AustinBike

10 minutes ago, Anita Handle said:

Red Wing boots, calf length tube socks in Packers colors, Dickies work shorts, wife-beater, and a Dickies work shirt. 

Packers colors? You lost me.

Rode yesterday and it was miserable. Rode today and it was fine. Sunshine makes all of the difference.

Also, old Chicago trick is plastic bags on the feet (over the socks). All parks have convenient dispensers for these, the right size for your feet. Dog poop bags. Just please use fresh bags only, off the roll. Work great in a pinch.

You should check out Team Shazam, a bunch of local racing ladies, not heavy duty racers, lots of social. Their group is a private facebook group but I can get you in touch with the right people. PM me.

I saw a bonewipe on Burnet, north of 45th, taking the right hand lane. He was blocking rush hour traffic, even thought there is a 6' wide sidewalk that he could have been riding on. Full-on hipster with the beard and sunglasses. I ride that stretch all the time to get to pinthouse and I use the sidewalk because a.) it's legal, b.) it's safer and c.) it maximizes the traffic flow for the drivers.

Yeah, it has gotten to this. I refuse to stop riding just because it is cold. I can ride with shorts down to about 45, but beyond that point, I need something better. Leg warmers don't work for me, they keep falling down. I normally have some long pants with chamois in them, but they are all old and were cheap to begin with. I ride Pearl Izumi short exclusively because I really like the chamois. Ordered a pair of cold weather PI long pants with chamois, but when they arrived I realized that they did not have a chamois and returned them. When I scoped out the Amazon page I saw that even though they showed a chamois in all of their pictures the description said something about "wear over your favorite shorts".

That seemed uncomfortable to me. So what is the wisdom here?

Long pants with a chamois?

Regular shorts with a chamois under long pants? 

If I am buying long pants to go over my shorts I don't need to spend the extra money for PI as I would already have that level of comfort underneath.

Thoughts?

15 minutes ago, June Bug said:

ETA:  AustinBike, you may be able to weigh in on the economic repercussions to these companies, but it seems the cost of insurance coupled with an onslaught of successful lawsuits over injuries would drive some of these companies out of business or just make it financially unfeasible to continue. 

They will probably be able to avoid liability in most lawsuits. If you get a ride share with Uber and the driver has an accident, Uber is *somewhat* on the hook (but, mostly the driver is going to be at fault). It is *generally* clear on where liability lies because there has been enough (recent) case law; they are on the hook if it was known that the driver had issues, but that is a much longer discussion.

However, when you rent a scooter it is like renting a car. If I rent a car from Hertz and then plow into you, I am more on the hook than Hertz is. They are only on the hook if for some reason they should not have rented to me. The scooter companies are probably protected for the most part. BUT, with that being said, where scooter companies are screwed is not with financial liability but with safety regulation. As soon as helmets are mandated on all scooter riders, they all implode. THAT kills the business model. So, these CDC investigations could really kill the business, mostly with regulation, not lawsuits.

Where they may be exposed is if a very drunk person rents a scooter and dies as the family would go after the scooter company. When a scooter hits a vehicle or a pedestrian the liability most likely lands on the scooter driver and not the scooter company.

All in, it is a very complicated situation. 

21 minutes ago, Bamwa said:

I disagree with AB's take. It's simple. Before scootergate all these new condo dwellers and hipsters and even UT students needed bikes to get around. Now they don't. Nothing to lock up, or carry up stairs, to maintain, or get stolen. Seems to be the market for an urban commuter bike falls off a cliff. As far as the recreational suburban market maybe your theory holds up, but I guess I'm focusing on a specific segment of bike market. Time will tell. Any shop owners feel free to chime in.

Fair point. But many of those bikes were cheap "throwaway" bikes or department store bikes. Pretty sure that the shops didn't benefit from that customer base as much.

And I also have battery-powered tools (weed, hedge, blowers, etc.) good for light path clearing before you bring in the heavy guns.

6 hours ago, Bamwa said:

What about bad news for bike shops?

Nope.

Let me put on my economics hat for a second (since I use my degree about twice a year these days).

Scooters operate in a different economic sphere. The real danger to bike shops are wives and children. Scooters compete with walking, taxicabs, buses, and ride share. All of these are essentially zero investment activities on the front end with varying degrees of flexibility - mass transit is cheap, per-ride consumption, but are fixed in route/time. Scooters, taxis, and ride share are more expensive but more flexible from a timing and route perspective.

