drinkypoo's New Writeups

rock garden (thing)

2009-04-25T15:03:08Z

A rock garden is typically one of two things; In landscaping or gardening a rock garden is an ornamental garden comprised mostly of of rocks and stones. In mountain biking it refers to something very different and far less pleasant; a section of path from which rocks sprout up as if they grew right out of the ground, or where they are generally strewn loosely around the path.

Ornamental rock gardens usually include not only rocks, but also such plants as flourish in a rocky environment, principally those from alpine regions. "Zen gardens" (Japanese rock gardens]) typically contain very few plants.

Hazardous rock gardens exist in the middle of many mountain biking singletrack trails. The term is used somewhat interchangeably (and confusingly) to refer both to a section of trail strewn with loose rocks (see also death cookies) and a section of trail where the rocks are planted. In general the latter is the result of either erosion or…

Fox (thing)

2009-04-20T13:38:11Z

Among all the other things the name has been used for, Fox is the name of a company which makes forks and shocks for mountain bikes, dirt bikes, snowmobiles and side x sides (a kind of off-road two-seat go-kart.) Fox is generally considered to make some of the best equipment especially in mountain biking, with a range of products with a variety of features.

The company was started by Bob Fox in 1974 to produce motocross motorcycle parts. Fox has long been a major name in motorcycle racing, especially starting with the first win on Fox Shocks in 1976. At the time, the old short-travel shocks were giving way to long-travel and most of the designs were based on the short-travel stuff; Fox made an air shock designed for long travel and the rest is history.

Today the major differentiators between Fox and others (at least in mountain biking) are the durability and ride quality. High-end Fox air forks feature an option called "TALAS" which provide separate high and…

Buying your first mountain bike (idea)

2009-04-20T13:20:18Z

I just bought my first mountain bike worth owning, and my second MTB of all time, and I can tell you now that there are certain other things you should really know when you're buying a bike. Here's some of the big hints:

Know What Kind of Bike You Want. This depends on what kind of riding you're doing. There are different kinds of mountain bikes including:
- Cross Bikes (Cross-Country Bikes): Light mountain bikes which are designed to be run for long distances on mostly flat ground.
- All-Mountain Bikes: Designed to climb and descend hills, they usually have five to six inches of suspension travel and are designed to cross any terrain you'll normally experience on a day's ride without beating you up.
- Freeride bike: Meant for the rough terrain and big drop-offs, they usually have seven or eight inches of travel and a bit more weight than an all-mountain. They're usually not that pleasant to pedal uphill, but

…

Boggs Mountain (place)

2009-04-19T20:02:10Z

Boggs Mountain (Peak approx. 38.814566,-122.690506, elev. 3750 ft.) is seven miles northwest of Middletown and eight miles south of Clear Lake in Lake County, California. It is well known by mountain bikers for its numerous excellent single track trails which are maintained year-round by a nonprofit organization, Friends of Boggs Mountain; there are also prepared trails designated for hiking. Interestingly, there is also a shooting range on the property open to the public, although it is a short-distance range appropriate mostly for pistol shooting.

Besides trail maintenance by Friends, the property overall is maintained by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. They acquired the 3,493 acre property from the Calso company in 1949, and it is available for public use year-round. There are a couple of big bike races in Boggs every year; Bike Monkey Magazine just had (effectively) their fourth…

zero in (idea)

2009-04-17T15:19:12Z

A phrase believed to originated in World War II, this is a military term which deals with the adjustment of instrumentation. Numerous elements of the instrument panel have or had adjustments which could be used to calibrate them, but the most likely candidate is the bomb sight which at the time was a fairly primitive device which lacked automatic calibration. A "zero adjustment" would mean that the bomb landed where the sight indicated. This is certainly the sense in which the term is used today; "zeroing in" on someone is most commonly done with a firearm. You can also zero in on a numerical figure; when an equation is balanced the difference between the two sides is zero. One prime example is the balance sheet.

Thanks to rootbeer277 for noting zeroing in on an answer.

Penis Size and Cars (idea)

2009-04-15T16:56:10Z

There is reputed to be an inverse relationship between the size of a man's penis and the horsepower, size, and/or flashiness of his automobile. Riding an extremely loud motorcycle, driving a gigantic lifted pickup truck, or operating any year/model of Chevrolet Corvette is said to be a sure sign of men with teeny penes.

Unfortunately, the converse is not true; men who drive minivans are assumed to be lacking in testicular enormity and indeed masculinity, while men in small, "cute" (e.g. Mazda Miata, Volkswagen New Beetle) vehicles are believed to be homosexual. The former tendency has been promoted to sell SUVs, the latter muscle cars; both have more markup than something small and efficient with the same power to weight ratio and a lower sticker price.

While there are no known studies of any possible correlation, a 2004 survey by Tesco Personal Finance claims that 80% of women believe there is a link between the size of a man's car…