AustinBike

1 hour ago, GFisher said:

What did you ride? We hit Galisteo yesterday, then Hidden Mountain Brewing for dinner. La Tierra this morning then Santa Fe Brewing HQ for lunch, heading to Angel Fire tomorrow, trying to decide what to hit in the morning. AF looks kinda rainy the next 2 days. Decent chances here in SF too.

Rode some local gravel, did La Tierra yesterday. Probably gonna hit Galisteo and Winsor (up and down.)

Yeah, this morning didn't suck. It was a bit chilly (67F) when I started, but it warmed up quickly. 20 miles, 1790ft of climbing. And a flat ~1/4 mile away from the hotel on the way back.

Me and my big mouth. Snagged a goat head on the way home from my mountain escapade

I’m raw dogging it with tubes in New Mexico right now because my commuter wheel set was messed up and I got too busy to do it right. So far I am about 20% through the trip without a flat. Gonna Stan’s up the squishy when I get back home.

8 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

“Could be” or could be?

You’ve seen me. The odds that I could be the kinda guy fathering children with random women are exceedingly low. When my wife sees me leave to ride she looks at the way I am dressed and says “well we know you aren’t going out to meet women.” She has a point.

17 hours ago, TAF said:

What about ol George Dawkins? He rides a power-assisted Specialized several days a week, and he’ll tell you he probably wouldn’t be out there if it wasn’t for the pedal assist.

That is a solid use case. 

To date I have never seen anyone older than me on an eBike on the trails. Most could be my children.

31 minutes ago, ATXZJ said:

 

Oh and I got flagged for a "random" COVID test at the Detroit border crossing. That was a pita to put it mildly.

In China they were doing anal swabs, so those are the REAL pain in the ass tests.

Thanks for sharing, I’m living vicariously through this.

Wow, that sucks. S get well and take it easy when it comes back to riding. I know how antsy you get if you’re not in motion, but they think that trying to snap back too fast can bring on the long Covid.

Tom’s point was college students and commuting. I’m gonna guess there are a lot of cheap electric bikes there. And a lot of electric scooters. Go through the bike racks at UT and tell me how many cheap bikes you see vs. Santa Cruz or Pivots.

For reference: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/MTB/comments/uava47/ebike_caught_on_fire/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

I would venture to guess that a.) bike manufacturers are not necessarily using the same technology as auto manufacturers and b.) a lot of these electric bikes are probably built around cheap OEM deigns. I would guess that the average electric bike has more in common with a MagicShine light than with a Tesla.

I have found 3 key tricks that work exceedingly well for handling hot Augusts in Texas.

Step 1: Wait until after 10AM to ride so that it has warmed up a bit

Step 2: Finish before 2PM, that is when those brief, scattered rain episodes could happen.

Step 3: Be in Santa Fe

That is a perfect use case.

I think that there is an arc that we'll see in demand. Once battery life starts diminishing and you are just stuck with a heavier bike, the fad will die down a bit. I think we are in the earlier days of ebikes. Based on how long laptop batteries last, I would think that before the end of the college stint the batteries will be mostly depleted.

11 hours ago, GFisher said:

Lake Atalanta seems to often get overlooked. I think is a blast. Probably only around 15 miles of trail absolute max but I like to do loops on my favorite stuff and usually end up with 20 miles or so. Nice to have a level lake (where I usually park) to spin around to warm up/cool down too. Also, I get bored before a half a lap of any pump/jump track but I can spend some time at the Railyard. Paved/wood jumps and lines from toddler to expert. The trails don't seem to get as much maintenance (maybe because of the location or it is City of Rogers?) but I think it is well worth a visit. As a bonus Ozark Beer Company is right by the trailhead, I usually pick up a sample twelve pack and enjoy a few on the porch. Good quick ride on the arrival day or in the morning before heading home.

This sounds like a good alternative, also wanted to check out the Railyard.

20 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

Do you like The Back 40, but wish that it had more climbing? Then you’ll like Little Sugar. The Huntley Gravity Zone is fun too and makes a good starting point.

Heard great things about Mt. Nebo but I’ve not been.

When are you going? I’ll be up there the first weekend in October. 

Third week of October.

I know Little Sugar has a lot of climbing, the guys I will be with are not fans of climbing, so that would not be on their list.

Heading up in October with some folks for a few days of riding. I'm planning to go up a day or two early and do some solo rides before they all arrive. Looking to ride something that I have never ridden before. Right now I have Kessler Mountain on the docket and am looking for a second trail that is not something I have ridden before, so NOT one of the following:

• Slaughter Pens
• Back 40
• Blowing Springs
• Hobbs State Park
• Coler Mountain
• Lake Leatherwood
• Passion Play

Is Little Sugar worth the ride? Any other options?

That would be nice. 12 miles could be a nice little double lap 🙂 

It seems like everyone has construction or remodeling jobs going on these days. If you have that, be sure to let these guys know if you have leftover lumber or other building supplies. Don't let it end up in a landfill.

We saw that pop up.

Pics look legit.

It is on the list, hope to get there soon.

Anyone riding tomorrow? Have missed the last few because of temps and will miss the next few as well, was hoping to ride tomorrow night.

Ouch! Were you wearing full finger gloves?

On 7/23/2022 at 8:41 AM, Kobra Kai MTB Guy said:

I considered it since the DB has such short chainstays and reach at a medium, but decided I wanted something that felt way different since I’m keeping the DB.

I've generally found that after about a dozen rides your brain totally locks into the differences between bikes. I can walk into my garage and grab any bike and my brain knows "ok, it's the purple one, it will handle like this..."

Basically, once I've dialed it in for the first time, muscle memory takes over. I can go from riding the FS carbon on BCGB on the weekends to my street bike on Monday and then my steel hardtail SS for the R&I and my brain runs on autopilot. But each of those needed about a dozen rides to lock it in.

We now have substantial wildfires in the general Austin area. This does not bode well for future riding. It is just a matter of time before the greenbelt has a major fire. 

9 hours ago, ATXZJ said:

think current strains are beyond anything pharma can help with

Pharma is totally helping. It's people who aren't. Here's a snapshot from Canada:

And here's a snapshot of the US around the last wave:

Hospitalization and death are what Pharma is focused on and they are nailing it. But it is even having an impact on overall infections.

I think the issue is that a.) too many people thought that vaccinations would just wipe it all out and b.) too many people thought that if enough of the population got vaccinated, that would not need to.

This is going to be endemic, like the flu. We'll have a yearly shot eventually, but it will always be with us.