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Forecast for today in the land of dirty TaTa's (Cedar Park) is 79 degrees. One must ride

Based on diligent use of a sextant, various astral events, and Google Calendar, the first weekend after ACL falls on Sat, October 17, 2020. Just like this year, that's two weekends before the time change. Mark your calendars and get training!

The build has not started yet. We are fighting like crazy to get the paperwork in place to build these trails. The lawyers got involved so what should have been easy has become a nightmare. The new trail will not "join" to the existing trail. But you will be able to join them by riding across the road near the maintenance building. If you look at the north end of the map of the new trail, you can see the maintenance building marked. If you look closely at the very north edge of the map- you can see the exiting mountain bike trail.

I rode Reimer's last Sunday after driving all the way out to Flat Creek Crossing only to realize the place is closed for the time being... I remembered seeing a thread here about some new trail to be built at Reimer's but I couldn't remember any of the details. I kept looking for signs of new trail off the existing stuff, but didn't see anything. Now that I look at the map, it looks like all the new stuff will originate closer to the entry gate. Will the proposed new trails connect with the existing trails? Also, any update on when the new stuff will be complete? (Or started...?)

Kevlar? No thanks. For me, it's real Zebra hide or nothing.

haha dude I might buy some of these actually haha. they have size 36 in stock! lol

I thought those were enduro pants.

Pretty hard to blame cheater lines on the motos when the GB is full of them.

I put the chain up on Peddlers Pass. I was pulling mud the first few turns. Still too soft. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's better to be on the trail thinking about God than in church thinking about the trail.

Fine, just ordered some. 2 left in stock.

You're kidding, but only half right? I had the same first take. There are motos on the BCGB btw...of the 4 wheel variety that come with flashing red and blue lights.

Folks on FaceSpace and folks on Strava said yesterday morning was muddy, but last night was perfect. I'll be there for a couple of loops.

My gawd! There's Motos on the Green Belt now? (jk)

What makes you serious as a gun owner? Capris wearing hipster douches also own guns... (Source: Me)

Now he's posting religious crap too.

Missing for years, gaunt, completely strung out and still sounded better than 99.9% of the singers today. Damn, glad I got to see them in their hungry years.

I need to do this.

Would this indicate how, while installing, that camo duct tape should be used, and .... wait for it ... always double-tap(e) when in a Zombie Apocalypse

Zombie apocalypse survivalists, once they realize their cool trucks won't run on non-existing gas/diesel reserves they'll revert to previously abandoned bikes.

Wait a minute, what are you shoving in the end of that scope?

I might have some 9-speed stuff, let me look into the bin when I get home, in New Orleans right now.

I've done 2 partials before and this was my third. This year's group definitely had more of a business like atmosphere compared to the previous two I participated in. There weren't any social groups on this ride. I expected to run into some folks resting along BCGB or at the end of the HOL, but I was all alone for the most part. After the HOL, I turned on my headphones (Trekz so I can still hear) and did my own relaxed paced ride. Think I was the last one to leave City Park and there was no water left when I got out. I stopped at the fire station and filled up my camelback with ice water and washed my face. First extended break was at the bottom of Jester. Took a 20 minute power nap under a tree to get a break before the next big climb. Traded spots with 2 riders between Jester and Thumper. I finished Thumper ahead of them and never saw them again. I'm guessing they were the last of the finishers. Thumper was much better this time around. The preride with Cody and the work he put into marking the trail helped a bunch. I was in pretty decent shape once I got to Walnut, but my truck was right there. My overall time was 11:45 which was about 2 hours slower than I was hoping for at that point. I wasn't planning to be out that long and it was time to go home. I don't ride any these trails much, so I didn't have a good feeling for setting pace and effort. Also, I was riding solo without anyone to push me and settled for a relaxed pace. I decided to bring my Procaliber hardtail instead of my Fuel which might have been a mistake. The biggest issues with Procaliber were lack of a dropper post and 100mm fork were causing me to walk more ledges than usual (City park). I'm less down on the procaliber today, but I need a different fork so I can run some bigger tires up front (maybe 29×2.6). Another setback was I smeared my front tire in a massive pile of dogshit on the BCGB and had to slow roll for a mile or so to prevent shit from flying on me. I could smell the shit everytime it rolled up towards me. Moral Victories: I wasn't dropped on the slow roll to BCGB which was a first for me. Maybe this year's roll was slower. No walking on any of the hills. I was determined to ride all of the big climbs. I was able to successfully navigate through Thumper, a first for me. No cramps or serious wrecks. Just one minor fall when I got overzealous on Thumper and tried to power down for a climb. I'll definitely go again next year if scheduling allows. Probably need to preride these trails beforehand. Thanks to everyone who put this together!!

