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here's the basis of a 15-20 "gravel" loop around SATN. I could include the gravel paths inside Circle C Metro Park and the Veloway trails to make it over 20 miles. Most of Bauerle and Canterbury would be fine as well if you skip the rockier sections. I opted for roads instead of the Firehouse-area trails, but most of that terrain is fine on this bike. I could have done a lap around SCNP and Whirlpool/ Valero Loop to add some miles as well. I just know to skip stuff like Stonewall and Repo Cycle on this bike.

I team up with @Chief to find my way around there. Rode SN a week ago and it had changed A LOT since the last time i'd been out there. Place is rad. You northerners are lucky to have all that trail at your disposal.

My goal was to finish under 11 hours, but it took me 14 hours. My biggest issue is that I suck at planning and not very good at navigating through trails with my Garmin. I wanted to pre-ride BCGB, Thumper and Walnut because I rarely ride these trails and wanted to get familiar with them beforehand. Only had a chance to pre-ride from the starting line to the end of BCGB. It took me over 5 hours to make it to the HOL during the pre-ride because I was struggling to figure which way to go and racked up several extra lost miles. I was able to cover this same distance in 3:40 the next weekend navigating through 10 miles of wet slippery rock in the BCGB. Other highlights. Very light rain from around 7:30am -10am which made for some slippery rocks on BCGB. But things cleared up and all the other trails were completely dry. The 3 road climbs were not too bad for me this time around. Either I'm getting better at climbing or the hills are shrinking I was doing good until Thumper. I read the directions and studied the map beforehand, but that can't replace actual wheels down experience on that trail. Ran into a guy at the top of Yopoun riding an Evil bike with flip flops. I'm guessing he was keeping an eye out for EBers. He gave me some pretty good navigational advice, always make left turns (Thank you thumper trail guy!!). I was mentally prepared for the Thumper struggle, but then snagged my BOA strap on a tree partially ripping it out of my shoe. After that I had too much movement in my shoe making it difficult to pedal and really hard to walk up the steep hills. Took me 2.5 hours to hike\bike 5 miles of Thumper. Started having knee pain on the way back to walnut from the extra movement in my pedal stroke (broken shoe). Then some kid (18-20 years old??) started racing me on the other side of Duvall. I was kinda pissed about my blown time so I dropped whatever hammer I could to stay ahead of him (one of my biking low-lights..). Started at walnut and got totally lost about 3 miles into the trail. At that point I just started looking for pieces of trail I had not yet ridden yet. There was one trail (log loop?) I could not find. With about 3 miles left I headed to Windy and the BMX trails and headed home with 79 miles. Next year I'll get some Thumper and Walnut rides in beforehand.

He delivered beer last time. As far as rims he delivered some to be laced up. He always makes good though.

I'm sure some beer would be nice too, since you're traveling anyway.

La Vuelta

One of the good guys for sure!

So you delivered the rims and beer then?

I believe you are correct. I'll need to get back out there and sort that out.

I think @TheX went straight when he should have turned hard left and ran into SpongeBob. It's kind of easy to do. The trail damn near overlaps itself at that spot. Typically there's a line of rocks there that feed you the correct way, but maybe the rocks have gone awry?

Easy mistake TheX You just missed the hard left towards the beginning of that trail after the first rock garden when you start. The trail takes a hard left. The two trails right there are only about three foot apart. Easy mistake.

Sooo, I decided to do 1/4 notch this morning, starting from the center. I have only done it a couple times the other direction, never this way. Somehow I got turned around and ended up on Double Down. I have never been on it at all. I kept thinking, 1/4 notch got tougher, hahaha. Bailed when I found Picnic, since I had never ridden it either.

A finish is a finish, don't worry about your times. I did it in 10 one year but 12 is closer to my average. Thumper is a mess, honestly speaking, if I did not live right on the route like I do, in picking a starting spot I would start at thumper and burn that one out first. Finishing on St. Ed's is not too bad, yeah it puts a bunch of the climbing towards the end, but every time I hit Thumper it is dread, even though I know my way around and have even ridden it on non-EB days.

Hand deliver to the far reaches of the globe?

Butt bong

Leave the lights at home, ride mid-pack, and don’t get dropped by the leaders. You save money, and strengthen your reflexes! [emoji14] Sorry, I have nothing better to contribute to this. I run $20 Amazon special lights which, when they work, are totally fine for the R&I which is my only night ride…when they work. I have been on multiple rides where I’m riding along and poof my lights are dead. Riding mid-pack though means the rest of the ride is like riding WC during a rave, with strobes and sweeping spot beams. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't wear a chamois when I am running errands on my bike or heading to have dinner with my wife when we are riding our bikes there. But if I expect to spend more than 20 minutes in the saddle I put on bike shorts. A few saddle sores over the years taught me to respect the shorts. To me the key is being able to ride every. single. day. And that means taking care of my body.

Told you ol man.. it isnt a road bike. It doesn't need gears and I'll get a haircut eventually. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Wow, that was easy, let me try it.

Made it 55 miles today. Trail to trail connected by road. Temps were in the 60s for most of the ride. High was about 76. Only issue was the head wind for the last 14-miles

More than a few ended with a sprint down Congress Ave! Good times. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This was my Longest Ride by far it was around 30 miles, longest before was 12.5, added a few miles because we had to double back to the truck in cedar breaks, my brother-in-law forgot to wear his helmet and neither of us realized till taking a selfie haha Ill do it again ..it was pretty crowded with hikers on trails around the parks, would be better during week but to be expected with the temps..I actually had water left in my camelback And thanks for the free t-shirt cyclewerx, thats cool of them

I think the last year I recall doing it there may have been 500 riders (w/families) cruising down congress.

Cool memories of jingle bell ride from bicycle sport shop when it was on toomey road

If you happen to live in Woodcreek, TX (outside of Wimberley) vote for Jeff Rasco for city council. He is all for less traffic and safer streets for bikes, walkers, etc. I don't think there are a whole lot of MTB specific related issues in our little city, but if there were he would be on our side. I can say this with confidence because he is my dad. Also, if you happen to live in Woodcreek, TX, we should probably go ride together.

can't help you with Cedar Park, but if you live in Austin please vote for Prop B. and here are the Bike Austin Council Endorsements: https://www.bikeaustin.org/endorsements

Seems that Terry Cook is not too supportive of our lifestyle.

I use four Niterider lights. Two on my handlebars, two on my helmet. I initially rigged one light's handlebar strap to the side of my helmet with some zip ties. I did this because I hit the top of my helmet all the time on rides. I didn't want a light on top catching and ripping my head backwards. But the weight on one side made my helmet slide to one side. "If I can only come up with some counter weight..." Duh, it finally dawned on my dumbass...another light! So here's my rig. With my four lights blazing I joke that I could film a movie! I use to think that people that rode at night were crazy. But when I finally did it I felt the same way I did after I finally got lasik surgery; why did I wait so friggin long?

Around noon today I was at a school in southeast Austin. Not really in the city. Not really in the country. Kind of on the edge. While I was waiting for my escort in the office, a male peacock and three turkeys walked up and stared in the windows. That was not a sight I expected to see.

I remember that dude. He also had some other crazy statements unrelated to bikes. Tim Kelly was his name, I think.