Santos Fat Tire Fest 2026

Put on once again by OMBA.  And a good time was had by all, despite the watchword being 'moist.'  That, by the way, is somewhere between the dry-ish 'damp' and full on 'wet.'  Here it is day-by-day, with a stack of pictures randomly inserted.  As usual, click to embiggen.

• 
  Thursday: Uneventful drive.  The new Kuat u-bar worked great with the old Saris trunk rack to haul the Anthem.  (this will make future trips to Munson sooo much easier)  Set up camp, rode a little (maybe 8 miles), chowed at Fat Tiki, then met up at the trailhead for a 6pm ride.  Which seems to have been canceled, since it was on some of the earlier schedule sheets but not on the later ones.  That's OK!  Five us rode it anyway, maybe another 8 miles.  We'd just returned to the trailhead when there was a roaring sound in the trees – "What's that?" – RAIN!  As I was rolling back into camp, one of my neighbors was busy zipping up my tent's fly doors.  Good dude.
• Friday: Shopping around the trailhead (got some art and a couple of tee shirts), had a wagu burger, rode about 10 miles.  Showered and went to supper when a Deluge & Major Storm hit.  It was one of those where you're wincing at the lightning and waiting for the tornados to hit, the latter of which fortunately never happened.  Mopped out the tent, fetched the spare bag (my backpacking quilt), and slept snugly if a little wetly.  I wish I could tell you more about the Friday night band, but I was asleep before their third song.  More on the tent situation in a future post.
• 
  Saturday: The Epic Ride, 50 miles with plenty of sag support.  I have to hand it to the OMBA folks, this was even better than in previous years (which were pretty darned good).  Some of the re-routes took us through technical places early in the ride, with the easy stuff saved for after Mile 45, which was much appreciated.  Ran into several friends from previous years at the sag stops, who I'd somehow missed back in camp.  Don't forget to swap cards at the turn-around, if you want to get a finisher's medal!  After the finish, talked a long while with Nixon from Epic Bikes in Tallahassee, along with a guy who'd ridden with him on an e-bike, which was totally legit since he'd just finished chemo the previous week.  Got talked into a Sunday e-bike test ride.  Ate two plates of barbecue and slaw, and again I wish I could tell you about  Saturday night's band, but I was asleep before they began, in my moist little tent.
• I've got to throw in one more comment about the riders in this year's Epic.  They were great!  Everybody was really riding, be it on analog or e-bikes.  (In past years, I've seen a few throttle hot-wired e-bikes, but no such this year.)  After the Epic, one rider was talking about how he had an un-pluggable flat on a tubeless tire, and another rider just chucked a spare tube over as he rode past.  Stuff like that happened on a regular basis.  Finally, hats off to the guy who rode the entire 50 miles on a single-speed gravel bike.  That's real biking tenacity.
• 
  Sunday: Wait, wait, wait, lunch (Fat Tiki again), wait, hand over DL & credit card to trail-test an e-bike (stay tuned later in the week for thoughts on that), rode a mile in and decided it wasn't for me, rode back out, turned it in.  Then rode my real bike for another six careful miles – had to drive the next day, after all.  Chit-chat around the campground as folks were packing out, then I called a friend who couldn't make it to Santos this year.  Noticed that my eleven year old Sidi bike shoes were peeling loose at the front.  New shoes and a new tent coming up?  Expensive trip.
• Monday: Pack out.  Uneventful drive home.  Was it worth it to stay the extra day?  Not really, especially given the moist tent and clothes.  Although, I did get to test ride that e-bike...  That, and it was nice having one recovery day between a 50 miler and having to sit in a car for four and a half hours.  Did get to stop by the Taste of Dixie diner in Cross City, that's always a treat.
• One final comment: No crashes this year.  Still, I rode with shin & knee guards, because you never know when your number's up.

And that's it for this year's Santos FTF.  Planning on next year already.  Also, will update and add links to the posts on e-bikes and this year's tent trauma after those posts are up.

