fontarin

Saw several riders w/ mud on their bikes at Brushy today, unfortunately. I could tell it was too wet even just looking from the road bike on the paved trails.

The Rattler would probably have more mud than the 24 hour course since they use mostly jeep roads. I'd guess they may have to cut out some of the initial climb and blacktrac if they get a ton of rain and that will limit the mud. That's not saying it won't absolutely wreck your bike though - the sand out there gets in everything and destroys BBs, brakes, and suspension if you aren't careful.

I do recall several years ago the BCGB portion was much longer/tougher - It was something like Main Trail - > Sweet 16/Travis Country -> Mulch Hill/Jedi - > Powerline - > Hill of Life. Seemed like it added a good bit of mileage and more climbing. Doesn't really work well with higher creek levels though. Also, was *really* confusing for anyone not used to riding down there since there are numerous wrong turns you can make.

Haven't really been riding much, especially on the MTB. I finally got in my first mtb ride in a month at brushy last week. Definitely not in shape for it, but we'll see how it goes. If nothing else I'll do Walnut - > St Ed's then ride back to the house. Big assumption that we'll actually have dry trails, though!

Yeah, the only time overbiked comes into play is if you're riding a bike not suited to terrain. You can certainly ride a 150mm travel bike at someplace like Double Lake, but you'll likely have more fun on a quick XC bike. The only time I've ever thought 'I wish I wasn't on my nice bike' is during races when it starts raining, especially at those places that eat bike parts (like Rocky Hill).

Any rain up around Brushy today? Hoping to hit 1/4 notch assuming it's dry. Been a while since I've gotten a trail ride in.

I use a Kickr and Zwift and Sufferfest. If I absolutely want to suffer I usually do Sufferfest since the rides are more fun in my opinion (and some of them are downright brutal). If I'm just riding for exercise or want to do some specific hill climbing, I use Zwift. ERG mode works really well on the Kickr. The only time I don't care for it is on sprints where it tends to think I need to put out more power than I can and it gets a bit tough. Otherwise it keeps me right where I need to be +/- 5 watts.

You aren't kidding. I was just looking for a way to avoid going through OK without adding too much time for the trip. It was terrible, especially towing a camper, on the last trip.

Weather scared me off on Saturday (though it seemed to turn out fine) but I was camping down near Lockhart so I just went out and did the 50k on Sunday. Beautiful weather (a little misting at one point) and dry roads - was glad I waited though I missed the large group of folks taking off.

Hopefully minus the creatures and tears in reality. I played probably too many video games in my youth, but I was also outside a ton riding my bike. I was always good in school and never really had to study much so that left me more free time, I think. A small group of friends and I played D&D pretty often - that honestly took the most convincing with my parents because at first they thought it was satan worshipping, etc, etc (ah, the late 80s/early 90s). Someone mentioned earlier about how kids stay close/indoors these days. i was reading a thread on Reddit about that a few days ago. Basically either a) parents are worried that it's unsafe or b) you're judged harshly and there's a stigma about your kinds running around (and sometimes people will actually call police or CPS if they see a kid being unsupervised outside). It's ridiculous. I lived in a rural area when I was younger, which may have been safer, but I was generally riding my bike between my place and friends 2-4 miles away, or down to the river for fishing, or out 2+ miles in the middle of the woods building trails or riding the atv. Pretty sure my parents didn't have any idea where I was other than 'out in the woods somewhere' - thinking back that was remarkably unsafe considering I was using sharp objects to chop down trees or riding something I could flip and be stuck under.

I had Ikons on my bike and had zero issue on any of the trails. Seems like the 2.5/ 2.6 would be way more aggressive than you'd need for most of the riding out there outside of the downhill stuff at Coler.

Try these: https://salsacycles.com/components/category/road_handlebars/woodchipper I'm generally in the drops with these when riding singletrack and it makes the control much better, especially over riding on the hoods.

+1 on Back 40. Amazing ride - nothing really technical (other than Ledges at a intermediate level) but some amazing flow and just fun. Climbs aren't difficult either so you can really keep the pace up. Hobbs State Park had some good trail too (again, easy compared to what we usually ride) and a nice fun descent but you really had to pay for it afterwards with a climb. Coler has some great stuff but was unfortunately a little wet on the day I went which made me a bit hesitant. Lots of rocky stuff here and some fun descents - you start from the Hub at the top into some fun downhill trails. Copperhead and Rock Solid (I think that's the name) will remind you of technical riding in Austin. Slaughter Pen is easy to get to and has some fun stuff. The paved trail that goes all the way thru town is pretty good for getting around too. I rode from Bella Vista area where we were staying all the way into Bentonville on it - super nice and easy ride with little climbing. I didn't get a chance to hit Kessler when I was there. Planning on going back next spring.

Technically they didn't say she was let go. They said this: "The incident occurred on August 25 and the gate attendant is no longer at the park or providing contracted gate attendant duties at any of our lakes" Note it doesn't actually say what happened to her. Sounds like they may have just reassigned her to something else. Edit: dunno if it's true or not, but saw on the FB post on it that her husband owns the company that they get contractors from. Is that the elusive MIKKKEEEEEE?

Saw 2 guys entering Deception yesterday around 5:15 or so while I was on my road bike on the paved trail. Someone on a pink epic and don't recall what the other was. Didn't have a chance to say anything to them. Hopefully they realized it was too wet and turned around.