On 2018-03-19 09:32, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, March 19, 2018 at 8:10:15 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-03-18 17:12, jbeattie wrote:

[...]

We have bike trails with parking lots, too, but they don't do
much for relieving traffic congestion, even though some purport
to commute on the trails.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_bGCOFCQ0I Judging by where the
video ends, the guy probably works at Rapha. No mountain lions,
and are inner-city trails are never far from water, usually in
puddles.


Those are the easier well-maintained routes. We have similar ones
like here, one of my errand routes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44zqIKf2T_I


O.K., so this is about super-hard trails through the uber-gnarly
Sierra foothills -- what people "out there" use (apparently to get to
Costco).


Not Costco, that would be the western section of this trail but I
usually use side roads to get to Costco:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_T2c4AXaCY

The one in the first link goes to Lowe's, Trader Joe's and with a wee
detour our brew supplies place. Also connects to the American River bike
path and the Folsom trail system. Best of all, less than a mile from my
favorite brewpub. Now what is so uber-gnarly about those trails? Yes,
you need an FS bike if you carry some cargo that could break. Since the
industry doesn't furnish suitable bikes you have to modify one, which I
did. It glides like a Lincoln if I lower the rear shock pressure and
avoid becoming airborne.

This is what we consider gnarly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4igppirvtlQ

Going to ride there later this year on MTB with a buddy.


... Why did they bother putting in the bike lanes in Folsom?
Why put in roads to the golf course in Cameron Park -- or to the club
house?


That's for wusses :-)


... I would think the sons and daughters of the Donner party
would have been content with pits and punji sticks -- rattlers and
mountain lions. It's all about being hard, right? That's what gets
the Intel workers on their bikes in Folsom, I'm sure.


Many of them have only one bike and then a MTB is much more practical.
In this area it really extends your operating range. Keep in mind that
not everyone has a house with a 2-3 car garage. Sometimes the only
secure storage for a bike is a tiny apartment balcony.


We have nice trails too, but not through drab brown hills.
http://www.skibowl.com/summer/sites/...OD-800x400.jpg


That would count as gnarly. As for scenery, we've got that. One of the
many reasons why I sometimes take the much longer singletrack to Folsom
is that you come through an area that looks like a picture postcard from
Switzerland. That's also where I usually go to be alone and think about
a difficult circuit design.


If I lived in Government Camp, that would be my commute route. In
fact, I was there the other day, and there was this guy and his kids,
coming home from the taco stand in Govy. He had triple suspension
because the trail is so gnarly, and he had a Winchester Mod. 70 for
shooting Grizzlies. His kids had Marlins. It's just what people do in
Govy. Hard, hard people. God's people. But you don't want to be
around them when the provisions run low and they get hungry. It's
too far to Costco, and they may eat you.


:-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/