Santos Fat Tire Fest 2024

One more year, one more OMBA FTF!  Not as much in the tech details this year, more riding.  Here's a rundown on the proceedings presented as the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good

• Rolled in on Thursday with two leaky tubeless tires stuffed in on top of all the gear in my car trunk.  Whipped into Santos Bike Shop's trailhead shop, handed the leaky wheels to the mechanic.  Fifteen minutes later I was headed to the trailhead with two fixed tires and the tools & sealant for next time.  Score!
• No Thursday chow included in the FTF camper ticket, but the Fat Tiki food truck was in the expo area, so seared tuna & fried shrimp (see pic), yeah man.  Couldn't stay away from that place.
• On the subject of food, the FTF-provided meals were mostly very good (mostly, more in a minute).  The bbq on Saturday, after the 50 miler Epic ride, was outstanding and appreciated.
• Interesting camping this year.  Only one of the Biloxi crew showed up, but the neighbors were all cool.  Ended up with a chem e, electrical e, rocket scientist, and a physicist all in close proximity.  Nerd-tastic.  Honestly, I have no idea how that happened, we just gravitated to the same area.
• Speaking of nerd-tastic, I threw a slim jim up in a tree, texted the FCEM director to get on the EOC's ham radio, and we had a good chat on Friday afternoon.  Worked just as well as I could've hoped.  Pics below.
• The Anthem had somehow gotten a bubble in its rear brake line.  Squishy brakes are not good.  The Shimano booth mechanic bled both front and rear in record time, no charge.  Good folks.
• Speaking of the Anthem, it was a joy to ride the entire time.  Much more controllable on those trails than the 2013 Specialized, and much more forgiving on the drop-offs and in the rocks.
• The 50 mile Epic was, as usual and as advertised, epic.  All the fun I wanted and a little more.
• Got to the Epic's lunchtime turn-around point and realized I'd left my shin/knee guards back in camp.  Didn't matter, the rock garden was eight miles in the rear-view by then, only easy stuff ahead.  Glad I hadn't noticed this though, it would have put me off while picking through the rocks.
• Good bands all three nights: Souljam (Thursday & Saturday) and Propaganjah (Friday).
• The rains held off until after the Epic was finished, and only hit after everyone had turned in for the night.  Clear skies in the morning.
• Made a stop on the way down at the Cypress Inn restaurant on the way down, and at the Taste of Dixie diner on the way back, both in Cross City.  Excellent quick lunch food at each.

The Bad (but not very)

• Missed the second woods turn-in off the paved bike path 10 miles into the Epic.  A paceline line of roadies were zipping by, occluding the arrow sign, and I simply missed it.  Added about 3 miles  to the day's total.  My bad.
• Ambiguous arrow at the 46 mile mark -- easy trail to the left, or double black diamond drop to the right?  The choice was left to exhausted riders, so choose wisely.
• While trying to choose wisely (see previous), a guy rode up on a 2013 Specialized Epic just like my old one – with a blown rear shock, just like my old one last year.  Poor guy, his back was hurting too.
• Don't forget your Official Fat Tire Fest Coffee Mug at the breakfast line!  Or no coffee for you!
• Some of the FTF-provided meals were carbo-bombs.  Simple solution, see Fat Tiki food truck above.

The Ugly

• After 23 years of faithful service, the tent need some waterproofing, and brother did I find out when that front blew through on Saturday night.  It wasn't too bad considering the driving rain, but everything inside got a mist of dampness.  In the mid-60's weather this wasn't even uncomfortable, but had it been into the 30's it could have turned dangerous.  Warning received & heeded, Nikwax tent waterproofing on the way.

OK, here's the picture dump.  Onward.

Souljam on Thursday evening.

Ham hang time.  The dummy cord meant for tying to a pack can be handy with the slim jim antenna too.

Spot the antenna!  Still can't believe that I got the perfect hang on the first throw.

Awakened Saturday morning to a bike tarp covered with tiny flower petals.  Either this was a good sign, or a funeral-ish omen.

