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I spent every spare minute of my time in San Antonio (2004-2010) riding BMX and shooting photos. we spent a lot of time exploring ditches, including that pipe: downtown someplace: somewhere near 410 & Bandera: Bandera & Guilbeau area: under I-10 at Huebner: If I still lived in SA I would still be riding a BMX bike. there is some fun terrain around Austin but San Antonio ditches are waaaaaay better.

More shocking is that 84 people are willing to pay to see Vanilla Ice.

Holy crap this is getting strange. I grew up in Hollywood Park, my mom still lives there (and as you already know I graduated 90'). We've had to overlap at some points. More of the same! We used to skate down 281 (in the road) before the freeway was built. We'd end up at 281/Thousand Oaks just being punks. You're talking about the parking garage that had a bank at the bottom floor where the tellers(?) had a window that protruded out under the garage. I skater buddy of mine through a bag of literal crapola off the garage and onto the bank windows. Later on, once the freeway was built and all the tunnels were opened up under the Albertson's parking lot we would go hang out in them (and light fireworks off up through the grates [into the parking lot above]) Lastly, we would get tired, and it would get late, and we would hitchhike home from that same corner. Man we got into some sketchy cars... What a trip down memory lane. Later, CJB

Now that this thread has bubbled back up to the top.... Thanks in no small part to much of the talk earlier in this thread about potential for being 'healthy' but still having some sort of heart/circulatory/bloackage issues, I decided to get myself a heart CT calcium scan. This was back in February and due to a little procrastination and the Covid, even though I had the prescription I neglected to get it scheduled. However, mid-Covid probably in later April our next door neighbor (who is 50, plays tennis REGULARLY, eats well and his slim) had a mild heart attack. He goes in to find out he's got 100% blockage in 2 arteries and 75% in the other!!! Three days later he's having quadruple open heart bypass surgery! He's all done and everything is going very well for him. But the Dr said if he wasn't such an active person, his family would have found him face-down in the flower bed due to how bad his blockage was. (I can explain more of that if needed, pretty interesting stuff) But that occurrence made me even more concerned about myself. I have a family history on both sides and have been treated for mild-hypertension for past 2 yrs after putting it off for about 5+. However, my test results came back perfectly good! My score was actually a zero, which is the best that could have been. My entire family breathed a sigh of relief (wife, kids, parents). Thank you all who have banged this drum so loud in this thread for getting checked out. Even though my results were good, who knows??? I'd put myself on fairly equal pairing with my next door neighbor, and his outcome was much more potentially tragic. Thanks again, CJB

Yep, we were in there all the time. You could 'sorta' skate it, but the transition was too tight and the ridges prevent traveling much distance. But we did hang out deep inside there all the time. A few years back, me and my boys were coming back to HP from riding bikes at McAllister. As I passed by the back entrance to the tunnels (off Thousand Oaks), I turned in and took all my boys pretty deep into the tunnel system. All the way to the big room where the tunnels all converged. They thought it was spooky cool. Just the other day, my mom sent me this article that they'd recently cleared out a HUGE homeless camp inside the same tunnels/room area. https://foxsanantonio.com/news/local/massive-homeless-camp-discovered-in-tunnels-leading-under-highway-281 Later, CJB

100% At this point any creepy comments from dudes about college & HS girls rubs me the wrong way.

That documentary on Netflix really floored me. Something about having a 16 yr old daughter makes you look at life way different Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Definitely a small world! We were serious skater trash/vandals so we had to of crossed paths at some point. Also remember 281 being 2 lane up to thousand oaks or somewhere. In the early 80s we lived off highway 46 by dry comal creek vineyards and would go into san antonio that way. Totally changed now and is kinda depressing. As I recall those tunnels were corrugated metal and you couldn't skate(?) We traveled all around san antonio and surrounding areas looking for the best spots to ride. Before I could drive we'd ride around in my buddy's s10 who worked at fajita junction on thousand oaks/henderson pass. He used to deliver food (& drugs) and we'd ride in the bed on his runs so we didn't have to walk. That albertsons center had a perfect handrail for beginners in front of the old solo serve. Just the right height. There was also some giant round pink rails in front of a bank by the target on 281/bitters for learning as well. Can't tell you how many stairwells I ate shit on trying to learn boardslides. Honestly don't know how I survived those days🤣 **Yes the dust is getting to everyone in the house now. My youngest has been out on a couple rides with me this week and is all congested now.

