Albert

I'm also curious about that. 

I know an effort is going to be made this week to clear more of the downfall.  Do you know if there are more trees down west of Cedar Hollow towards Sawyer Park?  I know there's some additional downfall between Crockett and Cedar Breaks.  But I haven't seen the entire loop since this happened, so not sure how much additional downfall there is. 

Yeah, it was crazy to see so many downed trees, including several rather large ones (at least large for the Austin area!)  We had four people, two with chainsaws and two dragging everything off the trail.  Worked out pretty well, and I'm surprised we were able to clear as much as we did.  Definitely would have been a big pain in the ass to ride through.  And we did have a group of about six riders pass us in that area while we were out there!  😄

I think @DesertNomad will make an effort to get any remaining downed trees cleaned up this week. 

 ..Al

Cody, 

Today a small group cleaned up a large number of fallen trees between Cedar Hollow and Crockett Springs.  Crockett was a disaster when we arrived on the scene.  We got everything between Cedar Hollow and Crockett, but there are more trees between Crockett and Cedar Breaks.  Don't know if there are more downed trees elsewhere. 

I posted a report here: 

Photos: 

 ..Al

I've installed a Gallery module for the forum to make it easier for people to upload photos in an organized fashion.  Right now there are a few different categories, Bikes, Trails, and Work Days.  Plus you can create galleries outside of those subjects in the Member Gallery area.  

I uploaded a collection of photos from our trail work today at Lake Georgetown.  You can view them below: 

Once you've uploaded photos to an album, you can easily share individual photos from a gallery or the entire collection of photos in a post, as I've done above.  Users can also browse the gallery directly to view photos. 

Enjoy!

 ..Al

Last week a freak microburst took down a large number of trees at Lake Georgetown between Cedar Breaks and Cedar Hollow.  A small group of us went out there today to clear as much as we could. We managed to clear everything between Cedar Hollow and Crockett Springs.  Crocket Springs was hit especially hard, many downed trees in a small area.  Two very large trees that used to provide shade were uprooted and laying flat on the ground, and that area took the longest to clear. 

There are still a few trees down between Cedar Breaks and Crockett Springs, but those should get cleaned up this week.  

Here's a gallery of photos from our work today: 

Four of us spent four hours walking between Cedar Hollow and Crockett Springs to remove all the downed trees from the trail.  I've never seen such carnage on a relatively short segment of trail like this before!  

Here's a gallery of photos: 

There are still a few trees down between Crockett and Cedar Breaks, and hopefully those will get taken care of next week in time for Cody's two-lap Dragonslayer pre-ride. 

 ..Al

I have yet to even try a dropper post, and I've had so many people tell me what a significant difference it makes in their riding that I feel like I am missing out.  Maybe I won't like it, but I feel I should at least give it a shot given all the positive reviews people have given me.  So it's interesting to read your perspective about possibly ditching it! 

 ..Al

I'll have to compare that to one of my rides at Walnut to see how it differs.  I think I see a few minor differences compared to what I normally ride, but those items probably aren't on the blue loop. 

I'll try to join you for this upcoming Friday's ride!

5 hours ago, Chief said:

I was using Stan's but they changed the formula and now it constantly weeps out the side walls of Schwalbe tires. Switched to Orange Seal and no more weeping. I know I need more sealant when I go to go for a ride and one of my tires is flat:) 

Where did you see they changed the formula?  I know they have a "Race Sealant", but I wasn't aware they changed their original formula.  Have been using Stan's for years... 

 ..Al

Did you end up doing the full "blue square" loop?  I mentioned this in another thread, but it would be nice if the missing signs could be replaced.  I'm sure they have helped many people unfamiliar with the trail. 

 ..Al

No problem! I know it was short notice. Usually these things are known further out. I'll post an update when I get back home later.

Apparently a microburst at Lake Georgetown knocked over 20 trees across the trail this week between Cedar Breaks and Cedar Hollow.  Most of the damage seems to be near Crockett Springs.  We're going to try and clear as much as we can tomorrow, Sunday, August 26th.  We'll be meeting at 8am at Cedar Hollow, then heading east towards Crockett Springs (about 2.5 miles).  We'll work for about four hours, then head back.  