Guess it was a good sign.  Well, I finished anyway, and without incident.

No trip back would be complete without a stop at the Taste of Dixie Diner in Cross City.

And that's a wrap for the OMBA Santos FTF 2024.  Back next year?  Yes, planning on it.

Friday Test-Rides at Santos

• Orbea Occam: Fun, but kind of high in the handlebars.  Not my style
• Intense Sniper: Well-balanced, it rides like a bike should.  I'm really leaning this way.
• Cannondale Scalpel: Still need to give this one a try.  Maybe later this week when I take the Epic in for a rear shock overhaul.
• Athletic Brewing: Not bikes, but decent non-alcohol IPAs.  On the buy list.

Looked at a few others, but they either weren't quite right for me, or were showroom-onlys, or there wasn't a test ride in my size.

Then there was a night ride – no crash, but some rain – followed by ibuprofen and sleep before Saturday's 50 miler epic.

Satellite view of the Santos trailhead campground.  Note the snore-zzzz's rising from the woods.

Thursday Crash at Santos

This is installment #2 in the Santos Fat Tire Fest series I'll be trickling out over the next week or so.

I don't know what happened, it was either a root or rock or something, but I smacked a pedal and went down hard into a bunch of cantaloupe-sized rocks.  In the first mile of what was supposed to be a four-day MTB-fest weekend.  I've had a lot of crashes that I could ride away from, and a few crashes that were bad enough that I couldn't ride away at all (most notoriously), but this was the closest-to but just-under that line that I've managed.  Head, shoulder, and elbow hits, a dessert-plate sized strawberry to the side, and worst of all, a knee-burger that just bled and bled.  I really wasn't sure until the next day that I'd make Saturday's 50 mile epic ride.

I have to say though, technology came through to make more riding possible.  A pair of shin-and-knee guards (this model) (see pic at right; you don't want to see what's underneath) from one of the bike stores at the Festival trailhead covered up the damage to prevent re-injury, and kept me rolling.  I've never been one for trail armor beyond a helmet and gloves, but I'm kind of sold on the concept, at least for the more challenging trails.  Now I'm actually looking forward to riding Tom Brown Park in the near future.

15 Minutes of Santos

Following up on the earlier Santos FTF post, here's a good video someguy edited out of his 5-ish hours.

That went by way faster than it did IRL!  BTW, the ambiguous arrow shows up at the 12:16 mark, 46 miles into the ride.  The video guy took the double black diamond route, where I stopped and sorted out that the easy trail was to the left.  Eh, six'a one, half'a dozen th' other.  (Just don't get on the hiker trail off to the right.)

Anyway, good video, good memories, good reason to go again next year.

Home from Santos

Home from the Santos Fat Tire Festival.  Tired.  More as the week progresses.  Much to tell.  Tired.  In the meantime, here's a link to the event web site.

Santos 2026 Recap Video

17 minutes over at YouTube.  He's been doing these the last few years, I've linked there before, but  you can most easily find his previous years' recaps at his youtube page.

Pushing for speed over 50 miles, I dunno, not my style.  You can tell the guy was suffering.  Hey, everybody gets to pick their own poison.

FWIW, here are my March comments on the Santos Fat Tire Fest 2026.  Was that just a month ago?

Somehow Appropriate for Today

8 non-alcoholic beers that don't suck (and one that kinda does) at Singletracks Mountain Bike News

Hey, the Athletic Brewing Co. rep at the Santos Fat Tire Fest was a decent guy, their n/a IPA is pretty good, and The Pig keeps it in stock.  This is a good world.

Which reminds me, now that it's January, I need to go on and get my ticket to this year's Santos Epic.

Saturday Epic at Santos: Everything You Wanted and More

The 50 Mile Epic ride is the centerpiece of the Santos Fat Tire Fest, as damned well it should be.  Here's more or less a map of the route, shamelessly screen cap'd from here:

General area orientation map, perhaps not 100% accurate.  Out and back, but most of the trail was one-way traffic.