My advice would be to find a primary care doctor through BS&W. They've built a really strong primary care network across town and have excellent access to specialists when needed. Their online tools are fantastic and like others they offer a broad range of telehealth services. I moved my care to BS&W from ARC and have been very pleased with the shift. While ARC has good doctors, their model isn't as focused on collaborative care as it should be. It was also harder to reach the actual doctor through their messaging platform. Nurses intervene and don't always give proper advice whereas with BS&W I'm always talking to the doctor. My BS&W doctor called me directly within days of an ER visit without me even having to notify them. He also called me during the COVID-19 just to see how I was doing.

Narrow strip of trail How is this all off camber? A Place you love and hate Up, down, bend around Rats nest of trails are deceiving A tower signals the reprieve

Every male over 50 needs to do two things now if you haven't: 1. Get a colonoscopy because every man has colon cancer. The thing is colon cancer works really slow and if our bodies were able to make it to 150 or so, colon cancer would kill all of us. For most, that cancer would get us well after our expiration date, but for some, the numbers do not fall in their favor. Get it done. 2. Get a CT Plaque scan. These are not normally covered by insurance (yeah, don't even get me started on that...) but they cost $100-150. The Heart Hospital in Austin does them all day long. This will tell you if you have blockage. It uses a small amount of radiation, so I don't recommend getting them often, but treat yourself with all of the money you are not spending on restaurants right now. Heart Hospital is a specialty hospital so there are no COVID patients there, little risk in going there for the test. I am not a doctor, but both of the above items were explained to me in depth by doctors. Also, if you have not had a physical in a while you need to get on a regular yearly schedule. Up until my early 40's I probably had 3-4 physicals in my life. Then I started going every year. I was an idiot for ignoring my health.

There was nothing north of De Zavala road except UTSA. I do remember 1604 was 2-lane and devoid of anything until you got to Judson H.S.

People around here think Rudy's is local...I've been eating at the OG location since 91' in Lean Springs. My parents are still in SA and I frequent there pretty often. If I bring my MTB, then I can ride over to McAllister Park from my mom's house. I remember when 1604 was a 2 lane road near out house....Stone Oak Pkway had a freaking STOP SIGN on 1604. Cheers to all of you from the Alamo City -CJB

It might not happen over night but I know there are "aha moments" when you suddenly realize that "thing" is because you are old now.

OK, I'll play. About a year ago I was riding on the GB and I had a massive pounding around my groin. So bad I could hardly finish. Dr. Google told me that it was 95% probability that I had a hernia. Iced it down and did not have a problem. Basically rode every day, did a hard riding trip to Bentonville and never had another issue. I knew I was going to eventually have to do something about it but I was lazy and kept putting it off because it never came back. Then, at the R&I in February it hit again. Hurt so bad I could barely drive home. Doc said hernia. Surgeon said yep, and scheduled the surgery. I was literally at the hospital for the pre-surgery meeting when I heard about the first confirmed COVID cases in Austin. Decided to press pause and save PPE and resources for those in need (big mistake). Surgeries reopened and I was scheduled. Literally 3 business days before Abbott decides to halt all elective surgeries (but not close the bars, that happened a day later). I thought I was screwed. 24 hours later the doc calls. Surgery back on. Yesterday I was there at 5AM check in assuming it could all go south again. Totally relaxed, no issue. They wheel me into the OR and my hear goes from about 70 to 150. Holy crap this is.... I think I was awake for less than 60 seconds in that room, the next thing I see is recovery room. Got some oxycodone to take the edge off and since discharge have been on Tylenol/Advil. Up and walking, walked the dog last night. Just can do anything strenuous or lift anything for a while. The pain is less than post Enchilada Buffet pain, more sore than anything. While they can't really point to the definitive cause, I have to think that years of steep climbing and singlespeeding do not help my situation. If any of you think that you might have one, get it checked out. The surgery is all done with robots these days, I think the whole process was under 45 minutes and the recover is a piece of cake (so far). Knowing how much pressure mountain biking puts on your abdomen, don't mess around with this, take care of it because the process is minimal and the recovery is fast. I should be on a bike in 4 weeks and I should be cleared for trails in 8 weeks (but COVID will probably keep me off trails for now.)

