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Just FYI, Crystal Falls is private HOA, with a lot of resident foot traffic that would rather not have bikes on their trails... There's a good bit of controversy surrounding it already, so the more traffic it gets and the more it shows up on Strava, the quicker resident riders will lose it.

Yeah that's it. And indeed that one tight rocky g-out is a bit scary. Every time I make it through it I'm thankful that I still have my teeth.

Yeah I don't even fool with Mulligan unless we've been in an extended drought. Loving the way Bob Ross is getting tamped down - must be getting a good amount of traffic!

Haha. I've discovered that the key with that one (in either direction) is to ride it just like any other G-out and carry a decent amount of speed going in. It's intimidating at first putting your weight forward while nosediving in, but that along with a little push on the bars at the bottom to unweight the front going up seems to work really well. I find that the center line going E-W works best. I used to take a left swooping line going W-E until I followed @WLemke through using a line on the right, which is much smoother. Given the steepness of the opposing side though, you really need enough speed to keep from stalling and falling over backwards.

Weight and Height correct, but did get things "better" by changing my height to 8' tall.

Okay, so I reached i-moron level 10 on this one. Had the silent switch on.........

https://www.strava.com/segments/12040087 vs Dave's Ditch aka Battlestar run https://www.strava.com/segments/6782189

My latest contribution to youtube.

This hole isn't a joke. It ate my 29" this evening. Could have been worse .. It was easy to see going toward Katy and avoid but on the way back from Katy , I was aware it was coming up but it still got me. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Got out to Brushy Creek yesterday for the first time in quite a while. Rode 20 miles and had a ton of fun! Here's the route I rode: Candyland (Gumdrop, Snow White, Gnargasm, then back around to Snow White via trail above Gnargasm). Peddler's Pass Mulligan Picnic East to West (entire length) Bob Ross Rim Job out and back Snail trails (went up three times three different ways, coming down on 2, 5, and YMCA) Bob Ross in reverse Picnic West to East to 1/4 Notch bailout 1/4 Notch West to East (reverse) Back to car at Champion Park (via singletrack where I could). Was nice to see all the cedar fences inside Peddler's Pass to prevent people from cutting across trails, well done! The new Bob Ross trail is great and flows well in both directions (although certainly more climbing west to east). And you can now climb out of the trail at the end (near the Double Down exit), which I didn't even attempt previously. Remarkable to see all the work that's been done in Snail. I first rode up the cement along 183A, got to the top, and was amused at the 1-6 signs. I rode down 5 first, and at the bottom saw that there's a new "Climbing" trail, so I rode that up. Not bad at all. I then went down the YMCA trail and then rode the trail at the bottom of that back up to the clearing. Then rode 2 back to the bottom and even that trail has changed a bit. I'm not someone who does jumps at all, but it's very cool to see what's out there, and I still enjoy the climbing and then descending the trails that don't have crazy features I cannot avoid. 🙂

Starting to get the kids out more on the smooth sections of the SATN. The Pay it Forward Epic I snagged from @Shinerider is also helping get the whole family out on the trails, which is great for me. We’re definitely adding excitement for anyone trying to share the same patch of trail as us.

Down south

Learned a new phrase today. Had to Google it even. Thanks for the vocabulary addition.

Is your weight correct? Does Zwift have a customer service? I just got @Jessica a Kickr Core last week. With the bad weather coming here, I am likely to join the video game bicycle world soon.

I've never been able to get my Zwift to work right. I have a tire on smart trainer, plus a power meter rear wheel. So in theory it should know my speed, power, etc. And yet whenever I ride, it puts my speed WAY lower than it really is. It just kills the whole feeling when you know you are going a real speed and real power, and yet Zwift is clocking you at 12mph and you are getting passed by everyone. Multiple conversations with tech support and no improvement. May need to try Trainerroad.

What the hell is this!!

I have no problem at all with the ones on Rim and really enjoy them (in both directions)! Just that one specific g-out on AoC has me being conservative.