We'll have two people authorized to use chainsaws, and then as many as possible to drag cut trees and branches off the trail.  Bring at least three liters of water, gloves, heat awareness and sturdy footwear.  I also recommend wearing pants.  If you have a folding saw, please feel free to bring that as well to help cut smaller limbs and branches.  

Here is the location of the Cedar Hollow trailhead.  Drive all the way to the end of W Lake Parkway and park there.  If you can attend, please send me a private message so we know roughly how many to expect.   

This work day is TMBRA Pay Dirt eligible.  Make sure to bring a Pay Dirt form and get it signed. 

Here's a photo of just one of the downed trees: 

Thank you! 

 ..Al

4 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Also, if people cut the track, and many do either on accident or on purpose, they are only cheating themselves. In my opinion we only need to care about the “winners” - if you want to claim the top spot then you need to be able to prove you rode it all. For everyone else, it’s really all about you.

If you want to catch people at cheating, make them use a GPS device (which can be a phone) that records their track and distance and take a look at it after they come across the finish line..

2 hours ago, The Tip said:

My thoughts are since the admins there never check in or do anything, they aren't going to take it down.  I assume the forum will be there in perpetuity. So if we ever need to reference something we will always be able to go look it up there. There might be 231 pages of Korean to get past, but it will be there. I personally like the, "You might be a trail builder..." thread for example. I might go and find it at some point.

But this is much better. Administered by a fellow MBer, and specifically for Austin folks.

I laughed thinking about (not at) the one poster there that was all nostalgic for Mojo. He has been a member for all of 13 months now. If some of you long time Mojo-ers can see the benefits of this move, then why can't everyone. It's not like we are going to hurt the feelings of our good friends that run it, right?

I have no idea who the admin or admins are over on MoJo, but I think it's been running on "cruise control" for some time.  The forum software hasn't been updated in five years, and there are known exploits for that version of vBulletin.  Spicewookie was doing a good job of cleaning up the spam from the bots, but they've become increasingly aggressive, and at one point there was a new spam post once a minute in Austin VooDoo.  I know the admins cleaned up Austin VooDoo, but the rest of the forum is still plagued with spam and it doesn't look like they made any effort to delete all the spam accounts or clean up anything outside of that.  

I've been watching new registrations on MoJo, and the bots are still registering at the rate of around 15 a day.  And I'm sure 95% of new registrations (if not more) are spambots.  Just take a look at the links for each of the home icons you can see at the above link and they all go to some sketchy website.  And there was another big wave of spam early this morning. 

I have had people ask if I can transplant threads from MoJo to this forum.  While technically it would be possible (and I could certainly do it with a copy of the forum database), legally it's a sketchy area.  I'd need permission from whoever owns Bike MoJo first.  And many forums are setup where individual members own their comments, so in cases like that you'd really need permission from all those people to copy their comments over.  Which obviously would be a huge pain in the ass.  Creating an archive of Austin VooDoo would be a great idea and is something I could do, but again, I'd need a copy of the database and the blessing of Bike MoJo's owner at a minimum.  I could import the entirety of Austin VooDoo into a forum here so people could continue to reference threads, and if something were to happen to Bike MoJo, at least that would be saved for posterity.  If the current admins are asleep at the wheel, one of the following things is going to eventually happen: 1) The site goes away when the owner stops paying for the hosting costs, 2) The hard drive on the site crashes, taking the site with it, 3) The forum database crashes, making the site inaccessible, or 4) The site gets hacked and erased.  I have no idea if active backups are being made of the site, but if not and any of the above happens, that would probably be the end of all those posts forever. 

I just want to have a place to talk about mountain biking on a site that is actively maintained.  And if the person running the site is a local who is actively involved in mountain biking, that is certainly a plus.  I want to have some fun with this site, and it's a modern platform that will give me the flexibility to add some cool features over time.  I completely understand people not wanting to move to another forum, or not happy about change.  Hell, anytime I make significant changes to my other forum, there are people who grouse about it for a while.  Yeah, this site has a bit more "structure" than posting everything in "Austin VooDoo", but I'm ultimately hoping this site will garner more traffic, and the organization of forums will be needed.  

