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Sessioning is good. However, I've heard this: Session something three to five times. If you do not succeed, move on and try it again later. Why? You could be training your muscles to fail that feature. I don't know if this is true, but I've done it before on a few features I was struggling with and succeeded on the next visit or the one after that.

Invest in one of these.

You may want to get that checked to rule out a blood clot! Most DVTs start in the calves, and they can be fatal if part of the clot travels up to your heart / lungs.

Can say spider mountain was tip top yesterday. The new blue trails are super fun and theyve cleaned up some of the lines on the blacks. Get out there before it's too hot. So much fun!!

We just had our garage broken into and our 2020 Borealis Flume Fat Bikes were taken, one medium and one small. They are both black with green logos, 27.5x3.8 tires, manitou mastodon forks and one of the bikes had a black and green SDG Allure seat. We are offering a reward for any info leading to the return. of the bikes. These are likely the only Borealis Flumes in town as they are not common in Austin. If you see them please let us know. Brian 512-818-9350.

You can pedal up the service road all you want. They might not even charge you for lift ticket if you enjoy misery that much. Places like spider are good for making multiple passes/sessions to improve your skillset. Cardio can be had at home.

I've never been out there. Is it a bunch of coasting trails or are there pedal trails? I'm more of a pedaling guy. I like to work.

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Yes, don't ride with faster riders, ride with better riders. Don't be afraid to ask questions. And for god's sake, keep up. Not everything is a race, but if you are the newb that is keeping up with the pack, you'll learn. If you are the newb that dawdles and makes them all wait for you to catch up a.) you will be too far back to learn anything and b.) you will never be asked to ride with them again. So work on keeping up, put your energy there, follow close enough to see the lines but not too close that you run into someone that stops.

Learn how to get home without pushing your bike.

IMO, not a great idea for a new rider. Walnut, Brushy, and the greenbelt are the best places to hone your skills,

Lots of great info here, much thanks!! This is something I've been wondering... I see a lot of people sitting when riding around Walnut Creek, but I rarely sit when on a trail. My first couple of weeks I was sitting a ton and using my legs to power over everything. Once I had more endurance and started standing I realized that I could go faster and smoother by 'sucking up' the bumps and compressing down the dips. Now I'm way faster with much less effort. It feels great to ride with the terrain instead of power against it. My biggest takeaway from everyone's feedback is that I need to start riding with people before I take on harder terrain. I feel like I'm progressing fairly quickly, but Its probably smart to get some hands on advice before pushing it too far solo.

Haha this is the method I used - school of hard knocks and near death. Totally agree with @Charlie193 that if you're second guessing yourself on something, save it for another day. I learned that the hard way. Progression is definitely the key to staying safe and there is no shame in getting off your bike to avoid doing something outside your comfort zone. To the OP's point though about not knowing what to be afraid of, my advice would be to 1) keep your wheels on the ground until you're able to carefully progress on drops / jumps, 2) keep your speed within the limits of your balance / control of the bike, avoiding scenarios where you're unable to control your speed, such as steep, gnarly descents, and 3) avoid going up steep, technical obstacles that could leave you and your bike tipping over backwards. Also know that being seated in the saddle leaves you very vulnerable in many situations you'll encounter on the trail. The quicker you get comfortable being out of the saddle and balanced between your pedals and handlebars, the less likely you are to get hurt.

UR ghey. The timing on this is relevant though... that was back when the original log bump was there, before it was destroyed and replaced by the 2 posts... which recently disappeared because it probably "killed someone's flow"... 🙄 I wish I could muster the energy to single-speed Brushy again, that was the most fun. And that old XTC was fun...

