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It's the time of year to photograph your loved ones among bluebonnets.

The whole trail is going to have a makeover in the very near future before the race. The City has Approved KOM (a local trail building company that has done some of the trail work in Bentonville) to work their magic on Peddlers Pass. We are just waiting for the service agreement to get through the Cities legal department, then they can start work. There are several spots on the Westside that will be completely different when they get done. The trail will be A LOT faster. It's going to be the 1st machine built flow trail specifically for mountain bikes on Public land in Texas. I can't think of any machine built Loops for mountain bikes on private land either, but there be one out somewhere. Reville and Spider have machine built runs from the top to the bottom of a hill but no flow trail loops, does anyone know of any?

Bentonville, last week with the family plus extras.

So there is "everyone that swaps genders does it to gain an advantage" and there is "what if someone games the system and swaps genders to gain advantage?" and "what if the gender change is sincere but leaves that person with an inherent advantage?" No one is claiming the former. The latter are valid concerns and it has and will happen. Also, we are not at extreme end of elite sports so comparing professional women to normal weekend warriors is not valid. Any and every top pro woman UCI racer would kick any and all of our asses on any day. But that's not what we're comparing here. There is a clear jump in watts/kg when you go to the top pro men. How to deal with potential ethics issues is going to be a huge challenge.

This is so more nuanced and difficult than your first take. I get how this is unfair when it comes from competition (I personally know someone and know the women she ran against and there were mixed feelings not always expressed aloud), but there are many levels and layers to this going all the way to genetics. You've heard of Caster Semenya right? That's another example of this and it's so difficult to deal with. I don't envy the sports organizations that have to make these decisions. There will be upset people on one side or the other no matter what they decide.

I don't even want to touch this topic, but I don't think anyone is "deciding to swap genders for a competitive edge."

They are on the inside of the turns on the newer section where it gets close to the park entrance. I understood right away that they mark the turns, and like you say if they were removed there would be no clear indication of where the turns are and people would be cutting the turns. As you ride the trail more you'll get used to the trees being there. Like I said in previous post it was my first time riding it in the new direction and I did get close to the trees but no worse than anything else we ride around here. There is plenty of width on those sections of trail to avoid getting too close to the trees you just need to pick your entrance/exit correctly.

Just rode Peddler Pass with the new reroutes. The entire trail system goes counter clockwise and has a really good flow to it with no cross overs. Kudos to the trail builders. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haha. "Court precedence". Because it's tennis.

If you think that someone switches genders only to gain a competitive advantage in a sport then I think you are misguided. Seriously. I won't take a position on what is fair in racing as I am not a racer, but the idea that someone decides to swap genders to gain an advantage is disingenuous at best.

You sound terrible🤣

I'm headed out shortly to check out new direction. Called in sick, cough, cough

Very cool! Registered!

Rode the new direction complete for first time yesterday. Lap time of 20.05. Had a couple of slow downs one for another rider and one to stop and ask if a kid was alright he crashed his junk hard on the stem, he was riding with his dad and brother. I know I can improve my time considering this was my first time in the new direction and wasn't familiar with all the new trail. The trail will get faster as all the new additions get worn in. A lot of the new stuff has ruts that will get filled and packed as more people ride the trail. Are there plans for more berms on the new sections? There definitely are some turns that would benefit from them. Time was on my FS 29 120/140 65.5 HA. Hans Dampf up front at 23psi Nobby Nic out back at 28psi. The new sections that are all loose limestone ate my rear tire, tore about 80% of lugs off the casing. Need to consider something a little more durable.

You inspired me. I'm officially a (1 day) licensed MTB Racer and have registered for the race!

Good News! Strava says you got 19:16

It's straight up bullshit.

Second attempt I got 19:28 this time. I’m using a stop watch because I thought the Strava segment leaderboards didn’t include the new stuff. Am I wrong about that?

I'd be down with establishing trans classes in sports and let the marketplace sort it out.

I want to make it clear that was not my assertion and hope we don't get lost in the weeds because of that perception. If my post came across as such, then i apologize. The fact are this: When racing as Anton Weatherly the results were average/below the rest of the pack. Racing as Kate Weatherly there have been podium finishes including a NZ DH 1st place finish https://www.rootsandrain.com/rider54373/anton-weatherly/results/ Also that same reluctance to get involved with a topic like this will probably influence sponsors who want to avoid the e-mess revolt from taking any stance on trans athletes. Yes I have been following this and the general consensus among sanctioning bodies and medical professionals is testosterone levels are not the only factor in biology and need more research before imposing new rules. Funny thing is all the anti-doping steps that are taken to level the playing field, yet we bury our heads in the sand when it comes to actual physical differences between men and women. Its an (adams) apple to oranges comparison Sorry....had to

Y'all have some balls punning about tennis. Don't string us along though, I'd love to have them all out in the Open right now. I'm dead set on that.

