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gonna have to give that one a try then

Shiner knocked it out of the park with this one!

Thought it good to mention a bridge lost in the fire has been rebuilt. The end of the Pine Gulch trail from Roosevelt's Cutoff intersection on the South side up to crossing the road that finishes the furthest part of the loop has been open again for a while. The printed map they hand you at the HQ (and is online) still does not show this trail, though it has been added to MTBProject's map of Buescher. With four crossings of the park road connecting trails on both sides many combinations can be ridden to extend the mileage. It is pretty easy to make an interesting 12 mile loop. These trails are fun, though be aware there can be hikers and runners sharing the trail at times. Having a ringing bell so they hear you approaching is a big help, that, and riding at a pace as if expecting a pedestrian or other rider to be around the next blind turn is a good idea. Riding during the week, avoiding early morning and after work hours will net the least chance of meeting another trail user. Weekends and holidays are usually busy with hikers, groups, etc.

i think my "road trip kit" is like 30# between the toolbox and two plastic boxes of "trip savers" that include bike specific parts, likely failure parts, and some other stuff that's just better to have instead of needing to "get to the shop before closing" ... like when someone notices their brake pads are cooked after a day at Klondike or TWE run. Prefer to spend my trip money on food, drink, and friends vs overpriced repl parts and waste time. On the up side these parts serve as my back repl parts for when something wears out normally ... use it and order replacement immediately. Reminds me I need to order a repl BB for my bike since I just cycled one out.

Yes, bikes, like homes will drastically come down in price just around the time the economy crashes. You millenials are used to this right? We are banking on this scenario and going to sell now, sit on the cash a bit and then cosplay what our overlords do, and buy cheap during hard times. Austin is great for young people. We're no longer young. I am glad I bought my place and my bikes when i did. All of it is so overpriced now, it's just freaking insane. I remember bitching about paying $3k for a frame and now that's considered a bargain. They definitely have us in the river. Hard to beat the current crop of XC-ish bikes that have more progressive GEO while still maintaining a good pedaling platform. Transition Spur, Kona Hei Hei or Revel Ranger would be my choice if I was masochistic enough to keep riding CTX into my 50s.

Just came back from Bentonville during spring break and want to do a quick write up. For 2 separate days, we rode SP with 2 other families with kids ranges from 9 to 14. Day#1. We rode the Black Apple Creek zone, which they have redone. (by the water treatment plant and Tiger Blvd tunnel) and it is easy zone for the kids and the un-initiated. Day#3. We checked out Choo Choo and Boo Boo, (only Choo Choo is open), and they opened another drop-in zone/ hub, it now has as a green DH run (Walter's Whistler) and black DH (Techgnar). Both runs are short and fun. I took one of the better skilled kid and rode Tristan trail, which they cleaned up since last year, super fun and flowy. All of us ended up at the jump line by SP phase 1 and everyone took turn hitting multiple times, and saw some local kids boosting big jumps and landing in a manual. We stopped by Masterpiece also and all the kids did a couple runs and photo-ops. There is a new zone near the east-end of SP phase 1 which they are still building (you can find in Trial fork). It is another drop-in zone/hub, it has 1 green, 2 blues and 1 black DH runs. The blues has 3 wooden bridges and perfectly manicured berm, the black is a rock garden DH run. I think they would build more DH runs given the size of the hub (it is pretty massive). Between day #1 and #3 was wet weather day. So me and my buddy headed to Hobbs SP, and this trail just magically shed water. Tractions are an unbelievable given how much rain it got. It is a fun flowy trail with a little tech section sprinkled by the shoreline. Sawtooth and Timberjack are both DH runs that has a nice return trail. For those who has ridden LGT/Goodwater loop, it is the complete opposite of that trail. On my last day before I headed out, I rode solo at the Handcut Hallow, which is the Northeast side of SP proper. Any Austin/Central TX area riders would LOVE THIS ZONE!! This reminds me of one of the unmentionable trail in Austin, it shed water well. (I rode 1 day after it has been raining all day) it has drop-in zone with multiple DH runs, and a Traverse loop about 7 miles that goes around the zone (which I didn't ride). I did all the blues and saved the black for another time (didn't want to ride blind on black run with no one around). It also has this crazy uphill tech climb called zone 4, it looks gnarly. I was only able to spend 1 1/2 hour here, but you can easily spend at least 1/2 day or more here. We also took a trip to Coler on one of the days, alot of blue/black DH run at the hub was closed. So we rode down Family flow and Thunderdome a few times, and only a portion of Oscar since the trail leading to the hub was closed. It seems Coler is more susceptible to closure due to rain. Overall, I was only there about 9 months ago, and there was already a bunch of new stuff and I could spend another full day or two just to ride the new stuff. There are also newer stuff in back 40 that I didn't get to ride (ie Huntley etc), or. Centennial park in Fayetteville, or Devil's Den. NON-BIKING RELATED: I was at the Wal-Mart neighborhood get some ciders (Hibiscus Cider by Black Apple Cider), we went through self-checked out and then a lady came and checked my ID, and then she asked for my wife's ID. She forgot hers, and she told us I can't buy them before of corporate policy (??!). In a separate occasion, my friend tried to buy a 6 pack around 11pm and they told him they stop selling after 10pm (at another. Wal-Mart). Anyone else has problem with buying alcohol in Bentonville??