Favorite part?  "Diggings" or some such name.  I was riding pretty hard at the time so I didn't catch everything on the sign.  It was a mile of short climbs that descended into scary-but-surprisingly-easy rocks and roots. Rolling fun!  Least favorite part?  The last five miles where my rear suspension had leaked down and my back needed a rest.  I was forced – forced! – by the discomfort to stop for a coffee break.  (freeze-dried crystals washed down with warm camelbak slosh, yum)  Finished with a little bit of reserve in my tank, but pretty much ready for supper and a sleep.

Congrats to OMBA (facebook link; sorry, all they got) for putting on another terrific fat tire fest.  Already working on plans to attend next year.

Santos Fat Tire Fest Wrap-Up

Yesterday was follow-up day, taking the mtb in to have the suspension overhauled and test riding a Cannondale Scalpel up at Epic Bikes in Tallahassee.  The Scalpel?  It's a good bike, but I'm not sure it's for me.  It didn't quite have the balanced/cool factor of that Intense I rode last week, plus it costs about 20% more.  Also, it had Shimano not SRAM parts, pretty much a DQ in my book.  I'm still looking.  In the meantime, the mtb should be out of the bike hospital in a month or so.

The best part about the Santos FTF though?  Meeting up with old friends and making a few new ones.  All of us who camped there had some Biloxi connection – lived there, still live there, regularly ride the Bethel Trails, whatever – and it was a reunion of sorts.  That's the best part, the part that'll keep me coming back.

Some of the usual suspects.  Rope LEDs under a canopy: the new campfire for warm weather.

Campsite Solar Options

At last weekend's Santos Fat Tire Festival (blogged about on Sunday), one of the guys brought along a Jackery 300 power bank.  Pretty neat stuff.  It can put out up to 300 watts of AC power, has a couple of USB outlets, and a cigar-lighter plug in for 10 amp 12v DC.  Full bank of easy-to-read meters, including (tah-dah!) a % charge remaining "gas gauge."  The battery is a 20 amp-hour (at 12v) lithium wonder.  This is plenty, almost overkill, for a handful of people to recharge their phones, bike lights, laptops, etc. over a long weekend.  It also has an internal charge controller, which can take output from a solar panel.

So, naturally, knowing that I've dabbled in solar on numerous occasions, questions arose.  Being me, I had to dig into this once back home at this computer, and here are the results.  It all came down to three good  options, two of them pre-packaged and one more hands-on DIY.  They're all about the same size and scale as the above-mentioned Jackerey 300, but there are many other sizes and options at the linked sites.  Here we go.

Option #1: Jackery 300 + their 100 watt panel, about $600.

Pro: Plug-and-play.  All the outputs most people need.  The engineering is done for you, go enjoy.

Con: $300 for a 100 watt panel?!?  That's 3x the usual price.  Can't get more than 10 amps 12v DC.

Comments: Yeah, but it's a really nice 100w panel.  It folds, it's tough-skinned, it's plug-and play.  The 10 amp DC limit is a bummer, that's not enough to run a 100w ham radio.  With that massive battery, there really should be a higher DC amperage output option.

Option #2: Goal Zero Yeti 200X + Nomad 50 solar panel, about $600.

All of the Jackery unit's pros & cons apply here, except that for the same money you get half the panel wattage and 60% the battery capacity.  Um... maybe it's a nicer unit?  I doubt it.  But go look around at Goal Zero's site anyway, you may find something more to your liking and needs.

Option #3: DIY with a Bioenno battery, solar controller, and 100 watt panel, $363 + accessories.

Pro: ~20% lower total cost.  Fully customizable.  20 amps continuous / 30 amps burst of clean 12v DC for full-power ham radio fun.  Modular.  The joy of DIY.

Con: Not plug-and-play, nor weather-resistant.  The joy of DIY.