I think this is going on my list of projects:

I thought I'd come back and be clear what this is on about! In the pre-apocalypse days this ride would have as many as 35+ folks on good days. A small word of mouth group started getting back together on Thursdays for WC rides back in early fall last year. It was basically R&I Thursday edition. But then OB opened back up, and in December we got them to agree to stay open until 9:00 so that our post ride imbibing could once again be at the brewery. And that's what's going on now. And now that most conscientious folks have started getting their shots (shots! shots!), I'm comfortable moving this from word of mouth to a somewhat more formalized version, particularly since the pre and post hangout are on the massive outside pavilion and grounds. The Walnut Creek Park Oskar Blues Ride leaves every Thursday from the brewery at 6:00. It's at 10420 Metric Blvd Ste 150, Austin, TX 78758. Many folks show up at about 5:30-5:45 for a pre-gamer of their favorite OB beverage. The crew rolls out en masse very much EB style for the 2 mile spin to Gracywoods Park, where we then gather to collect anyone that didn't "make the green" on the way over. Then we enter WC at the Inner Log Loop. After IL, we generally separate into a couple or 3 or more groups and then do some version of the Standard Loop +/-. You can either tether to me for a quicker ride (sometimes civilised, sometimes not), or hang back for a more party pace with others. Generally everyone finds a decent group for their desired pain level. And the various groups do between 8 to 14 mile WC miles before heading back to the brewery for as many drinks as they're comfortable having. That tends to be a lot for me, since I ride to and from the ride. Anyway, I figure at this point all are welcome, and are likely to find a pace they enjoy.

This ride/race was awesome. I got there late. Everyone was already at start/finish. I grabbed my number plate but only to get food/drink ticket and left it in my car. I knew the day would be windy and did not need the extra drag from a handlebar number plate (which included the timing chip). I brought my arm warmers and neck gaiter just in case and I am glad I decided to wear them as the day never got warmer, and in fact felt colder with the increasing north wind. There is a ton of gravel here with mostly caliche type gravel and a little bit of the sandy but solid type of gravel road. There are a few paved sections and those were all devoid of traffic. There was only one sketchy section of paved road to connect. The wind was brutal (any ride in the flatlands easts of 35 seems to suffer from wind). The reward of a tailwind on the return was short-lived and minimized by some tree cover. But it was very cool once again riding in a group (2 weeks and one day post my 2nd COVID shot). Still 99% of people doing road and gravel rides don't know how to properly ride a paceline and that's frustrating. Since I got there late I was behind the shorter ride/family/social spaced people so I tried to work myself up to the 62 milers before the neutral start ended but I was not able to. I pushed really hard to bridge gaps which was super hard once we turned NNE. I felt like I could heard Phil Liggett getting all excited narrating the Ardennes classics "THERE'S A SPLIT!". I settled into a group of 20 or so but there was no proper taking turns but it was an even pace. We eventually split apart as people just could not keep the pace and caused splits within the group. Eventually I rode with a guy named Jason who usually rides his gravel bike at Brushy (all the trails) but is not here. We had a similar age, power output, size, etc. and he knew how to ride a paceline so we stayed together through the climbs and the flats. We were frustrated with some of the guys we were around, they'd surge so hard when it was their turn that we couldn't hold their wheel, then they'd go off it alone, before they'd just start slowing down and come back to us again. At around mile 28 Jason said his recovering broken pinkie was hurting too much so he took the 38 mile cutoff and I rode on my own for the rest of the 44 or so miles. Lots of clover, wildflowers, and dramatic scenery as the sun poked through some of the clouds. The final 2-3 miles with a couple of sections into the headwind at lactate threshold doing 7-10mph were brutal. I got to see my old friend Tony who was coached by the same coach and we did the same 12 and 24 hour races as well as supported each other when not racing. It had been years since I saw him. The Apache Pass Steakhouse has a pretty good burger. They smoke them and they must use chuck/brisket for the meat. Very basic burger but it was tasty. Their fries were good. The included beer was basically Bud, Bud light, Lite, or Michelob ultra. I opted for the Ultra. It tasted good right after finishing but it's like water almost. Nobody that worked in the restaurant was wearing masks but many people eating did. They had outdoor seating so I took my food outside, wolfed it down and left for home. https://www.strava.com/activities/5144222142

Got woken up by a painful cramp in a calf muscle. I NEVER get leg cramps, hurts big time. Now I can hardly walk on it. WTH? What is the proper way to deal with something like this? Stretching? staying off of it? I feel really bad for people that suffer from this on a regular basis, it hurts.