AustinBike

Luckily I brought tools with me on this trip, but unluckily I did not bring cone wrenches. Tightened up my rear hub out in the yard at the hotel but was not going to tear it all the way down without a workbench and all the right tools. Also swapped tires, all of the street riding was chewing up my tread and on the trails today there was not a lot of grip.

Lesson for the future, always bring more tools than you need.

A Japanese IPA made with bonito flakes? Yes, please.

Today did not suck.

Even ran into another Austin rider on the trail.

Took a drive up to Los Alamos, where there is a lot of history. Found a great little brewery. The vines above the table were all hops, some even dropped onto the table.

And with and IPA called Hoppenheimer you can’t go wrong. 

Can't decide if this is a random bike picture or a critter sighting:

Prairie dogs on the morning ride:

They do all pop their head up and look around like you would expect.

Phil’s grease works as well under the collar, on any dropper.

Second street brewery, Santa Fe. Fish and chips along with the alien burger. Let’s just say that if you burn a ton of calories in the morning, you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day.

I’m not saying this is the best beer ever, but it is a great beer after a morning ride at 64F.

If I have to buy another dropper I would definitely grab a PNW, no questions asked.

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.