# What's Your Kryptonite?



## Lawrence_S (Nov 15, 2018)

Types of trails, that is. Youtube MTB vids love to pander to the Walter Mitty in all of us...yea, I think I'll hit that gnar down the street...

I'll go first:

Any trail built by 12-year-olds on BMX bikes. You know the kind - tight and tighter with plenty of twists and turns half the wheelbase of your bike. Oh, and throw in a bunch of pine and water oak roots and some good, deep muck.


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## sturge (Feb 22, 2009)

Wet cold rides in the high 30's / low 40's...too old for that sh*t!


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## k2rider1964 (Apr 29, 2010)

Not exactly what you asked but mine is HEAT. I prefer riding in temps in the low 60's/high 50's. It's not really a 'physical' kryptonite and more mental but I dislike riding fire roads and avoid them if at all possible.


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

Long rough 10+% grades.


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## ddoh (Jan 11, 2017)

Anything with 'exposure'. I don't like trails that you can die on.


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## Catmandoo (Dec 20, 2018)

Multiple days on the bike. 

30 years ago I could do back-to-back weekend mt. bike rides. I might be tired on day 2. Now I’m 63, was off this week so did an hour mt. bike on Sunday, another on Tues. 1-1/2 on the road bike yesterday and another hour on the mt. bike today. I was reminded both of my age today as well as the fact that an hour on the mt. bike is like 1-1/2 or more on the road. I’m pretty beat up right now. I’m supposed to clean gutters, don’t think that’s gonna happen.


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## Lawrence_S (Nov 15, 2018)

Catmandoo said:


> Multiple days on the bike.
> 
> ...I'm supposed to clean gutters, don't think that's gonna happen.


Just thinking about cleaning the gutters beats me up.


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## Legbacon (Jan 20, 2004)

Steep climbing with no place to put a foot down on one side, or rocks to land on. It's gotta be pretty gnarly going down hill to give me the willies because gravity keeps me moving. Going up, working against gravity, more things can go wrong. Big, wet, slick, off camber roots are bad too. I don't care for flat trails, over overly tight and twisty. Love a bit of speed.


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## Catmandoo (Dec 20, 2018)

Travis Bickle said:


> Steep climbing with no place to put a foot down on one side, or rocks to land on. It's gotta be pretty gnarly going down hill to give me the willies because gravity keeps me moving. Going up, working against gravity, more things can go wrong. Big, wet, slick, off camber roots are bad too. I don't care for flat trails, over overly tight and twisty. Love a bit of speed.


Oh yeah, you've reminded me. Rocks. I can't do rocks. I'm lucky there are no rocks on Long Island.


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## Uwibami (Apr 26, 2017)

The Cold, Hate the cold, makes me hurt all over. Heat, no problem. Cold, Forget it.


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## jcd46 (Jul 25, 2012)

Cold and rock gardens.


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## sgltrak (Feb 19, 2005)

Pedaling inside: Trainer, spin bike, club, ZWIFT, I hate them all. I'll ride outdoors in single digit or triple digit Farenheit temperatures before I'll ride indoors.


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## BrianPetrySD (Sep 19, 2017)

Beer and Cookies


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## Lawrence_S (Nov 15, 2018)

BrianPetrySD said:


> Beer and Cookies


So very true...


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## Gumby_rider (Apr 18, 2017)

Climbing up through a maze of mostly diagonal and wet roots.


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## Phillbo (Apr 7, 2004)

Uwibami said:


> The Cold, Hate the cold, makes me hurt all over. Heat, no problem. Cold, Forget it.


Same here. I hate getting overheated and sweaty on the climbs and then freeze on the fun parts...


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

sgltrak said:


> Pedaling inside: Trainer, spin bike, club, ZWIFT, I hate them all. I'll ride outdoors in single digit or triple digit Farenheit temperatures before I'll ride indoors.


Same here. No gyms. No trainer. Gotta be outside.
=sParty


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## Sideknob (Jul 14, 2005)

Larger jumps, gaps and drops. I've never practised them so I suck at them and I avoid them. It's just not worth risking a life changing injury for a ride, IMO.


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## burtronix (Jun 5, 2006)

Maybe I'm all alone here, but machine-built flow trails both bore me & make me miss the pristine environment. I'm all for building & riding minimalist trails. I also get kind of alarmed at these Red Bull events, not just from the danger the riders face, but also the decision to muck up some perfectly nice natural desert space in order to place some ramps & landing zones. 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


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## k2rider1964 (Apr 29, 2010)

ddoh said:


> Anything with 'exposure'. I don't like trails that you can die on.


You can die on any ride and/or terrain of any level of difficulty. I've ridden plenty of terrain with tons of exposure but the worst I ever got hurt was on my "home'' trail while going 1, yes ONE MPH down a 18" roller. My front wheel pivoted unexpectedly and I lawn darted into the dirt. I fractured my next and the DR said 40% die from my injury, 40% are quadriplegics and 20% get lucky.


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## DIRTJUNKIE (Oct 18, 2000)

k2rider1964 said:


> You can die on any ride and/or terrain of any level of difficulty. I've ridden plenty of terrain with tons of exposure but the worst I ever got hurt was on my "home'' trail while going 1, yes ONE MPH down a 18" roller. My front wheel pivoted unexpectedly and I lawn darted into the dirt. I fractured my next and the DR said 40% die from my injury, 40% are quadriplegics and 20% get lucky.


I was about to comment on his comment but you pretty much summed it up and then some.


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## Catmandoo (Dec 20, 2018)

k2rider1964 said:


> You can die on any ride and/or terrain of any level of difficulty. I've ridden plenty of terrain with tons of exposure but the worst I ever got hurt was on my "home'' trail while going 1, yes ONE MPH down a 18" roller. My front wheel pivoted unexpectedly and I lawn darted into the dirt. I fractured my next and the DR said 40% die from my injury, 40% are quadriplegics and 20% get lucky.


