Vid of my trek on abandoned golf course

Hope everyone had a great MLK Day - I was able to get some great riding done on the VFR yesterday and today exploring some roads west of Orlando - didn't GoPro it - just wanted to enjoy the rides plus I've got a ton of vids on the VFR already. But when I got back this afternoon I felt guilty for neglecting my other bike - so I took it for a late afternoon trek on an abandoned golf course - decided to GoPro it since its been awhile since I did a vid with it - enjoy - but please excuse my heavy breathing - I'm obviously out of shape :congratulatory:
I'm starting to get into mountain biking (even though I have no mountains - LOL) so if you have a cross-country or mountain bike you like please post up a pic of it and whether or not you recommend it - thanks!

[video=youtube;j_19edrhzHM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_19edrhzHM[/video]

 

Crazy an abandoned golf corse in FL. who would have guessed. You should have brought a 9 iron

 

I was thinking the same thing - after I turned off the camera I rode through what was the old driving range and spotted a couple of range balls and was wishing I had a club - LOL. Apparently abandoned golf courses are a problem all over the country but especially in Fla - here's an article about it if interested: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ca-s-golf-courses-meth-cooks-and-rattlesnakes

 

I'm taking my VFR to the gym now - I'm so embarrassed by all my huffing and puffing in that vid! :glee:

 

Here are some other interesting videos to watch.

 

We get an abandoned golf course every time I tee off. JK. But we do have one golf course that did close down a few years ago. I don't know why. All flat land around here is frozen in an Agricultural land reserve and cannot be built on. Golf courses are and exception I guess because they can readily be turned back to agricultural land. Living on mountainous area makes flat land very precious.

On topic. I started bicycle riding a very long time ago, right around the time mountain bikes were first developed. In 1991 or so I bought a Rocky Mountain Edge full suspension bike with AMP Research suspension. That was pretty much first generation full suspension stuff back then. I thought that bike was the greatest thing, and at the time, that was not far from the truth. It was am expensive thing retailing at about 4 g's back then. You can get an extremely better equipped bike now for one hell of a lot less. I wore out the head stay bearings on that and rather than fixing it, I bought a new one. A Specialized Enduro. About 2400 bucks for that. Add-ons brought it up around 3500. Stolen a couple years later from locked up bike rack broad daylight in front of a busy rec center. Made the mistake of making an insurance claim. My premiums went up over the next four year more so that I paid out more than I got. I really liked that bike. Far better than the Rocky.

Replaced the stolen ne with an identical bike just different colour. Got a lot of use out of that one too. My house was B&E's last summer and that bike was also stolen. I did not make a claim this time. But now I am on fixed income. My favorite bike shop owner told me a similar quality bike would run me about $4500.00. I don't have that kind of cash anymore so I settled for a Specialized hard tail with a nice set of Rock Shock up front, with hydraulic disc brakes and thumb activated shock lockouts. The others were 21 speed while this one is 18 speed. I now realize there was a lot of wasted gearing in the 21 speed and chain clunking trying to shift the front derailer those being a three ring and this new one being just two.

By the time I bought an upgraded seat, an elastomer seat post, lights handlebar grips, and rear rack and baggage, I paid just as much. This one is built more for the back roads than for mountain trails so has considerably larger wheels. It is not as soft on the tail as the other two but I have come to really like this one too. But I am paranoid about theft of it now. I rode it to a dentist appointment a while back and when someone looked and complimented me on it as I was locking it up, I then convinced the dentist office to allow me to bring it into their office.

 

Hey it was either the abandoned golf course or a vid of my VFR jumping a pool of sharks - but I figured you guys are tired of seeing my VFR :glee:

 

I feel your pain Randy - my old Mongoose Beast (see vid) got stolen out of my driveway when I went in for a quick drink - cops recovered it at a pawn shop a few days later. Only ridden it once though since I got my Trek - the Beast must weigh 3x as much as the Trek - LOL. You have expensive taste in bikes btw! I guess if I lived somewhere with actual mountains I would invest in something better as well though.

[video=youtube;wt1zRxOACVk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt1zRxOACVk&t=124s[/video]

 

Wear and tear on my body from a previous career has made it necessary to get a ride that has good operational suspension. Also, for me anyways, if I have good equipment, I am more likely to use it. Long ride are not a bad thing for me. Especially in this stage of my life. Keep in mind though, what we get for a buck here is a lot less than what you guys down there. Wear and tear on my body from a previous career has made it necessary to get a ride that has good operational suspension. Also, for me anyways, if I have good equipment, I am more likely to use it. Long ride are not a bad thing for me. Especially in this stage of my life. Keep in mind though, what we get for a buck here is a lot less than what you guys down there.

