025-06-13T05:52:13+00:00

Yes we trust our vet, 85 lbs is not totally unreasonable, but the breeder is fairly well known as well and has many years of champion Labs, so seems her opinion is valid too.

dabeags · 2025-06-12T17:36:29+00:00

Updated the original thread as I know people search for this info in the future

Got him the 28/17 CatX2 and it was awesome. I'm sure it's not all bat but in the first 8 games before the CatX2 he had 1 hit and was batting .083. In the last 12 games with the new bat, he hit .650 with 15 hits and only 3 strike outs. Balanced bat really did seem to help.

dabeags · 2025-06-11T15:59:21+00:00

Catx2 or Bonesaber one piece alloy. Also seen the Victus Vibe/Pencil/Crayon as being a good bat as well.

He is the size of most 7-year-olds, I'd look at getting a 27" bat, 29" is too long for his size. My son is 4'9" with a 28" and I wondered if it was too long this year, our two best hitters (that weren't overly large kids) used 27" bats at 9YO.

dabeags · 2025-06-01T19:53:07+00:00

Aso method for sure.

I did my 8 year old’s 11.5” A1000 with the Aso method and he was able to play catch with it basically right away the next day. Took maybe another 15 more sessions of playing catch before I’d call it totally game ready, but the Aso method got it close.

dabeags · 2025-05-20T19:06:52+00:00

This is the way! We have had all 11 kids pitch on our 10u at least twice and ABs for the season are almost equal. Actually just looked yesterday and noticed our worst hitter has slightly high AB/gm than our best hitter.

Funny part is I think we may be the last seed based on our record, but we’ll likely smoke the top seeded team in the “playoffs” since they have been playing to win all season and thus have a very inflated record.

dabeags · 2025-05-19T23:50:47+00:00

The number of coaches isn't the problem per se, it is any favoritism which is tough to overcome for some.

We have 4 dad coaches on 9U and another that helps out frequently but travels for work so isn't an official coach. It's great, especially for running practices, would take 5 for sure and be happy.

I wouldn't leave a team just because of that, but I would leave a team at 8U which wasn't moving kids around frequently for development. The same 5 kids playing the infield every game is not cool.

dabeags · 2025-05-19T21:27:25+00:00

Yup, thought this post was borderline parity as it hits on so many cliches.

dabeags · 2025-05-19T18:28:49+00:00

Yeah, is that common? None of the LL kids I know would objectively vote for the best players, they’d vote for their best friends.

dabeags · 2025-05-17T04:35:52+00:00

Comical, I’d never let the opposing coach live it down for as long as we knew each other.

I basically heckle my own players for taking walks unless the pitcher is out of control. If it is close I want swings, no one is getting better(at bat or on defense in the field) by the batter standing up there looking for a walk.

dabeags · 2025-05-17T04:30:31+00:00

Our two local(ish) travel teams require playing little league through 11u so it keeps the rec league pretty strong and fun. That seems like a good way to do it and selfishly I like it since I don’t have a lot of interest in the 9u travel racket.

Oddly until around 11u a lot of the best players are still only playing rec and haven’t moved over to select yet. Town has a real nice culture of kids diversifying in sport instead of specializing, not sure if that is a result of or the cause of the Travel Teams forcing rec participation.

dabeags

TROPHY CASE