AustinBike

I've seen 3 pacific rattlesnakes since getting here about 6 weeks ago. It's gonna be a long season.

California phase 1.0: Two bikes mounted (low) and next is building the other two in boxes (a Kona and a Vassago) and mounting them high, as the alternates. At this point I REALLY miss my old garage but the fact that it was 70 today and I worked in the garage all day tells me I made the right choice. Workbench is still stuck in transit for another week, but I can manage. The trails are out of this world.

Take a look at Microshift. I bought one for my singlespeed so that I could have gears when I travel. Microshift is compatible with Shimano cassettes. On Amazon you can get a brand new shifter and derailleur for $92: https://www.amazon.com/microSHIFT-Advent-Rear-Derailleur-Compatible/dp/B0CX47S75Y https://www.amazon.com/Microshift-Advent-Trail-Trigger-Shifter/dp/B08778S7T9 It's a tad clunkier than Shimano which tends to be pretty smooth, but overall I have been happy with them.

As a T-mobile subscriber I am thrilled by this. As a person who actually likes democracy I am terrified by this. Startlink is owned by Musk and at this point I won't have anything to do with the person who is trying (and generally succeeding) to dismantle democracy. The current shitshow in Washington tells me that I don't want to be an enabler in any way. I'll stick with the more limited Apple functionality. It works for sending messages, which is all I need. Overall internet access is limited but I download trailforks maps so that I don't need connectivity. I just want a way to communicate with people in an emergency and Apple allows for that. A couple more years and this will be even more integrated/functional with the cell providers, that is the direction it is all heading.

You're welcome. Putting the house on the market in the next 60 days and heading out west. But with Trail Forks and other resources, it's unlikely that a site like this would ever grab any traction out there. We filled a gap for the early days of the internet, but, like so many other sites, eventually the 800 pound gorillas came in and did a better job of keeping info relevant. It's a big boys game these days, which is fine. More time for me to focus on riding.

In a state where ~95% of all land is privately held, I've given up on expecting that we'll be getting much new trail.

And, if someone is interested in taking this over, I am going to be moving out of Texas early next year and AustinBike will close up shop unless there is a local person interested in maintaining that site as well. The site runs on Joomla 4 which is going EOL so I could transfer domain and give you a full backup, but eventually it would need to move to Joomla 5.

Used to drive through there on our way to fishing trips in Canada. Beautiful.

It is an inconvenient 2 day day (2x11 hours) or, if you are stupid, you do it in 3 days. Did 3 out and 2 back both times. Both suck. But the problem with 3 days is bringing the bikes in and out each night and getting to the hotel early and then having wasted hours in the hotel. Did the math and in the month we were there I rode ~560 miles and did ~60,000 feet of climbing.

Temps were generally in the 80's most days. They had a "heat wave" and I think it got up to ~95F at the peak. But it was back down in the upper 70's by 7PM every night. Trails were really safe. Saw 3 rattlesnakes, 2 coyotes and 0 cougars or bears. I did have dinner with a friend and she said an acquaintance up north saw a cougar grab a pit bull and take off with it. That is pretty hard core. I rode solo 95% of the time and never had a single issue.

Last ride out here before heading home. Hit Wildwood Park for the second time. Keep getting messed up on the routes. There is a TON of climbing here and it is literally located right in the center of the town. Think of it as BCGB with lots of elevation. Plenty of chunky downhill and switchbacks as well.

Decided to to an urban/gravel loop around town, nothing fancy. Still managed to pick up some massive climbing even though, for the most part, I never left the city limits.

Met up with old Austin Rider Bart to do a ride in the Encinal Canyon area. The Backbone Trails run the full distance of the Santa Monica Mountains, probably over 200 miles of trails. We were treated to some singletrack that wraps along the mountains for miles with incredible views of the ocean. On the way back we had a phenomenal 3+ mile downhill run back to the trailhead.

If you are a fan of the old TV show M*A*S*H you can take a gravel ride around the area that takes you through the Malibu Creek State Park where the series was filmed. Having biked in Korea I can understand why they filmed here, the mountains and trails are very similar to the actual locations in Korea. As a bonus, they also filmed Planet of the Apes here. And when we went to the beach we were sitting in the location where the beach scenes for that movie were filmed; the Statue of Liberty was long gone.

I have a granite strap on my top tube with a MTB tube. I used the seat pack for urban rides with my wife, it held a gravel tube for me (I swapped wheels for urban/gravel) as well as a 26" tube for her cruiser and a couple tools. I also brought a Dakine fanny pack and everything is in there now. While the seat pack was more convenient, the fanny pack is a better choice when constantly reconfiguring the bike for whatever ride is happening that day.