Leaderboard

To the person or people that have been sanitizing the Barton Creek Greenbelt, please stop. Seriously, really, stop it. Many of us have been riding those trails for 20 plus years and they’ve held up for a reason. When you go in and remove rocks, remove trees and create cheater lines you’re destroying what someone else has spent countless hours building correctly. If you can’t ride something practice, that’s what keeps it fun. If a feature is above your skill level that’s okay. Get off, walk, and leave the trails intact. Rock and tree removal lead to soil erosion which leads to these fantastic, decades old trails breaking down and washing away. SANITIZING a trail or section just for your personal pleasure is pretty far from okay. If you’re wondering, I’m sick of putting sections back together in Hammerhead Gulch and in Travis Country just because someone doesn’t like what’s been in place and sustainable forever. Trust me, you’re not that important but those trails are. To all you fat tire friends, if you know who is doing this please make this a teaching moment. Perhaps it’s some of our younger people that just don’t understand the damage they’re causing and how much they’re pissing people off.

Exactly, I used to ride with my seat down, the height would depend on the trail... I'd rather do the squatty-pedal thing and stand for climbing than be caught with my seat in the way when it mattered.

Had to be, I mean...no one shoots vertical video anymore. 🙂

You ever send it off any sweet jumps?

Forgot to take a pic out on the trail, but this was post ride of the new mullet setup on my hardtail. 29x2.6 on the front, 27.5x2.8 on the rear.

I've done credit card touring twice: C & O Canal/GAP (Pittsburgh to DC) and from Frisco to Glenwood Springs, CO, so notes based on those trips. be ready with layers for whatever the weather throws at you (rain, cold, hot). Arm warmers and leg warmers can be really useful charging cable and cell phone/Garmin which has your route loaded up on Ride With GPS, Map My Ride or whatever you're using. If you are using your cell phone, make sure your app shows routes even if there's no cell coverage paper map showing all main and secondary roads (for primary or backup navigation, depending on preference) reliable headlamp with extra batteries and a red flashing blinky in case you end up pedaling after dark usual repair kit, multi tool, tire levers, CO2 cartridges one set of light-weight, quick-dry off-bike clothes, socks, shoes (flip flops?). I used a pair of nylon capris and a mid-weight long sleeve base layer; leggings and tee shirt would also work. toothbrush chamois butter, even if you don't think you'll need it, because if you need it, you really need it lip balm & sun screen even though it's almost winter credit card and cash wherever you're staying will have soap, shampoo, hand lotion so don't worry about those In these crazy times, decide where you're going to get food and confirm that they are actually open; check if your accommodations have breakfast We have some friends who do multiple international and US bike tours every year. They take a piece of Ensolite foam and cut it to fit the size of a pannier. Makes a dry comfy thing to sit on during breaks if the ground is rocky or wet and only weighs an ounce or two. This sounds so fun! Please share a trip report, mileages, route and any useful notes. Mr. June Bug would love to do a ride like this, as would a close friend and her husband.

Rigid 29'er, 2.2" tires, disk brakes, wide bar. Most of the time, that's how I roll.

I was in Mary Moore Searight on a not commonly used trail. Some crazy lady that said her house was "right there" yelled at me: "This is a park. There can't be trails in here!" 😄 I went over to look at Rudolph. Wow. SOOOO bizarre. It looked exactly like an elephant walked through the brush and knock a couple of cedars over. I tried to picture a truck coming through that brush but there just was no evidence of that. ANYway, it's all cleaned up and rideable now. At least right now it is. (sighs) And that land where these trees were is owned by Walmart. I am VERY certain they did not do this. Did I say "bizarre" yet

I had no dropper not so long ago. I would stop, drop my seat and send it. That is the way I did it back in my days and it still works 😂. Droppers are a beautiful thing tho

Exactly if no dropper then why not full rigid with 2 inch tires, rim brakes, 500mm bars, etc. Not saying you couldn't do it but why would you want to?

I actually know that spot! Nice!

Man.. she is Pretty! I forgot about her Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Bro... you need a dropper before you ever consider this Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

So we are dipping our toes into the vagabond cycling scene and are starting with an overnight to Fredericksburg. Any advice on what to bring other than dinner/breakfast clothes and some collapsible flasks?

Man. I’m just not comfortable or good at leaving the ground on my bike. Could I do it? F yeah. Do I want to? FFFFF no. Ha! Truth. Took it out of my Yeti when I bought it and sold it to First Blood at friend prices. Lightened my bike up a ton.

Thanks for all the feedback @June Bug! Fredericksburg may be out because hotel prices look crazy over the Thanksgiving weekend. But we're considering other options like north San Antonio or Llano. Or maybe somewhere south east. We'd like to do 60-90 miles one way. We'll circle back around to F'burg when prices normalize.

Remember that bison that was loose in South Austin a few years back?

Man, that is a DEEP and DARK rabbit hole.

Yep. BCGB on the other side of the creek as HOL. Someone took the hammock down.

Try American Bolt on Burleson Rd. These guys have everything I have ever needed for my bike or my weird one off work projects. https://goo.gl/maps/3M4jcUgU6q96WG679

Haha. I'm not a mtb historian but I'm pretty sure our native ancestors still slammed the seat when doing things of this nature. But yea we def are spoiled now with the dropper invention, so much so I consider my bike OOS if the dropper ain't werkin Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

That's the thing for me, if I wanted to get there today, I wouldn't know how. I just end up there and immediately recognize the spot b/c it seems to be an iconic bike pick spot (just like the other that shall not be named, close to the HOL).

Now she is the perfect ride for peddlers and soon to be more rides on SN.

He's the only MFer I know to get a dropper and ain't it... SMH.

Our native ancestors road this without a dropper post. HTFU.

LOL, I'm sure the dropper will make allllll the difference.

Yes. I replaced some round fluorescent tubes in a couple of ceiling fans with Amazon LED fixtures. I went with the pricier ones (still fairly cheap) b/c they're UL listed. Some of the stuff is so cheap but that's scary to me.

Nicely done, those are the fabled non servo wave levers, right?

Continuing on the brake repair theme. A buddy of mine gave me some M9000 XTR brakes with carbon levers. Cool right? There's a catch. He's the Seth Buckgnar of Utah and generally breaks everything he touches. These were no exception. The carbon levers had been broken and replaced on numerous occasions and in the process, the 2mm hex on the lever reach adjustment/master cylinder pushrod had stripped. Ended up pulling them apart only to find shimano doesn't offer any parts for these and my only option was to buy a new lever/master assembly or repair it. Since i'm stubborn AF, I bought a replacement lever and shit rigged it by hammering a T10 torx into the 2mm hex receiver. That stupidity distorted the threads to where the lever wouldn't thread back on. Had to die the threads and ever so carefully put it all back together. I can say without hesitation, putting that snap ring back in was one of the most infuriating things ive ever done on bike repair. All back together and ready to upgrade the old XT 785s on the wife's bike.

Y’all are Nucking Futs, end of story.

This is awesome, well done tribute to his Dad!

Far from religious, but this spot gets me every time.

The new Kona-Lauf.

Roadiephobics. The more you complain the more I think you’re a closeted roadie. all riding is cool.

Reddit-ness:

The first one I encountered must have required considerable force, if not mechanical assistance. There were several more, but this one was pure vandalism.