The two Enduroes were hybrids though. Aluminum frames. They would take some down hill but I think a lot of serious downhill would cause the frame to fail. They were really for trail riding. But at my age and where I have been with my back, I doubt I will do much of that any more. I have had a really bad scare a several years ago where I thought I had lost use of my legs. So though I sometime live a little recklessly, it is at an acceptable level. Pretty much stick to smoother trails and logging roads, which we have thousands of miles of those around here.

 

Ok , this should turn into whats your other (pedal bike) thread. I have an ole Giant and Peugeot from back in the day, love those bikes, hard to wait for the weather to get better so I can lose a few.. besides that, it's a great way to tone one up for riding ones with motors in em

 

Peugeot? Don't think I've ever seen one of those - my Dad had a Peugeot back in the 80's but it had 4 wheels!

 

Randy - your Specialized hard tail sounds perfect for what you're riding now. In fact, after seeing this vid below I'm pretty sure I'll never get a full suspension bike - for here in Fla I think it would be overkill.

[video=youtube;s7qjODdT2v0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7qjODdT2v0[/video]

 

A hard tail is considerably more energy efficient. When you get out of the saddle on rear suspension, you do loose considerable kinetic energy which is lost in the suspension. You can counter that by leaning further forward and pedalling a little to the back rather than straight up and down, but still, you loose some energy. I never realized how much until I got this new one. I do miss the Enduro, but believe I am better served now with what I have.

That elastomer seat post and a good gell seat make a huge difference. SO does a good pair of bibs. It was time for a new pair for me and I bought some Assos. North of $450. but after wearing them once, I have no regrets. never realized how comfortable your ride could get. I need some new rain gear and am looking at Assos again. My chiropractor is a triathlete and he swears by all their products. But I think I will have to save a couple welfare cheques before I can buy their rain jacket.

 

Crap I just figured out why my vid has so much freaking wind noise - I typically use the skeleton case, which is really no case, when on my VFR so I can plug the external mic into it and route it into the helmet. But if you don't use an external mic it's completely exposed to wind! In my Beast vid above I must have had it in the normal GoPro case because there is hardly any wind noise at all - presumably the waterproof case seals out most of the wind noise too. But in the golf course vid it's in the skeleton case and with no external mic you get a crapload of wind! Oh well - live and learn.

 

I got you beat Randy...my first mtn bike was a 1984 Miyata Ridge Runner. No suspension, but it could climb like a mofo.

 

Yeah I've never even ridden a full suspension so I dont really know what I'm missing. I've heard there are some that can be remotely locked out just like our front shocks can be locked out (although I have no remote switch for my front shock lock out like you do) - presumably that would be the best of both worlds - but then you're talking a couple years worth of welfare checks probably to pay for it - LOL

 

My first mountain bike was from around early to mid 80's. A steel framed Sears Free Spirit. It had no suspension at all and was just the heaviest hunk of lead you had ever seen.That is what I built up my stamina on and I will tell you, you built up great stamina pedaling that hunk of steel up steep hills. But I rode that from early or mid 80's until I bought my Rocky in 90 or 91.

Here are the last two I have owned. The first one. leaning against the compressor is the latest bike stolen while the last two pix are of the one I have now except I also have it equipped with rear racks and top case and saddle bags that fold down.

 

The thumb lockout for the front forks is not a big thing. It is just a cable attached to a dial on the top of the forks. Most forks now can be locked out just by turning a knob at the top of the fork. Mine just has the cable running to a thumb lever on the handlebar. A neat addition to an otherwise nice bike. Oh. I did change the pedals and had the handlebars cut more narrow. This new bike had handlebars about 4 inches wider that what I was used to and riding through pathways that have pillars to prevent cars is a little unnerving

 

Not at all. Anytime a Trump Golf Course goes tits up, I am ecstatic.. I just thought I'd toss in some Zen vids.

The vid of the test ride on the BMW was great! Just you, the bike and a bunch of "OMGs!

 

Just put in a new shock on my old Canondale Super V 500. Its no longer a pogo stick and landings are plush again.