Comments: The components listed above are (respectively) $193 + $70 + ~$100 = $363.  Then you've got to add in the costs of an AC inverter, USB ports, and any other options you might want.   Then you've got the cost of wiring and connectors (MC4 & PowerPole recommended), which is not trivial.  On top of that, you may end up shelling out for $40 connector crimp tools, etc.  This is not for the faint of heart.  OTOH, you get to build exactly what you want.  Trust me, what you end up with will work damn well, but it will also be a science fair project.  Examples of my "small" system: here and here show how this can get out of hand.

To summarize, look at the available options at all three sites.  20 A-H is a damned big battery just for charging phones over a weekend (way too big for backpacking), and something smaller may do you fine.  Overall, the Jackery seems to have the best bang-for-buck, even with the pricey panel.  If you need more than 10 amps DC (it's a ham thing) and have the skills and crimp tools, maybe go for the Bioenno-based system.

Too damn many options in the marketplace, which is great to a point, but then analysis paralysis takes over.  Hope this post helps you whittle down things to where you're not overwhelmed and can make some decisions.

Soon(-ish): More on the Santos Fat Tire Festival.  I've got taxes to do.

Tech Observations from the Santos Fat Tire Fest

Last week I mentioned attending the Santos Fat Tire Festival, but it was only a mention and a trailhead picture.  This week, no pics, but plenty of observations about the directions in which mountain biking and the associated technology are going.  Here are the main highlights.

• Mountain bike suspension all now looks pretty much the same: an articulated rear triangle, with linkage to an air shock tucked into the front triangle somewhere near where the junction of the seat and top tubes.  There's a little variation in the details, but the good old weird days of the 90's unified rear triangles, crazy beam top tubes, slingshot bikes, even the simple 1.5" travel softtails – all gone. Good?  Bad?  I'm the guy with the Epic.
• Speaking of the Epic, I thought my rear suspension was having trouble, so I took it into a shop near the park.  "Nope, we don't work on those, but let me take a look at it..."  Long story short, my shock's pump was no longer putting out the high air pressure it was supposed to!  $35 for a new pump and things were back in business.
• 1x12 drivetrains seem to be the way things are going.  It's good to get rid of the front derailleur, just simpler.  OTOH, grabbing that quick downshift with a 2x system in steep, choppy terrain has its value too.  We'll see how this one shakes out in coming years.
• Pedal-assist ebikes are here to stay.  The battery tech and mechanicals have gotten so good that they're now practical, and no longer the freaks of nature they used to be.
• Light technology is now crazy-good.  Between lithium batteries, LED 'bulbs,' USB charge ports, and easy rubber-band-it-on mounts, the world has turned since the last time I seriously looked at lights.  Picked up a 1,000 lumen Blackburn.  Five (5!) hours of rideable light for not much more than taco night out.  Maybe the best part is that lithium batts don't have all the weird recharge memory issues.
• Which leads to how some kind of campsite power bank is a good thing to have.
• Gravel bikes are here to stay too.  Lots of those around, most of them $$$ works of art.  Not something I care to really use abuse out in Tate's Hell.
• Full-face helmets for cross-country riding seems to be catching on now.  With some of the limestone rock climbs and descents (and falls!) out on the Greenway, I can see why.
• For standard cross-country mountain bikes, 29" wheels seem to be the norm now.   Didn't see any new 27.5" (or *gasp* 26") wheeled bikes around, except maybe for a few specialty jumping bikes.  Not quite sure where this is going either, but I'll have time to sort it out before my next MTB purchase.
• Silca – the bike pump company – is doing remarkable things with 3D printed titanium, including drop-outs with all kinds of internal stiffening structure and ultralight tools.  Picked up an 11 gram (!) beer opener, as seen here.
• After the third night of music at the festival, I get it: dad-rock is some people's comfort music.  Doesn't mean that I really like listening to it, but it's at least more understandable and tolerable now.
• The band the first two nights (subset of Macey Mac & Henry the first night the full band Slickwood on the second) was way better.
• BBQ brisket served hot with cold iced tea at the trailhead is good.