I suspect I know where SN's Roller Coaster is, and that is indeed a ton of fun. I have no idea what "Xtal Falls' Pleasure Loop" is, but I would like to find out. And Bob Ross is really well done, much prefer that to the original Up and Over trail. That last g-out on Attack of the Clones, though, is special. 😄

I love g-outs in general. That's what is so great about the new trails around up-town. In increasing order of g-out greatness... Bob Ross, SN's Roller Coaster, and Xtal Falls' Pleasure Loop.

Great, thanks for confirming. Yeah, if I watched some others do it and the line(s) they choose, I might be brave enough. But I could just see my fork bottoming out and my slamming into the rocks face first. Will have to look at it moire carefully next time I'm out there. Which won't be this week!!!

Downhill and Trail capable with Super JAK front vented disk brake: WHOA! (this is why it's a downhill bike, who'd want to go uphill in this beast!)

Technically yes if you ride W-E. 🙂 I rode SN yesterday and didn't see the hole but I started at Red Horn/Peddlers and didn't ride to Katy Ln. I wonder if this hole is right around the cliff area? I ask because I was riding the trail across the creek from the cliff, and you can see the limestone cliff is concave in that area. I think the trail definitely needs to move away b/c at some point that's going to collapse.

I think it must be that it was dry for so long, that not enough algae has grown. I approach on foot, put tire on the water, and move around to see how bad it is. I was definitely conscious of being completely centered though. I wonder if it gets ridden enough if it will keep the algae in check? I haven't ridden AoC in a while. I'll have to do it next time.

I've been avoiding Dave's Ditch Waterfall for a while. Lately I take the first right through the 3 g-outs. It's nearly as fun as the Ditch. It's called Attack of the Clones on TrailForks.

Having slipped and fallen on my ass on those rollers when they've been wet, I'm happy to avoid them unless they are completely dry. I could have avoided them and ridden the rest of Dave's Ditch (dumping me right near Snail, and avoiding more of the BCRT), but given how wet Mulligan was, I figured there'd be a lot of water in there as well.

Up to that point everything was nice, but the big puddles under the Parmer bridges (near the BCRT, where you enter after riding Peddlers to head towards Mulligan) should have clued me in. Is there any way these can be fixed, given their consistently wet nature for some time after it rains?

SO, this is a rabbit hole. But I'll tell you what I know. As I understand it (BROAD GENERALIZATION COMING): there are two main Lefty types - Booted and no boot. Booted are the old ones and no boot (Hybrid, 1.0, 2.0 or something) are the newer ones. At some point Cannondale tightened their grip on the aftermarket repair business and parts and tools for the newer stuff (bootless) got harder and harder to get for the non-dealers. Booted are pretty simple, parts are somewhat interchangable, and as long as you don't bend them, they can be repaired many many many times. The bootless ones are harder to repair and now must be taken to a Cannondale dealer, who likely will have to send it off anyway. I had a newer bootless and at the suggestion of Mendon and the MTBR forum, I tracked down an older booted version. The logic being user serviceable, travel adjustment and tuning by spacers and washers not replacement of whole guy inserts, etc. I am really impressed with how well the fork works. I am running it as an XC fork, and for that it really excels. The Hybrid 1.0 bootless (90mm with lockout) on my race SS is fantastic. In theory the old booted lefty (110mm, with lockout) should be nearly as good.

So, this trail is on the way to Houston?

PM Sent.

The trail runner here. I've ran MMS twice, it's like 45 minutes away. But yes, all the trails in the main park seem pretty simple and maybe boring on a bike. Bu running through the woods on the edges, I found myself having to zig and zag quiet a bit, had to sway and duck and protect my arms quiet a bit due to the winding and skinniness of the trails, all the branches and vines poking out. I don't know if mtb.ers like that stuff. And there were plenty of places to go across the creek that seemed like they'd be crazy on a bike- some are drops and some just go down rockrockrock bumpbumpbump. And yes it seems to connect to lots of other trails. I ran from there west to Bauerle Ranch, and that was quiet fun. Anyway, have fun out there.