And I'm open to suggestions on how to improve the forum, so please don't hesitate to say anything if you have an idea to make something better, or there's something you don't like.  I won't be offended. 

 ..Al

Yeah, it'd be very difficult to complete the EB if you're not accustomed to long rides.  Doing the Enchilada Buffet is no joke.  The whole package requires that you be in decent enough shape to pedal for hours and hours through some of the toughest trails in Austin (BCGB, City Park, Thumper), plus the horrific road climbs connecting those trails.  It's not something you're just going to hop in the saddle and succeed at if you're used to 20 mile rides at a reasonably casual pace.  While some might get away with it, the rest of us need to acclimate ourselves to such feats. 

I agree with John, train yourself to ride longer and longer distances.  Learn what kind of nutrition your body needs for these long rides.  See how comfortable you are on the bike for such long periods and make any adjustments you can.  Having bar ends is a good idea, on my 50 mile ride yesterday they would have been nice.  I need to get some new gloves as the pads in my palms were uncomfortable after 30+ miles.  

8 minutes ago, cxagent said:

And two of those big steel sign posts cemented into the ground have been "removed / stolen". At least that is all I know about.

And Hill Country Conservancy (Violet Crown Trail folks) paid for ALL of the signs on BCGB. Even the ones past where the VCT turn off the main trail.

When you make something "idiot proof" - they come up with a better idiot.

I'm impressed that two of those steel posts have been stolen.  I think they are just bolted into the cement footer?  I guess with the right tools, those might not be so hard to remove.  Interesting that Hill Country Conservancy paid for the signs.  Having ridden Sweet 16 yesterday, there are an asston of those signs on that section of trail.  

Yeah, you'll never stop the idiots, but you can make it harder for more casual destructions. 

 ..Al

4 minutes ago, cxagent said:

PARD has been notified. Please pick up and trash all the nails, screws, glass, etc. you see. You are helping your follow riders.

Thank you!  Definitely good to report such things.  You never know if this sort of thing is happening more than we are aware of, and with more reports that can help them possibly catch people in the act. 

I agree the graffiti is bad, although most of the signs I saw yesterday at BCGB are fine.  The closer a sign is to a trailhead, the more likely it will get vandalized, it seems. At least the signs would still be there, though, unlike the Carsonite signs that are pretty easy to remove and/or destroy.  I'm sure the metal signs they installed at BCGB were pretty damn expensive. 

6 minutes ago, cxagent said:

Funny you should mention that. ARR started on that before school let out. The Carsonite posts started being destroyed. We decided to wait until school was back in session before we replaced them. 

What the hell is wrong with people?  Maybe the City of Austin can install those larger metal posts, cemented into the ground, as they've installed all over Barton Creek Greenbelt.  Those Carsonite signs are getting vandalized at Brushy Creek as well.  It seems Carsonite signs are ripe for abuse on high-traffic trails. 

13 minutes ago, Anita Handle said:

So do people carry a tent or do you just bivy overnight for two or three nights? where does everyone sleep?

If the mileage is extended much beyond 80 miles, that will certainly be a valid concern.  😄

Just now, mack_turtle said:

serious question- What GPS units are you using that last all of EB? the battery in my watch or my phone would die within 5-6 hours.

I'm currently using a Garmin Edge 800 that can last through the whole thing.  As long as you leave the backlight off and don't have it displaying a map page.  If you're using a phone, I'd probably bring an external battery pack and have it plugged into your phone.  That gets trickier if you have your phone mounted to the bike.  Could always tape the battery pack to your frame. 😄 

I use an injector tube with Stans if I'm just trying to add some sealant.  It comes with a big syringe.  I screw the injector into my valve, poor Stans into the syringe (and it has measurements along the side), insert the plunger and plunge away.  Works pretty well and is usually less of a mess than opening up the tire!

https://www.amazon.com/Stans-No-Tubes-2-Ounce-Sealant-Injector/dp/B001GSKL4A

There are definitely signs missing at this point.  Would be nice to see them replaced.