OK, all I got for now.  On to the new day's adventures.

Santos Fat Tire Fest 2025, Success!

I've been trying to get to this post for TWO WEEKS NOW but life kept getting in the way!  Yeah, the Santos FTF was great this year.  The trails for the 50 mile Epic ride on Saturday were well marked and in great shape.  We had a little sprinkle blow through just after I'd passed about the 33 mile mark – just enough to settle the dust and make the rest of the ride pleasant.  Saw lots of friends.  It's funny, after four years there are people you meet up with, just there.

Also, I have to give a shout out to the Shimano tent for a quick consult on my hydraulic brakes.

Tried an HF radio connection with the Franklin County EOC.  I was running the QRP FT-817nd with a big five watts; the FCEM director was running the FT-450d with 100 watts.  I could hear her, but she could just barely hear me.  Maybe the ionosphere will be better next year, or maybe I'll just bring a 100 watt radio and knock it out of the park.  Anyway, it was a fun try.

The Thursday night band, The Klunkers, was great.  100% mountain bike-certified, if you recognize the name.  Friday night... some loud jam band, no great thing.  Then Saturday night was a real treat with Ravon Steely Rhoden Band playing a bunch of Caribbean stuff that everyone knew, everything from serious reggae to... more pop tunes.  You had to be there to appreciate it.  The jello shots may have helped the party along.

I'm leaving a lot of stuff out, but you get the general ideal.  Anyway, great time, will be back next year.

Yes, the 50 Mile Epic Finisher's Medal doubles as a beer opener.

Placeholder for a Busy Week

More later, but here's an "I'm ok" placeholder.  The Santos Fat Tire Festival went well, no serious crashes for any of the 900 riders, including me.  Which is some kind of miracle.

Yep, more later.

Follow-Up to Last Monday's Post / New Bike, for Real

Well that was a cliff-hanger of a post last Monday.  Long  story short, the 2013 Epic was getting long in the tooth.  The rear suspension was repairable – one more time only though, because after ten years it's hard to source parts.  The front suspension is still doing fine, which is good because it's out of parts-years and the  next "repair" will entail a new fork.  Anyway, I got it all done and was ready to rip up the trails for another few years.

However, I had a list and had one more bike to go, a Giant Anthem.  The Giant rep at Santos didn't have one handy for me to test ride, and I had more or less shelved the entire new-bike-project for a couple more years until supply lines loosened up and, perhaps, fashions in full suspension had swung away from the 6" big-hit all-mountain machines, back toward more of 4" cross-country bikes.

Anyway, after picking up the Epic from the local Specialized & Cannondale dealer (a very nice shop btw, where I test rode a C'dale Scalpel when I dropped off the 2013 Epic), on a lark I swang by the Giant dealer down the street.  What do you know, two Anthems there to test ride, in medium and large sizes so one was sure to fit.  An hour of test riding and adjusting later, I wrote a check for the medium.

Now a conundrum: how to get them both home in the back of the Mustang?  Answer: Drive back and pick up on Monday.  Good, because that gave me a chance to bring riding gear and ride the new bike through the Munson trails (description|pdf map) on the way home.

Since that initial dozen-mile trail ride I've had time to pile on another 50 or so miles of gravel.  The verdict?  It carves similarly to my old STP-200, but rolls fast on 29" wheels like the Epic.  The geometry has been tweaked over the past ten years by most manufacturers to keep the roll but get the handling back, and I measured that the chainstays are a full inch shorter on the new bike.

 Lots of other changes over this decade, 1x12 drivetrains and practical tubeless tires being the most obvious.  I had my doubts about tubeless initially, being pretty difficult to repair out on the trail.  But no, thinking back over the years and flats, nearly all of them have been those annoying little pinpricks that don't stop a ride, but that go mysteriously flat by the next day.  Tubeless + internal sealant = no more pinpricks.  As for 1x12, every single chain I've seen broken out on a trail has been from a bad downshift on the front rings.  Eliminating that source of drama can only be a good thing, especially now that the rear derailleur can make up for the gear range.  So, onward and upward.  These are truly improvements and not "sidegrades."