I'm going to go ahead and post my ride report here since I don't expect there to be too many this year. Let me break down my 2019 EB experience by the numbers and then I'll go into a little more detail: 7 - This was my seventh EB. Every year since 2011. My t-shirt drawer is basically EB and Pace Bend shirts mixed with the occasional climbing or race shirt. 104 F- This was the max temperature recorded by my Garmin. WTF October? That heat was killer. 49.2 mph - Maximum speed down City Park road. 11:48 - Total time to finish this year. Not my fastest or my slowest time. 120 minutes - Amount of time we spent in Thumper 4 - Number of times I had to dodge my riding partner's question of "...are we almost there?" while hiking-a-bike thru Thumper. 5 - Total number of leg cramps I fought off during the ride. They started hitting me around Jester and were a constant battle. 3" - Width of my front and rear tire. When you hit 30 mph+ with these big volume tires you really start to feel the imbalance made by the sealant. This was a bit unsettling (see #3) 3 - Number of times we were totally screwed by the lights on 360. Getting all that speed as we go down the hill and then stopping is the worst. Enough of a reason to stop riding the road. 1.6 miles - Distance to the finish when my Garmin battery died. I guess I needed to go faster. First off, thanks to the entire EB crew and the volunteers for putting this thing together. I heard there were 50 something riders registered but I think there were probably twice that many that started at Walnut. Not as many as I'm used to seeing but still a good crowd. The two aid stations were appreciated and I feel for the Thumper crew trying to keep everyone's spirits up as they headed off into oblivion. I rode the EB this year with a good riding buddy who had never done a ride over 50 miles. He wasn't sure he could finish a long ride like the EB but I talked him into it and he got it done. Low pressure events like this really have a place for riders that are interested in challenging themselves but don't want the big emotional investment of a formal 'race'. This was also the first year that I rode the EB on a hardtail instead of my big 140-170 mm full squish. We started out of WC right on time and the ride leader promptly missed the turn up to the dam. No biggie but this confirmed that AB wasn't leading us out this year. I also quickly realized this as the pace of the group accelerated to something I would call "...let's catch that roadie" and really wasn't the leisurely pedal down the lake I had enjoyed in years past. I know that different people have different paces but I think that the ride downtown should be something that EVERYONE riding the EB can enjoy even if they don't finish in 8 hours. Bottom line, hit the greenbelt with a small group and started making our way through BCGB. Ran into a guy named Hugh with a Mojo jersey on and had a good chat. The GPX route on my Garmin was working this year but since I can pretty much do the route in the dark with no light, I didn't need it much. Crashing the hardtail down the good stuff at BCGB and explaining the lack of mulch on mulch hill were highlights of this segment. We hiked up HOL for the most part because I didn't want to burn a match that early in the day and there were no trail angels there with cameras to impress. 360 was no biggie but we got screwed by lights (see item 9) and that really sucked. Didn't see too many cool cars which is generally the highlight of this part of the EB. Hit Courtyard and instructed my riding partner to NOT LOOK UP and just pedal. Also said that when you think it's over, it's not over but DON'T LOOK UP. Made it up Courtyard with little fanfare and was disappointed to not see anyone at the top to heckle, cheer, refill, etc. I guess I'm spoiled by years past. This would be a theme. The City Park climb and jaunt to Emma was not too bad. Only got closely buzzed by one car the entire time and there weren't many boaters out there trying to kill us. We passed the leaders coming out just before we hit the fire station and the realization that they had put an hour on us 3 hours into the ride was sobering. I actually expected it but I'm not sure my riding partner knew that when I said they were 'fast AF', I meant the AF part. Saw Barry shortly after this and was stoked to see him hanging with the leaders. Dude rips on his bigger travel bike. We stopped at the aid station for some ice and water and ate a bit. Not a long stop but welcome. The cooler was pretty full of beer at this