How many scoops of Stan's for a heavy guy?

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

Three. For 240 lb of a person this seems to work the best. 2+ months of riding-no pressure lost
Update March 26, 2012   3+ months going strong no issues

Universal gear combination for Bridal Path

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

After experimenting for a while, I decided that Granny and Second Biggest rings on a 9 speed cassette is the combination that can be used on any stretch of the Bridal Path.

Two Exceptions where I would use the Middle upfront and the Biggest in the back:
-Entry point to Suicide Connector (going west) and
-The entrance on Bridal Path by the golf course by the fence (going west)

March 29, 2012 update: I can use the Granny and the Second biggest ring in the back EVERYWHERE on BRIDAL PATH NOW. My knees are saying thanks...

For increased cardio workout, I would use Middle chainring upfront and the biggest one in the back for the entire trail.

MAVIC UST 819 tubeless setup

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

After a month of riding my rear tire started losing too much air (i left the tire inflated to 22 PSI overnight and in the morning it had hardly any air)

The original setup was : Mavic UST 819 rim, Mavic stem, Maxxis Minion 3C 2.5 tire. 2 scoops of Stan's sealant.

Today's modifications: cleaned all solidified Stan's, added 3 scoops of sealant instead of 2, added Stan's rim strip.

Inflating with the rim strip was very easy using the floor pump which was not the case in the original setup.

I will post updates to keep track when the setup may fail...

Update 1.

Jan 6, 2012

First ride excellent! No air loss at all.

Update 2
May 1 , 2012
Detected air loss, dismantled the tire, found quite a bit of dirt where the rim clinches the tire, cleaned all, added sealant, re-inflated, all works well. Conclusion: I have to watch for the dirt in the "clinching" area and clean it once in a while. I will try adding a little bit of sealant once a month, rather than waiting for the next significant air pressure loss

Ideal stem hight?

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!


Lower is better than higher. By far!
After the conversation with Drew from Different Bikes I realized that the lower stem makes it for much much better steering control, body position and overall riding.
It is simple to "hunt for" the sweet spot: no cutting of anything is needed. I simply took a big fat spacer from the bottom and put it on top of the stem!
I was amazed what a couple of mm do in this context, it may as well be miles of distance for a bike-less-self-propelling individual in a totally different context.

And yes, I made sure that all the bolts are tight when I was done: I first loaded the star nut and then tightened the stem bolts, not the other way around!

Dynamic riding

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

What I understood about North Shore riding is that it is a very dynamic process. I find that I constantly do little things based on the terrain situation that are not always noticeable from the side:

• shifting back and forth
• slightly pulling up on the handlebar with coordinated push on a pedal
• lowering and raising the seat
• switching to the appropriate gear to accommodate the terrain situation
• leaning the bike
• putting more weight in different places
• lifting from the seat (60%-40% weight distribution or so) or standing altogether
• doing or not doing many other things that I should or should not

Conclusion? I will take classes from Endless Biking!

Welcome to IgorBikingTheMountain blog!

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

Hello,

I am a MTB novice. Just like many of us out there and who are a bit shy to ask experienced people for some advice....
It is great that there is such opportunity as learning XC Mountain biking on North Shore, probably the best place on earth to do it.


Why create this blog? I have felt intimidated for a while by seeing all those expert bikers who look like gatekeepers of very useful insider information about this sport.

In this blog I will try to share bit by bit what I learned about riding, bike setup, obstacles, etc, providing some information that may be interesting for other beginners (and myself too!)
The information (often anecdotal in nature) is gathered from conversation in bike stores, my own trial and error experiments and from often serendipitous conversations on the trail with other bikers.

Take it with the grain of salt and seek professional advice as what works for me may not work for you! This sport can be dangerous so always use professional help!
All information is based on the author's personal experience and therefore is subjective in nature!