Bikes compete with cars: some investment on the front end and ownership costs. Cars have less flexibility and also incur parking costs. Bikes will compete with self-purchased scooters (not Bird or Lime but the ones you can buy, own and maintain yourself.)

The reason that bike shops are in danger of children is that people spend a lot of money on bikes when they are single. But if they marry a non-biker, that revenue stream either stops or is greatly diminished quickly. Then children come along and there is not enough time. So mid-20's through early 40's you probably see a huge drop in bike shop spending that then kicks in as the kids are self-sufficient or divorces kick in (yeah, dark thought but let's face it, economists don't care about such things, just the facts.) 

If I were a bike shop owner and I had money to throw around on lobbying and trying to juice the market, I would invest in the following:

• Propose legislation to make Tinder, Match and the rest of the online dating sites more difficult to use
• Invest in Trojan and other condom manufacturers
• Lobby to make divorce easier to execute
• Lobby to increase the cost of marriage licenses

Notice that scooters aren't on that list. Shops only compete with purchased scooters and in that domain as a shop, I'd probably start carrying a scooter line as it can be complimentary to the bikes I am already selling.

6 hours ago, Bamwa said:

Yep that was me. I did cut an entrance to park and scouted some cool routes before PI took me out. I have a loaner chainsaw and trail maps drawn. Maybe this winter during dieback we (as in I AND others) could take another stab at it. 

I did move by the nut so I'm all little further away and slightly less vested in it.  Maybe if we just met over there to have beers with rakes something would start happening.  I also have an entire metal scrapyard for skinnies and teeters. Just be sure you are up to date on tetanus shots. Cheers! 

P.s. I just typed anus lol.

As an international man of leisure I'd be willing to meet up for a beer and some surveying or shovel work.

Thinking about east side breweries for this weekend, there is a nice path to be bike able.

Kent, thanks for staying on top of this.

We've already had at least one death and several very severe head traumas.

If an individual on a scooter hits your car, I do not believe there is clarity about who pays. Lime and Bird are definitely not liable, I've heard that your auto insurance will not cover it. I am about to shop for new insurance (house, car, umbrella, business, etc.) and this is a top question on my list.

In with a 4:30 start. Oscar Blues was good for post ride food and drink last week, wouldn't mind that again. Gonna be in the 50's for riding, just a hair under perfect but still very rideable. 

I will give that a few weeks. Got a full Wednesday and it looks like rain coming, so this week might be off for a Grelle trip, so that could shift to next week. If put CB on the back burner and ping you before I head out there.

23 hours ago, cxagent said:

Only if you plan to walk some. Those first couple of gravelly climbs would make SS tough. There are some other places too. Most of it would be fine on a SS

That said - if I don't know the trail I would default to a geared bike. Gear give me options. But that is just me.

I'll take some gears out there this week. I guess it is better to bring a gun to a knife fight than a knife to a gunfight.

I have just hung my camelbak in the garage for years and never had an issue with cleaning, but I only use water. Every other year I get a funky mold in the tube, so I use the cleaning tool and cleaning tabs, 5 minutes later I am good for another 2 years or so.

YES!!! Lime is a menace to the downtown area. Scooters are strewn everywhere. Why does out city have to become polluted with their scooters just to satisfy their business model. I see the scooter companies being like Uber/Lyft - they will push things as far as they can until the city has to step in and take charge. If you've ever had an Uber stop dead in the middle of the street to let people out you know what I mean. Zero situational awareness, it is 100% all about them. They need to understand that they are part of an ecosystem and that they need to get along with everyone else. You are part of the ecosystem and can run in harmony, but when you overpower the ecosystem you become a cancer. And you need extreme measures to battle cancer in the ecosystem.

6 minutes ago, Cafeend said:

My Ventana

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
 

Nice single!

4 hours ago, Barry said:

I had to look twice to confirm my wife didn't write this. Same bike, same starting tires and same ultimate conclusion. 

If your wife is posting as "Cody" then I think you have bigger issues than tires.

2 hours ago, cxagent said:

Back to McKinney Roughs - 

I thought your report was valid but missed some of the issues.

The biggest issue is that LCRA has opened the area to MTB use. They got beat about the head and shoulders by the horse riders and such who don't want bicycles in THEIR park / trails. I give LCRA a lot of credit for starting the process to make McKinney Roughs a good MTB area. Even though it will take years.

