Let's Talk About Tinker.....

I've had a lot of Tinker encounters...

  1. I saw him bunny hop a full sized guard rail at the bottom of GMR. His Strava that day showed he was finishing a 75 miler in the mountains.
  2. Just about every Pioneertown 50 he's out there leading the pack. I gauge how I'm doing by where he passes me on his return trip. "Oh, it's a good day. Tinker is only 13 miles ahead this year." One year the #2 rider was only a few minutes behind him, and Tinker was mashing. I moved over to the side, and got a huge "Thank you". I think that's the same year Tinker beat the race organizer to the first aid station at mile 17. The organizer was in his truck...
  3. I've run into him at the 12 Hours of Temecula a few times. Although some of the younger racers can be real dicks, Tinker was always super polite. One of my highlights out there is pulling away from him on a sketchy downhill section. Of course, he passed me like I was standing still once we hit the flats.
  4. Probably my absolute favorite... It was the day of the Trabuco Challenge, and my son had asked me to shuttle him and a few friends to the Holy Jim parking lot for a Santiago Peak hike. On the way up the wash, I saw him coming in the rear view mirror, so I had a little time to tell the kids about his career. As he passed me, uphill, the speedometer showed 15 mph. I've climbed that wash many times, and it's always a slow grind- granny gear in spots! He passed us with ease, looking back over his shoulder to see if anyone else was coming. There wasn't...
 
My Tinker story……
I was helping out a friend for a VQ and sent him off at the Pow Wow beginning. The gate at BlackStar. They all took off, I went to my car and drove up to maple springs, parked, and walked up to the motorway exit.
I missed him- he was already down and gone, finished with that whole loop. I couldn’t believe it
 
Redman said:
Two TJ experiences, both are over 25 years ago. Both of them involved trail side safety breaks. Irie!
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He said something pretty inappropriate to a female friend of mine, nearly half his age. I don't know who she has told, so I will assume she told me in confidence. So you can read between the lines how he behaved to a girl he thought he had a chance with.

After that, I haven't been able to take him seriously. Sure, amazing athlete, but that only goes so far.
 
I don't know much about him. I do remember a couple of years ago he was trying to charge people to ride with him around the Fullerton Loop, which I thought was ridiculous. I mean, I might have gone if he had paid me to ride the Floop. Maybe. :laugh:
 
JbalColgate said:
Dude, everyone was doping back then, even now.. ALL OF THEM.. so it is what it is..

And it was men competing agains man, not like today where transgendered men can compete against biological women, thats a real doping
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Way to dive in Jbal! :confused:

On another note, show us your Liteville! No one around here has ever seen one and most haven't heard of them.
 
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JbalColgate said:
Yooo!

I had a Cannondale trail 1 hardtail in size "Jumbo" (XXL0 and I wanted to get Santa Cruz Tallboy LT back in a day, but the wait was too long and I started to look around for frames in my size with threaded bb's.. Somehow I stumbled across the video "the sea of rock" on youtube, and other vertriders, and noticed they all ride same bike.. Got intrigued by it .. ( so many Swiss and Germans riding it, it could not be bad right? ;))


So in 2016 bike-components.de had a sale going on on the frames and they had XXL 301's in stock (thats when they were able to ship Shimano groupsets to US) I bought a XXL frame, Rock Shox Pike fork, syntace M30 wheelset and build it up myself..

Bike is very plush, its a Horst Link suspension.. BB is located high. Thats the bike I've riding since 2016 and still, my skills catching up to its abilities..

Frame came as raw aluminum, I painted it myself

fQPlWQU.jpg


mUQ5gbm.jpg


Frame has nice rear derauler guard build in..

zFP9H4o.jpg


Initial assembly

znBFoc6.jpg


Bomb proog hubs with easy tension adjustment

1mGZ9AZ.jpg



Maiden Ride in Will Rogers Park

NUzS5jW.jpg


Since then I added Bike Yoke dropper, frame bag and changed tyres to Minion DHF/DFR
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SPAM Bam Surprise! I read somewhere people can lose a finger from that bike’s Horst Link.
 
JbalColgate said:
Yooo!

I had a Cannondale trail 1 hardtail in size "Jumbo" (XXL0 and I wanted to get Santa Cruz Tallboy LT back in a day, but the wait was too long and I started to look around for frames in my size with threaded bb's.. Somehow I stumbled across the video "the sea of rock" on youtube, and other vertriders, and noticed they all ride same bike.. Got intrigued by it .. ( so many Swiss and Germans riding it, it could not be bad right? ;))


So in 2016 bike-components.de had a sale going on on the frames and they had XXL 301's in stock (thats when they were able to ship Shimano groupsets to US) I bought a XXL frame, Rock Shox Pike fork, syntace M30 wheelset and build it up myself..

Bike is very plush, its a Horst Link suspension.. BB is located high. Thats the bike I've riding since 2016 and still, my skills catching up to its abilities..

Frame came as raw aluminum, I painted it myself

fQPlWQU.jpg


mUQ5gbm.jpg


Frame has nice rear derauler guard build in..

zFP9H4o.jpg


Initial assembly

znBFoc6.jpg


Bomb proog hubs with easy tension adjustment

1mGZ9AZ.jpg



Maiden Ride in Will Rogers Park

NUzS5jW.jpg


Since then I added Bike Yoke dropper, frame bag and changed tyres to Minion DHF/DFR
Click to expand...
Nice work and results! :thumbsup:
 
JbalColgate said:
I had a Cannondale trail 1 hardtail in size "Jumbo" (XXL0 and I wanted to get Santa Cruz Tallboy LT back in a day, but the wait was too long and I started to look around for frames in my size with threaded bb's.. Somehow I stumbled across the video "the sea of rock" on youtube, and other vertriders, and noticed they all ride same bike.. Got intrigued by it .. ( so many Swiss and Germans riding it, it could not be bad right? ;))


So in 2016 bike-components.de had a sale going on on the frames and they had XXL 301's in stock (thats when they were able to ship Shimano groupsets to US) I bought a XXL frame, Rock Shox Pike fork, syntace M30 wheelset and build it up myself..

Bike is very plush, its a Horst Link suspension.. BB is located high. Thats the bike I've riding since 2016 and still, my skills catching up to its abilities..

Frame came as raw aluminum, I painted it myself

fQPlWQU.jpg


mUQ5gbm.jpg


Frame has nice rear derauler guard build in..

zFP9H4o.jpg


Initial assembly

znBFoc6.jpg


Bomb proog hubs with easy tension adjustment

1mGZ9AZ.jpg



Maiden Ride in Will Rogers Park

NUzS5jW.jpg


Since then I added Bike Yoke dropper, frame bag and changed tyres to Minion DHF/DFR
Click to expand...

Mad skills on steeps with that bike!
Re-edit: Sorry to derail the Subject but it seems like the norm.
 
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