Hopefully they'll keep her alive long enough to drop dime on all the rich scumbags that were frequenting the island. Or she'll commit suicide by shooting herself in the head, twice. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/ghislaine-maxwell-arrested-jeffrey-epstein-aide/2495762/

Cancelled .. This is why we cant have Ice things I'm not going," he said on Twitter. "I listen to my fans. I hear all you people out there. I didn't know the numbers were so crazy in Austin. We were hoping it would be a lot better by the Fourth of July. We booked this concert a long time ago. Basically, just want to stay safe. We do take it serious. We were just hoping for a good time but it turned into a big focal point on me and it's not about that. Anyway, happy Fourth of July and by New Years hopefully this corona crap will have a cure!" Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

someone pointed out to me today that hospitals are not "the front line" of defense against the pandemic. they are the last line, the last resort, the last hope. the front lines are people going about their daily lives and fighting the virus mostly by passive means: staying home as much as they can, wearing a mask in public, social distancing, yadda yadda yadda.

Go home? Wait! First you wake everybody up and tell them the concerts over. Then go home.

Thumper for sure Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would go into that Albertson's with my mom's grocery list (on Friday afternoons) and put all the list of stuff into the shopping cart. Then I'd load up a 12 pack of beer. I'd place all the numerous items onto the conveyer and most of the checkers wouldn't bat an eye. My theory was that they figured I was mature enough to do "grocery shopping" then I was mature enough to buy beer (while I was only 17). Or maybe, they just didn't want to have to put all that crap back into stock. Whatever the reason, it worked often. Funny stuff. CJB

Just want to say I'm sorry for whatever we did😆

If you understood the ADA you'd know that: A. This is not real: https://www.ada.gov/covid-19_flyer_alert.html or this https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-warns-inaccurate-flyers-and-postings-regarding-use-face-masks-and B. You'd also know that the ADA does not require a store to suspend safety rules for the disabled. All a store has to do is provide accommodation. This could mean sending an employee around the store with your shopping list, gathering your groceries, taking them out to you, taking your money into the store and providing your change. People need to stop interpreting what the ADA rules and regulations mean and start actually reading them. There is no qualification in the ADA that says a store has to allow you in without a mask because of your disability. If you have a true disability then the store cannot discriminate and has to do business with you, but in a near term they have to make accommodations. For instance if your store aisles are too narrow for a wheelchair you don't get to bring in the sledge hammers and start swinging. They have to accommodate you, but they do not need to change their store NOW. Especially not in a pandemic. Please don't spread this around it is just as bad as those fake ADA cards also circulating.

Come and listen to my story about a cat named Seth A poor mountain biker, almost sold his bike for meth, And then one day he was shootin down a trail, And up through the brush appeared a wooden tail A whale tail that is, wooden kicker, texas gnar Well the next thing you know seths the trail steward The mountain bikers said "Seth build some trail downward" Said "the fall lines are where the trails ought to be" So they loaded up the tools and built the pussy

The biggest issue that I see is that Democrats and Republicans are simply two sides of the same coin and that coin is controlled by Wall Street and corporate lobbyists. In general, both parties are only worried about keeping the super rich happy and above everything. While we get hostile with each other in discussions about the party differences like gun control, abortion, immigration, etc, both parties continue to further expand the division of wealth. Nothing will change until people start voting out BOTH parties to enact change. But that won't happen because most people choose a hill to die on whether that's abortion or gun control. If I'm pro abortion, I'm going to vote a straight blue ticket. If I like guns, I'm going to vote a straight red ticket. Forget everything else, those are my hills and I'm either winning or going down in a blaze of glory. People are too damn lazy to actually research the entire platforms of the people for whom they are voting. My election ballot every election cycle consists of some red, some blue, some libertarian, and even some green every so often! I vote for the person and their ideas, not their party. But I always spend a weekend or two researching every single candidate, especially the local elections. I still can't fathom why people don't vote locally. Your local folks have much more impact on your life and situation than say the president. But people just don't care and that is why we in the state we are in. So until people get their heads out of the sand and actually start exercising their rights, we'll continue down the path we are. Getting hostile doesn't work. People need to research and vote these assholes out of office and that means both Democrats and Republicans. Don't get me wrong, I believe there are some good folks on both sides but I think there are far more that are just in it to win it for themselves and their corporate handlers.