The 'main horse trails' like Youpon are beaten to death by the horses. The hoof prints in mud make the trail surface like riding post holes. That trail has potential as a MTB trail but it would need major work. And that work could be destroyed by horses. I would just leave most of that trail the horses. The area that Youpon loops around has major potential for great MTB trail.

At the moment, I cannot connect the MTB trails into a loop. Some of the trails are closed to MTB because LCRA thinks they are too tough for MTB (e.g. closed section of Pine Ridge  I agree that many people could get in big trouble on those sections). Another major connection is closed due to a washout of the trail in the floods a couple of years ago. LCRA is working to build a bridge across that area but it will be years if ever before that is done.

The Ridge trail is closed to MTB because LCRA is reserving that one trail for ADA (wheelchair) use.  It is easy to work around that one except for the Woodland trail which became 'hiking only' because Ridge is currently the only access.

Some trails were clearly marked when we installed signs last year. Then in the spring, a BUNCH of brush was bull dozed and now I can't find a trail. It all looks like an open meadow with some brown sign post scattered about. I suspect this may change soon.

Overall I look at McKinney Roughs as major potential. I could ride there if I wanted. But if I was going to drive that far and pay an entrance I would probably go on to Rocky Hill. Generally speaking, this is not currently a good MTB trail system. It does not form a loop I can ride. Most of the trails are either too easy for me to enjoy or too hard for a newer MTB'r to enjoy. Given time and incentive this could become a great riding area by building new trails. 

I agree 100%. I would be willing to do some trail work if they were to build some MTB-only trails. And I also agree that getting the bikes off of the horse trails would make both groups happy.

3 hours ago, cxagent said:

I would say Barry nailed it. Grelle has some good trails but they are hard to access. I will say that Grelle has HUGE potential. There is a lot of area that desperately needs trail thru it (see map).

Keep in mind that LCRA only recently opened McKinney Roughs, Grelle and Shaffer Bend to MTB. Allowing MTB is a good start but it does not by itself make for a great trail system. That takes time, effort and a lot of work. Generally speaking the existing trails are existing jeep roads, horse trails or hiking trails that LCRA will allow MTB to use. Each use has its own conflict with MTB use. Like horses digging up the trail tread.

If you go ride Grelle, here are some tips -

You can find a map at - https://www.lcra.org/parks/Documents/parkmaps/Grelle-Recreation-Area-Map.pdf

Park at the Horse Trail Head (blue gate on the right before your get to Park Host trailer or main entrance). You have to ride Fox Run to get to the better trails. It is a gravelly jeep road with some large climbs. Before you get to the top of the 2nd / last climb, turn left onto Comanche Trail for the shortest entrance to good trail. Don't worry about that black diamond rating - it was for one marginal spot that has been "improved". But if your turn left at the next intersection, you might find some un-mapped trail that deserves a black diamond. Keep an eye out for some un-mapped trail that is REALLY good but dead ends at the moment. You don't want just anybody riding some of that. 😉

Don't try to ride Wild Turkey Trail from the lake. It is closed to MTB due to all the steps. It would be ridable by someone who can track stand to recover their balance before continuing the climb, but LCRA does not want it open to just anybody.

We have cleared and marked a new connection from the camping area to the horse area that is beginner friendly. Unfortunately that dumps a beginner out at the gravel climbs of Fox Tail so a beginner-ish MTB ends up walking a lot to get to anything they might enjoy riding.

Cottontail, Mustang Ridge and Overlook are the best MTB trails IMHO. Most of the rest are jeep roads or connections. That would be about 5 miles of good trail. So use the pass you paid for to stop at Muleshoe for a lap or two to get good ride for the entrance fee. They are on the same pass. But it is not the same pass as Pace Bend or Reimers Ranch.

Thanks, I think I might head out to Grelle this week, depending on how things work out at ABWHQ. I hear there may be some networking installations to deal with.

Is it singlespeedable?

Yeah, Grelle is all about making sure that we cover all the trails in the region. AB world HQ has strict requirements and yearly performance reviews are coming up. 

Yeah, the place is probably great for families and hiking. Seems like a horse and zip line would be great. Just not together.

Fan of Ardents on my 29er. 2.4 sealant compliant tires work well for me. I've heard complaints about Ardent Race - probably good for racing but not for regular riding on technical trails.