It never even occurred to me to try to jump over the wooden mustache ride. I always just rolled it.

When first starting out in the sport, I used to buy all of my helmets at Academy and don't recall ever spending more that $40 for them. They were always Giro, Bell, etc., but at the lower spectrum of their product lines. As a beginner, I had some of my worse crashes on them and tossed a few that ended up in pieces. Not sure how to judge whether they performed any worse than the expensive helmets I buy these days. I'm here to talk about it, but I will admit that my short term memory isn't what it used to be. 😕

I actually rode Dave's ditch while wet a couple of weeks ago. The two rollers are not very slick which is what I was always afraid. The lower portion is easily navigable at low speed. I rode SN for the first time in a while today. Wow! seems like lots of new stuff. Church stuff looks nice. I rode only the non freeride stuff but I eyeballed that first drop. It's about the same size as what I built in my yard, but the difference is my yard doesn't have the same slope down. I need to sign the waiver and give some money to FR512 before I try it though!

I think most people buy a helmet with the belief that they all pass the same safety tests and standards. it's a reasonable assumption, that something as critical as a helmet cannot be sold in the U.S. unless it's minimally safe. then again, some people survive on thrift, good intensions, and trusting assumptions... until that stops working for them.

I'm going to have some lumber I will not be using. 1 8ft treated 4x4. A few shorter 4x4 pieces, some treated tread planks (with the rounded edge), etc. Let me know if you need this or something else. I also have heavy duty nails.

Thanks for being such a great ambassador for mountain bikers!

How wide is the caldera? I know it wasn't formed by lava, but it's a cool word that I can rarely use in normal conversation.

Back before I lived here, like 94/95, that was the shop closest to my in-laws when we’d come to visit. Went to that location several times on visits. That was when they were changing that stretch of 183 from hwy to expressway. Got to be a nightmare to get to which is probably what killed that location. The whole area was different by 98 so never could remember exactly where it was. Like many my first encounter with Hill was he and Laura dressed as the Clause’s on their tandem while awaiting the start of the Jingle Bell Ride from the Toomey location. Did it every year from 98 when we first moved here til they stopped. The last few dragging my kid in a trailer. Jingle Bell, poker runs, kids bike rodeo, women’s ride clinics, as well as being title sponsor of TMBRA’s paydirt program for nearly 20 years and sponsoring sanctioned races in every form of cycling that came along. That’s a big hole in the community a corporate store just isn’t going to fill. That’s also the reason I tended to buy and service my bikes there. Most of my work for 30+ years has been for small local businesses and I try my best to give my money to people that put their time and money back into the community. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Great news! Today I went to see what was going on in the Meridian Bowl. I was pleased (?) to see that the new "trail" was actually just the powerline where the power company cut a wide swath and mulched all the cuttings. And now a line has developed along it. Yes, there are three manmade jumps. One using a pallet. I am not fond of wooden jumps anyway and pallets are the worst. They don't last long and then they become hazardous. But I digress. I then emailed the trails committee chairman to ask him about all this and if we could do anything. Reiterating that we in the MTB community are working hard to maintain the area as is. He replied they knew about that line AND the jumps and do not have a problem with it. He even said, "We very much appreciate the respect the community has given the area, no complaints here." So they have walked around and seen everything there is to see and are good with it. So we are good to go! So nice to get a win every now and then. And such a good win. There are at least 10 good manmade jumps there now. That's not counting all the ledges. The ledges there present an "all you can do" challenge to any level of jumper I think. I know I'll never huck some of them! Roll'em sure, but no air. I am still reluctant to publicize how great an area this is. Or run big group rides through. I just don't want to push our luck.

This statement is wring loud in my mind as my oldest son is a Sr in HS and is about to head off for college. He still is willing (and says he enjoys) riding with me (and his younger brother. I was out there with on of my boys this afternoon. And since this is the parent bragging thread....