There was an old trail in Travis Country. It has rocks, bumps, and chasms a-plenty. It will grate you like cheese, but when when discussing it, please: confide location with the cognoscenti.

We called it Sombro. Good cheap food!

Hockey is still happening for us. There have been 32 guys in the local beer leagues that have tested positive in the past couple weeks so we've had some changes like no spectators, limited time in the locker room, masks except when on the bench or ice, etc. We get updates from the league every time someone tests positive and which games they played in the past two weeks so we know who was around. None of the guys that had it were hospitalized, none had any major issues, and all have been fine within a few days. I've spoken with probably half of them and they said it feels like bad allergies. I'm guessing it's our highly developed immune systems from putting on all the disgusting, bacteria and virus filled gear that smells like death a few times a week!

Donkeys wear flip flops Bonus loops give me boners sand in my bike socks

Did y'all go eat at Sombrero Rosa? I think the owner was a relative of the Taco Cabana family. It was there or Mr. Gatis for us for lunch once we were allowed to leave HS for lunch.

As often as I think of it when I shower. Same frequency as women should check their breasts for lumps. In fact, men can get breast cancer too so watch out for pain and lumps on your chest.

The VIP tix are $300 each but those are sold out. Must be in some kinda hermetically sealed capsule for that price.

Now is actually a good time for preventative maintenance. Primary care has a lot of spare capacity since everyone is staying away due to COVID.

Vanilla Ice holding Friday concert on Lake Travis despite rising coronavirus cases event maximum capacity: 450 tickets sold as of two days before the concert: 84 [update, Mr. Ice canceled the show.]

Yeah. This is weird! My folks moved from HP in 92. I wish my mom still had that house. We lived on the same street as the pool. Used to go down there and crawl under the fence and mess around on the golf course. I’m sure we knew some of the same people!

My sister worked at that Albertsons! ‘90-92ish

Why can't you leave the mask shit in the other thread? People were happy to have a place to discuss other stuff without this crap being brought back here. Here's a lawyer's take on those phony ADA cards. TL;DR: all you need is a reasonable accommodation, which can mean someone will bring your shit out to your car. His take, 'This all adds up to "We do not have to grant you the accommodation you request if doing so would make is unsafe for others in a manner that poses a real threat" which, considering guidance from the CDC and orders stating masks are required, tends to support "No mask, no shop."' The whole thread: https://mobile.twitter.com/boozybadger/status/1262456063565139971 Anyone pulling that card out without an actual respiratory problem is no different than the people with the fake service animal cards. You are abusing the ADA for your selfish purposes. Feel free make a scene and throw your stuff on the aisle. I'll be looking forward to the video.

My son graduated from UTSA and had no interest in leaving SA after that. Works for USAA now and seems to really enjoy it there. I've always liked SA. Used to be a racquetball mecca back in the 80s and I often headed down there from San Marcos to play in tournaments while attending SWTSU. Buried my Dad there too at the National Cemetery after he died at Audie L Murphy. I've never had a bad thing to say about SA. EDIT: I'm a huge Rockets' fan and I do hate the Spurs!

Oh it was NOT good! One day (Sunday) he's trying to finish a tennis game, Monday he goes to regularly scheduled DR appoint for blood work. At the END of the Dr appt, he casually mentions his chest 'pain' fatigue....next thing he's whisked off to the emergency center for test results showing he's had mild heart attack. Thursday his chest is being split open. He said at the ER he was awake and could see the scan they were doing to observe blockage. He was thinking it would be something fairly nominal. However, it was worst-case scenario, complete bockages. But the cool thing was that since he was so active and 'healthy' and had been putting a long-term aerobic demand on his system, his body had actually made a bunch of little 'bypasses' around the blocked arteries. He said on the scan it looks like a bunch of 'half cheerios' routing around the block points in cluster multiples. Its was THIS occurrence that prevented a total and immediate fatal heart attack. His body was finding a way... But the Dr had said that if had been sedentary then these re-routes would not have happened and it would have been a blunt accute heart attack. Crazy stuff. I was on the phone with the lap and scheduling my Heart CT scan for the next available appt (which was still many weeks away due to Covid) GO GET IT DONE PEOPLE! -CJB

Spent 2 years in Albany, NY. Winters were long and miserable. When I complained, the locals would bring up the beauty of having 4 seasons, pointing out that in Texas there were only 2 - hot and hotter. I would counter that they too only had 2 seasons - winter and construction.