Awesome! Thanks! I’ll be in touch once I get a game plan. 👍 Actually may not need to drag back all that many rocks now that I’m looking at it more closely. As-is, there is a totally doable on the right side. 👍

I have one you can borrow. It's made of firehose. For manual carry just use 2 rock bars slid through the loops. We use it regularly so I cant loan it out for a long time. But willing to let it be used. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Yes, maybe not for competitive mountain biking. But if a man that was pretty good at tennis or golf thought that he could make millions by switching genders I would guess there would be someone that would do it. Not me of course. OK, probably not me. But the motive is not ATXZJ's concern. It's more about the results. Renee Richards sued and won to be able to compete in tennis as a woman. So there is already court precedence in this matter. Although, "Richards has since expressed ambivalence about her legacy, and came to believe her past as a man provided her with advantages over her competitors, saying "Having lived for the past 30 years, I know if I'd had surgery at the age of 22, and then at 24 went on the tour, no genetic woman in the world would have been able to come close to me. And so I've reconsidered my opinion."

I have been working with City Parks personnel for quite some time on that very issue and just last week received the OK to move forward with a trail direction change. You are correct in your observation regarding wear and tear. Since the City essentially made the direction "permanent" when they installed all the sign posts I have seen our (I ride moto at CP as well, so I'm speaking from two perspectives here) maintenance efforts over the years increase. I don't recall that being the case many years ago when we were changing the direction regularly, sometimes every other year. Hard to believe, but I think it has been almost 9 years since we last changed the direction (2010?). Since receiving the OK from the Parks manager I've been evaluating what will become climbs when going CW (now downhills of course going CCW). I've made some improvements where needed and only have the Devil's Staircase to sort out at this point, which is going to take some work (and manpower!). We just had some very nice slab rock delivered to establish a climbing line up the middle of the Devil's Staircase. The bottom ledge is currently far too tall, which will drive people to try and take a far outside line. That only widens the area, which we absolutely do not want to allow. There is an "easy" route around the Devil's Staircase that will remain in use to further help alleviate that situation. It's going to be quite a haul to get the large rocks from the parking area back to the Devil's Staircase. Just this week I've been strategizing that effort and it appears the only viable option is to use "boulder cradles" to accomplish the task. One or two will need to be fabricated unless someone happens to know of anyone that may have one that can be borrowed. Like maybe used for a home landscape project and stored in an attic? I am now in the process of lining out all the new directional markers that will be needed. I remember in years past this was a very simple task, which involved only the switching of the tree hangers. Since the City installed all the sign posts with decals I am now faced with having to address each and every one of those. I have a map I've created that identifies the current location of all the marker posts and tree hangers, which will help me ensure that everything gets changed properly. Just a moment ago I received the quotes I've been waiting on for a couple of other new signs that are needed, and am now about to place the order for new decals and signage. If anyone wishes to donate to that cause, I am not too proud to not accept their donation. 🙂 At the moment it is looking like the directional signage needed is going to be around $300. Oh, and I'll also be fabricating myself aluminum backing plates for each decal to allow them to be more easily changed in the future (if desired) without incurring cost of purchasing new decals (i.e. these will be reusable!). I am open to any input or suggestions! 👍

That's a bit anecdotal compared to professional sports.

I think he's talking about trees on the sides of the trail. You get close to a few of them, but if you visualize the line you want to take and control your speed they're no worse than some of the trees you encounter on 1/4-DD.

Not sure about the others but it was listed on the segments for the ride I just finished. Could probably find it on the segment search. Since others are posting their times I guess I will too....

Todd, I REALLY DON'T want to hog all the tandem glory. Besides my tandem needs a good bit of maintenance and work (and I'm currently planning to race solo). However, please note that if you don't get anyone signing up for this video shoot, I'm willing to make sure you get what you need completed. Consider me the backup plan. Cheers, CJB

So with these reroutes, does that mean I will forever be the fastest old geezer (55-64) on the old Peddlers Pass 2.0 - 2 Laps segment? Fortunately Julio Sanchez (whoever that may be) never got a chance to ride it, as he seems to pretty much own every other old geezer record across Brushy.

Edited to say that I took my medication and I think I can stop now.