Now back to the 2013 Epic.  It's up for sale, and I'm going to try and move it ASAP, either to a friend or via Craigslist.  bicyclebluebook.com has its current market value at 20% of the new retail price, so I'll mark it down accordingly and get it on out of here.  The stable's getting crowded, and an un-ridden mountain bike is a sad horse.

Deep Magic

permalink to xkcd 2904

I actually have an idea about Lagrangians that makes them comprehensible, after a fashion.  However, the ramifications are even worse than the usual "shut up and calculate" explanation.  More later?  More later.  In my experience, most physicists find the method both so incomprehensible and distasteful that they move on as soon as that particular semester is completed.

Just back from the Santos Fat Tire Fest.  It went well, but rained last night and now I have a living room full of tent parts and other camping gear drying out.  More posting, with pics, tomorrow.

This Just In...

The Santos Fat Tire Festival was a blast.  Three solid days of riding, camping, and checking out bike-related stuff.  Oh, and eating and music too.  I managed to complete most of the 50 mile epic ride, but in the end the rocky climbs and descents were promising more of an ER visit than I cared to contemplate.  One pic is all you get; beyond that it can't be described.

Much better use of the place than some damned old barge canal.  What were those people thinking?

Trends & Innovations(?) in Mountain Bikes

Following up on Sunday's post about the new bike and last year's post about Tech Observations from the Santos Fat Tire Fest, I found and re-read an article in last August's issue of Mountain Bike Action.  Here are the main points along with my wry/rye comments:

• The larger 29" & 27.5" wheels have won.  Reiterating last Sunday's comments, the awkwardness of the early 29ers has been tamed, and we now have good-handling bikes again that roll faster and over obstacles better.
• Drivetrain reliability is up.  As also mentioned previously Sunday, dumping the front derailleur and multi-chainring setups of yore is the best way to keep from snapping chains on the trail.  Mega-range rear derailleurs that allow for a full selection of gears for true off-road travel have opened up this possibility.  Lots of other little tweaks as well just have things working better.  (I will admit a nostalgic soft spot though for the old triple- and even quad-ring setups.  But it's only a passing feeling, wouldn't give up my new single-ring for any of that.)
• Ongoing improvements with hydraulic disc brakes.  No one thing, just lots of incremental steps upward toward perfection, and they're getting pretty close.
• Electric shifting is here, and the results are conclusively... mixed.  On one hand, it gets rid of a bunch of cables.  On the other... batteries.  Ask me in another decade or so.
• Internal cable routing.  Formerly a mechanic's nightmare, manufacturers are getting this one sorted out.  I will say though, it's pretty slick not having a top tube look like a banjo.
• Internal frame storage.  Not so sure about this one.  On one hand, it somewhat obviates the need for riding with a hydration pack.  OTOH, punching big steenkin' access holes in a frame can only make things weaker and heavier.  How about a compromise?  Put an extra set of water bottle cage bosses on a frame and attach a tool pod there.  That'll get a lot of weight off a rider's back.  Honestly, the idea of reaching for a water bottle while riding fast wigs me out – a hands-free hydration pack with a hose is the only thing that works off-road.  Furthermore, newer pack designs do keep the formerly floppy-pack under control.
• Tubeless & sealant now standard.  Yep.  As discussed Sunday, nearly all mtb flats are not ride-stoppers, but more of slow-leakers that you notice right before your next ride.  This pretty much solves that problem.  More possibilities in development, such as foam inserts.
• Direct-to-Rider internet ordered bikes.  I won't buy a bike without an extensive test ride, period.  Maybe this could work on lower-end stuff though, or if you could find a similar bike locally to try.
• Internet info look-up for the more esoteric aspects of bike maintenance.  Yep, just like with everything else in life these days.  Even if you're taking your bike to the more experienced hands at the shop, odds are that they'll be doing a lot of that too.
• Improved safety gear.  Most notably with helmets, with rotation-absorbing and XC full-face designs.  What's more, there are plenty of other body parts that receiving upgraded protection.
• Year-model product churn is out, and good riddance.  Change the model when you have something new and better, not just because the calendar changes.  This makes everybody happy, except maybe few weirdos who have to have to show off their latest fashion device.  Better products, lower costs, fewer supply chain issues – what's not to love?
• Bonus: a move away from simple cyclometers.  While concluding my recent bike buy, the sales manager at the shop said that these weren't selling much anymore, because everyone has moved to some type of phone app.  On one hand,  I can see this.  On the other, isn't it better to be at least somewhat unplugged while in the outback?  Nonetheless, customers have spoken and there it is.
• Bonus & much-later-ps: dropper posts.  I thought these were a gimmick, until I tried one off-road. Now I'm a believer.

