ken4ord

I am not much of XCer more FR and DH, but I did like the way the specialized Enduro felt (solid) and rode (like a heavier FR bike without the weight), I never ridden the Dawg. I have ridden other Konas like the Stinky and Stabs, I don't like the Stinky's cause they feel a little too springy even in the seat pedaling, the Stab is nice but not what you are looking for, that is like riding a couch with wheel comfy. I would also look at the Tomac 6 shooter, I rode that bike and liked it alot, it pedaled and rode like XC, but had the feel of FR. Looks like they make a bike called Eli that is it's replacement. Out in Rwanda, I would love something like the Eli great for climbing but could handle some of the hits I would give it. Both the Enduro and the Tomac are nice bikes. As for suspension (the gravy on your meat and potatoes) I have been really happy with my 5th element. I have it on a 03 Santa Cruz Bullit and have not had to do any maintenance at all except for replacing bushings. The adjustability rocks, you can fine tune that sucker just the way you want. I have yet to be impressed with Fox suspension, maybe it just me. I do like the lock out feature on there shocks and think it works great. After blowing two rear suspensions in one week down in Moab, they are going to have to work hard to win me over.

Most biner flex some when weighted. And I have seen them flex to the gate pin. Your best bet though would be to contact HB rather than asking for advice on this board. They will know better than anyone here.

Holy shite, that is a sweet looking line, is the line on Siguniang always there or was it a freak thing?

Hey Jojo, For pure water ice routes, when I left the East Coast there was a lot of new activity going on up over in Newfoundland. Some big lines were getting pulled down. One monster line that come to mind was one in the Himalayas that Kitty Calhoon? and ???(can't remember who) climbed. Henery Barber did some long ice lines in Norway where they were spending multi-days on the routes, short days though.

Yeah right or that note showed that they were possibly thinking that they might get in over their head. I hope they are alright.

Bullshite it's my thread! Where were all you wankers, PC was down at the Novatel on Nirini Hill where there was three cover bands, warm , you had to buy a reciept to pay for your from the bar-tender (at least they are cheap 50 cents a pint), and absolutely no talk of climbing. When are you all going to show up to my PC night.

It's Marilyn toast with sideburns.

Alpinsuck, what the suck are sucking about. Why don't you suck the suck up, you suckin' suck suck. ______________Take your suckin' sock monkey's with ya and suck off!________________

Yeah, it still sux though.

Hey BM, For sport climbing just down the road in Oregon you got the birth place of sport climbing in the US, Smith Rocks. As for sport in Washington, in my opinion there is a bunch of bolted choss heaps all over the place and few isolated area with decent sport lines. The trad and alpine rock in Washington, damn I miss it.

Foam is sort of a pain in the ass to climb, picks really stick to it. It fun though every once and a while. Climbing in the gym though is more like dry tooling when they do patches of foam with hooking elements. Pure foam is not at all like real water ice climing.

That sucks!!! I was excited that they were closing the road a Dingford which was going to make the Springs more inaccessible, at least for the general population, now they are putting in a bridge. It takes the adventure out of going up to that place. I have several fond memories of going up there on a winters day by myself in shorts and tevas, fording the freezing cold river with water up to my waist, scared shitless that if I fell in that I would probably get pinned under some blow down that would inevetiably be down stream. Then relief would settle in once I had fired up my first and I was soaking in the hot water up there. Days like that I would have the place all to myself. That bums me that they are going to ruin that.

This sounds so typically PNW, let's sit in front of our computers and debate the PNW climbing issues with anonymous people who may have no climbing experince (except for climbing in a gym)......oh yeah and then ocassionally through in a little (or lot) of spray here and there to convolute the issues so that nothing is ever done and the issues are forgotten....

Well it not all fun and games, wish I got to go mountain biking every day, but alas gotta pay the bills, even all the way over here. The short of the long story, my gf moved out here and I came out, within two weeks I was working, I was actually thought it would take longer to find work and was looking forward to the time off. Oh well, still having a good time.

I'll let you all know how it goes with alluminum crampons on Mt. Kenya. It is the only type I brought and I hope to do one of the ice routes up on the mountain if they are in. My concern on Denali, would be the cold temps, aluminum is much more brittle than steel in colder temperature found on the mountain. As for climbing and purchase on icy slopes, as long as the points are sharp and they are fitted on the boot properly they are fine for climbing even techincal ice. Granted steel in my opinion is better, but if you wanted to shave some oz. it is a good option.

I always wanted to do that loop, just never got around to it. A bike ride back to the car all downhill is definitely the way to go so that it is a complete loop.

I had always wondered about that place, seemed like it would a scenic place to climb, to make up for the rock quality.

That is quite an approach to the climbing still.

It wasn't on a summit but I managed to talk my gf into going at in the middle of an rambly 5 pitch ice climb. I figured out the full crotch zips found on gortex pants are for relieving yourself in more ways than I had originally thought.

No lions Dru, just a shit load of people everywhere. I did get to see my first monkey out in the wild, that is the wild street of Kigali. Getting ready for a 100k ride, just a few people came out to see what was going on. This what we see normally out on the trails around here. We basically go mountain biking in neighborhoods. Rwanda is just one giant village there are people and houses everywhere, even where you least expect. In this picture you do not see all of the rice fields on both sides of the bridge with 20-30 people on each side working away. One of the quietest places and least populated areas that I have been to in the country is the tea plantations on the western side of the country.

Yeah I am working fulltime sometimes over time. It hard switching to working 5 days a weeks, it is the first time in over 8 years that I have had to work a five day work week, it sux. This weekend I had two great mountain bike rides. The first one was a 65k solo freeride. Solo cause I can't find anyone around here will ride the same shite I do. It was killer, this one local villager was totally freaking out when I came shooting down the hillside, he yelling to everyone in the valley, jumping around, and grabbing his head in disbelief, it was a funny scene. Sunday while everyone was at the Nigeria-Rwanda footbol match I was out on another recovery ride, no big hills just 30k of pedaling around at a moderate pace. Dave you would flip on the abundance of trails everywhere. There is a pretty good size group of us ex-pats that ride here, just nobody but me has a lighting system, so my night rides are solo.

Too much work to figure it all out. I just tell people I'm 100% mutt... GINA, your son is GINA.

I don't hate America, I just hate the dipshit who has been "leading" our country.

OUCH!

Doesn't sounds like it is as cheap as it is here Rwanda, usually a Coke or Fanta at one of the night clubs will buy you it for the night.............. Hmm, wait that is lovin' not love.