Riding buddy had this happen while solo riding, broke a neck vertebrae in 2 locations, had to wait till they found him, was helicoptered out. I now run LiveTrack on my Garmin GPS, text my wife when I'm rolling and when I'm at the car. It's why I don't take chances, tired of injuries.


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## ravewoofer (Dec 24, 2008)

Wet rocks and roots. I’ve had some slo mo painful wipeouts when slick. In fact, I split my helmet apart one time when I went head first into a large, pointy rock. I’m sure the helmet saved my life. 

Now, I look out my bedroom window, and if I see the road is wet, then I skip the trails. 

The land behind my house is called Rocky Woods for a reason. 


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## bsieb (Aug 23, 2003)

More than eight hours of saddle time in a day. :bluefrown:


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## ddoh (Jan 11, 2017)

I realize that any time you're MTBing, you can get really hurt or maybe killed. I've had 2 buddies break neck bones. Another guy died from a heart attack on a moderately easy uphill. The difference is: one mistake - you die. Trails like Poison Spider, etc.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

Kryptonite: Not being able to ride, esp when the weather is nice, riding in crowds, riding boring trails, (ie flow, no obstacles, flat).

My antidote to kryptonite: tech trails, climbing, big descents, scary but not death defying, riding with young folks who are pumped up, cool and dry weather, going riding with my dog Wall-E, building bikes, and riding trails I built.


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## Osco (Apr 4, 2013)

The Cold,
The wind when It's cold, Makes my nose run, My 24% grades do me In way too fast.
At's right 24%, 12 to 14 degree climbs up gravel roads.

Going to buy a Fat Tad so I can climb seated with 12-14 gear Inches..

This one with the triple chainring option:








Trident Terrain 20x4" wheels,
Will be able to press back into the seat and hopefully spin super low gear inches with no worries of super slow speed balance issues right !


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

Any trail that is crowded sucks. Crowded = you have to stop and do "The Lean" more than once every 5 minutes or so. 

Unfortunately, other than weird hours, all of the trails convenient to me to ride are now jacked up before/after work and on weekends, 8 months out of the year, The other four months it is cold/snowy/too wet. I am looking forward to retirement in 3-4 more years so that I can ride in the middle of weekdays. Also, ski without driving in traffic for more hours than you end up skiing. It feels like a race to get to retirement while still having the health and energy to actually be able to do the things I miss out on now. 

The moral of this story is to set up your life so that you can retire as early as possible. 50 seems like it would have been a good target, rather than the 60-61 I will be when I retire. Have kids early, or not at all. Pay off your house and learn to live frugally. Or, if you like to work, live somewhere that is not being overwhelmed with growth the way much of Colorado is going. 

Unfortunately, the wild card in all of this is making it to retirement while healthy, *and* being able to afford health insurance before you get to Medicare. Rural areas with good trails also tend to have the highest health insurance rates at least in Colorado. Western Colorado is *the* most expensive place to get health insurance in the USA. A minimum of $1000/mo per person for a crappy, high deductible policy if you are 60-64. So for a couple, you have to budget a minimum of $2000/mo just to have a basic health insurance policy, and then be able to cover $6000-$8000 year in deductibles. It is crazy.


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## Elle Elle (Mar 27, 2006)

Right hand, downhill switchbacks. Left is fine; right is not.


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## fredcook (Apr 2, 2009)

What's my Kryptonite? The cold! But nothing to do with my age. I've never liked the cold and I've always been able to ride father and harder in the heat. Give me 100 degrees any day over anything less than 60, although I'll tolerate 50 if I have to just so I can ride. We see more temps over 90 than temps less than 60, so I'm happy.


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## woodway (Dec 27, 2005)

Group rides with overly social re-groups. It is possible to talk while you ride after all.


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## CHIEF500 (Aug 30, 2012)

Heading out to start a ride, getting going and that chilly breeze/wind hits you in the chest. You're not warmed up and ready for it and it happens a lot here in SE Penna. Brrrrrrrr


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## rockhop (Mar 22, 2006)

Autumn. When fallen leaves here in the northeast smoothly cover every hidden land mine ready to send me OTB. Or jumping to flat onto wet, fallen leaves. Wet leaves covering a layer of acorns. Landing on your shoulders emphases the importance of upper body resistance training.


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

Elle Elle said:


> Right hand, downhill switchbacks. Left is fine; right is not.


It is the direction of torque and the gyroscopic effect. Left turns on a bike or motorcycle "feel" better.

Some people think that the way blood flows in your heart makes left hand turns less strenuous as well. Seriously.

Velodromes, running tracks, and oval race car tracks always turn left. Also, Merry-Go-Rounds and carnival rides. For some reason, humans just like left turns better than right turns.


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## jwhan (Mar 13, 2010)

honkinunit said:


> Any trail that is crowded sucks. Crowded = you have to stop and do "The Lean" more than once every 5 minutes or so.
> 
> Unfortunately, other than weird hours, all of the trails convenient to me to ride are now jacked up before/after work and on weekends, 8 months out of the year, The other four months it is cold/snowy/too wet. I am looking forward to retirement in 3-4 more years so that I can ride in the middle of weekdays. Also, ski without driving in traffic for more hours than you end up skiing. It feels like a race to get to retirement while still having the health and energy to actually be able to do the things I miss out on now.
> 
> ...


If I didn't know better I would have thought that I wrote this!:thumbsup:


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## natas1321 (Nov 4, 2017)

Cold, wet, flat and boring trails with no obstacles natural or man made. But I do like rocks and lots of them scattered throughout the whole trail and all sizes to climb and drop off of. 

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