On the whole, a lot of upgrades with perhaps a few missteps.  Well, the jury's still out on that electric shifting that Shimano keeps pushing, but we'll see.  Altogether it's pretty promising.

Tent Trauma(s)

As mentioned previously, Friday evening at the Santos Fat Tire Fest had an intense storm that resulted in a wet tent interior.  I'd more or less shrugged and mentally planned on a new tent – it's 25 years old after all, and I'd just Nikwaxed it a couple of years ago and had only used it once in the meantime, and here it was leaking again.  Then two things happened.

First up, while taking the tent down, I noticed a trash line on the outside of the fly.  A little closer examination (see inset) and it appeared that the source of the wet tent was rising rather than falling water.

Even so, I was still open to buying a new tent.  Twenty five years is a good run for any piece of camping gear.  Straight-up replacement, incoming!  Then I went looking for a shiny new Eureka Apex 2XT or something comparable and... wait, Eureka's gone?  Whisky Tango?  I mean, they're one of those great companies that... No, gone, just gone.  More on this in a minute.

So I set the tent up in the back yard and hit it with a hose, and you know what?  Pretty damn watertight.  Oh, I've got the older straight-zipper rainfly model, that zipper's always leaked a little, but it's clear that the water problem wasn't the tent's fault, it's where I pitched it (and that astonishing deluge).  The tent was already up and wetted down for testing, so I just gave it another coating of Nikwax and called it a day.

Now back to the demise of Eureka Tents.  Reading between the lines on what happened, it seems that their 2023 Q3 revenues were way down compared to Q3 2022, and so as an underperforming division of Johnson Outdoor products, it had to go.  Never mind that everybody and his brother had taken up car camping during the covid-19 scare and that of course sales of durable items like tents would be down for a few years after a big boost like what happened in 2020-2022, and that this whole cycle was completely foreseeable and could have been ridden out.  Nope, burn down Yet Another great brand, move on.  For what it's worth, the same thing is happening all over the bike industry as well, and I'm sure it's happening with many other "pandemic safe" outdoor equipment manufacturers as well.  Freekin' bean counters.  For a fairly gentle take on what was going on inside Johnson Outdoors, read this short article about Eureka's demise.

Now, as for the rest of Johnson Outdoor's lines, Wikipedia has the complete brand roll; that makes for a handy no-buy list.  I just have no patience for bean counters anymore.

Anyway, I've still got several good tents – a 9x9 funhouse, the 2XT discussed here, and a dinky 1-man Spitfire, and no good reason now to replace any of them.  Good, because I just had to replace a water heater and my mountain bike shoes.  Things were stacking up a little around here.

Damp Camp

Back from Santos Fat Tire Fest

... and much, much more to say, but later in the week.  It rained, hard, several times and I have a living room full of now dried-out gear left to stow.  But, to tease upcoming topics (and so I don't forget either...): Tents!  e-bikes!  Uninjured!  The State of Mountain Biking!

Oh, and here's a pic from – where else? – the ACME trail.  Click to embiggen.  See y'all later in the week.