point but that wouldn't last long. Emma was fun and it's much more chill in the CW direction. I kept trying to place the features and run the route backwards in my mind but I inevitably messed up and we hit a feature that I wasn't expecting. Stopped at the pavilion one more time as we left to refill and got the last bit of water. Sorry Antonio! Scored some sunscreen here from another rider (much appreciated) and took off. Bombing down City Park road going back was great fun and this lady in an SUV pulled up to us at a light and asked if we had enjoyed that. My knee was starting a tingle of pain here but it wasn't anything I couldn't pedal through. We stopped at Jester Market because the Jester climb was looming and something really cold sounded good. Downed a drink and took off to Jester. We rode the first third but realized that in the big gear we weren't moving any faster than walking and the sun was baking us. Walked the rest. This was the first time I'd walked a hill in all my EBs but I didn't mind. I wasn't walking alone and I still made it to the top in about the same time. Bombed Beauford without getting pulled into the curb by the road grooves and almost ended up passing some dude in a Porsche making his way down slowly. 360 and Spicewood to St. Eds were uneventful and we saw a few more riders passing us heading to Yaupon. I generally see more riders here but this year it didn't work out that way. We walked a lot of the ledges on St. Eds on the way up and rode the rest down. The exposure parts we more of a risk/reward decision so we did walk a couple of those. The ride back to Yaupon seemed to take for freaking ever but we made it and started the ride/hike up. About halfway there a dude on a road bike going down told us there was an aid station at the top. We knew this but I thought it was great to see someone obviously not engaged in the EB taking part in cheering us on. The Thumper aid station stop was short because I just wanted to make sure we had enough water and get in before my riding partner heard too many horror stories of people who had just finished. This strategy worked and we started the long hike/ride/hike/cuss/hike/ride/cuss/cuss/ride event known as Thumper. That trail is fun on fresh legs and if it were in Houston, it would be the best trail in a 100 mile radius. However, it's just brutal in the EB. My message to my buddy was that "Thumper is what makes the EB hard. This is where the men are separated from the boys. If it was easy, everyone could do it!" We survived Thumper and my buddy said that if he had pre-ridden Thumper, he wouldn't have done the EB. When we exited my wife was there to greet us. This was a great surprise and really helped lift my spirits. I also had a bit of a beer to celebrate. The ride to WC was fine and my buddy got his third wind and took off. Having that trail to ride from Amherst park was great and I didn't miss riding down Parmer. We did a generous loop of Walnut but I was blasted and my knee was starting to get pissed. Finished to a small crowd who took our names, took our pictures with the fake enchilada, and then bolted shortly thereafter. Apparently we were at the back of the pack. Our wives were there too so we had someone to sit down with in the parking lot and drink a beer. The EB had a much different vibe to it this year and I'm interested to see if I'm the only one who noticed. It was more about speed and racers and less about community and seeing old riding buddies. Don't get me wrong here, I know it's not easy to put on this event and the team doing the work does a fantastic job. I suppose I miss the feeling that it's more than just something for the fast guys to show off. I miss the Christmas lights hanging in the WC island and the music going while people sat around and talked bikes. I need to adjust my expectations but I would gladly drop my $20 into a can for a t-shirt and I didn't even see that option present itself. I remember people coming in from out of town just for a chance to ride the EB. I remember explaining the EB to a MTB guide on the Whole Enchilda trail in Moab after he asked about my Enchilada Buffet jersey. Maybe that's the problem...I remember too much and therefore my expectations are not realistic. No matter. I might ride it again next year or I might not. I'm not making the call yet. If I do, I'm going to try it on a single speed to give me a reason to walk the hills.

Mr. Fancy over here can afford to build a basement. j/k, have a blast, I’m jealous.

Some people forget how to use IMHO.