Are these tests more reliable now? I remember reading the antibody tests were particularly inaccurate. The covid tests are improving, but still have plenty of false negatives. False positives are rare, so a positive result means you probably do have it, while a negative result means "test again".

I was given a 135mm QR wheel with a DT Swiss SRAM hub and was able to easily swap it over to a 142mm Shimano hub for ~$95 in parts from Worldwide cyclery. If you are interested in seeing how it's done, you can see it here: http://www.austinbike.com/index.php/repairs/374-changing-dt-swiss-end-caps Let's just say that bang for the buck is definitely with DT Swiss, I love these things.

Agree with a lot of what @Tree Magnet and @quixoft have to say. It really does come down to a system that refuses to change and how long one is willing to wait for it if so. Take universal healthcare for example. It was first floated in 1944 by Roosevelt, then Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Carter Clinton, Obama and to even an extent Trump. Anyone who heard that speech in 1944 most likely died waiting for universal healthcare to materialize. It's 2020 and we can't even agree to wear a mask or not, but we're gonna reform major issues within the system? With big money and interest involved? Forgive my pessimism. You also have to understand that half the population was living paycheck to paycheck and couldn't afford a $400 dollar emergency before Covid. Those people are not stoked to go ride their bikes or work on rockets. They are currently facing eviction and worse. Has the GOVT floated a Jobs plan? Nope. UBI? Nope For that matter, any plan whatsoever? Nope. Just more money for the ruling class and business as usual. This past decade alone we were having these same discussions regarding 911, Katrina and then following that, the great recession. I've lived and traveled all over the USA and when a particular state was no longer viable, we moved on. I see no difference with countries and no reason to hitch my wagon to any particular place or belief. I don't let any of this negativity get to me because of this philosophy. As far as my economic and political information. It comes mostly from people like Chomsky, Wolff, Hedges, West, Ratigan and various other independent thinkers. Take that for what you will. P.S. Tried to schedule an appointment with my kids orthodontist today. The practice is closed indefinitely as the entire staff now has COVID.

Poop bag Poop bag Poop bag Unleashed dog.

Now this is a topic I'd love to see discussed in more detail with quality info and....without devolving into name-calling and vitriol. I'm in between you guys. I'm closer to 50 with A- blood type. I too am pretty fit with a low BMI and take a variety of regular vitamins (D, Zinc, Magnesium, Olive leaf extract and C-Silver). I'm also (reluctantly) being treated for very mild hypertension for the past 2 yrs. Like a few others, we had a flu-like sickness roll through 3 of our family members in late January. But honestly, it was fairly mild. I don't *really* think it was covid, but we did all tested negative for flu/strep. However, my mom in San Antonio had pretty major flu-like symptoms around that same time (we were never in contact) and was also negative for flu/strep. Her symptoms very much matched what later came to look like Covid symptoms. So about 3 weeks ago I paid for her to get the Quest Labs anti-body test in hopes that she had in fact had it. It came back negative. I don't fully trust the test, but its another minor data point. I'm planning on trying to get her to another test option at some point soon. Cheers, CJB

Wife and I have asked ourselves these same questions. Both in our early-mid 40s, reasonably fit with low BMI , no pre-existing conditions. Both exercise, eat right and take 2-5k IU of vitamin D daily plus I work outside and she lays out to tan. Like you, both have pondered if we've been exposed at some point. Wife came down with flu-like illness after a friend from out of state came to visit in late Feb. Lots of coughing, fever, sleep and time away from work. She's had the flu in the past but never had an illness come back again after a week with no symptoms. Went to doctor, had flu test and was negative. We think we can weather the storm, but my real concern would be the after effects and damage the virus does to the lungs and vascular system. It would suck to get it, live, and then have poor health afterwards. It at times does truly seem like a crapshoot. City has halted the tests for asymptomatic people and for that matter the tests aren't refined enough to give me any real confidence at the moment. Osterholm from CIDRAP is working on a project to answer some of these questions with actual DATA vs hypothesis. Worth a listen IMHO. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/podcasts-webinars

I also partook of the hero conditions, but I found it pretty shittily humid and miserable. Still a good ride though! I’m missing those cold YMCA water fountains. 😓

Trails are bueno! Primo! Get! Some!