ATXZJ
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Posts posted by ATXZJ
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31 minutes ago, throet said:
Cars. Even riding the 1 mi from home to Brushy Creek, I avoid the bike lane on the road, instead opting for the sidewalks. Just don't trust drivers, especially the ones glued to their smartphones.
100% this
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1 hour ago, Barry said:
I normally politely shrug at pleading for more lift service parks...
But hot damn a lift from the southern peak of Franklin MTS would offer about 2.5-3K' of elevation loss and put trails on otherwise empty terrain.
Exactly. There's really nothing up there but some hiking/MTB trails strewn all over the place. Have the B36 crash and tin mine hike at the top of our list when the temps gets back in the 80s.
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5 hours ago, AustinBike said:
We live in an area with a wide number of trails, but our trails are part of the topology of central TX. Instead of bemoaning the fact that there is only one Spider Mt. and we need more lift-serviced locations.
That was kind of my point. More options are good. IMHO, all groups have the outliers with clique attitudes. Roadies, single speed mountain bikers, XC lycra brigade, enduro bros, strava bois, freeriders, park rats and so on. Biking has nothing on tennis and golf when it comes to cliques. My wife has made multiple trips to spider and never complained about the riders or staff. In fact most were very helpful. She's small and struggles to get her park bike on the lift in time. Employees and riders offer to help when they see her in line and are totally chill about it. I think spider is more of a novelty where people want to see ski lifts in TX and always put it on the list.
Was thinking about this discussion the other day while running errands in east El Paso. If money were no option, and I were allowed some serious flexibility I'd get the wyler up and running (did you know that TPWD owns a tramway on franklin mountain) and build miles of year round lift serviced MTB trails. Would be a good draw to the borderlands, and we couldn't possibly f*ck it up any worse than ski apache has. Next closest place to get some DH would be 5-6hrs away in Greer AZ or a little further in AF.
But, none of this is in CTX.
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There's more closings to come. Industry is in trouble
As I recall there was some hinting by the owner of a sale but i wouldnt hold out hope.
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19 hours ago, Barry said:
Absolutely. "Tech" means something different these days. It's doesn't mean the ground covered with rocks and roots, with tricky lines to negotiate.
Yep^
CTX did reduce my fear of techy features quite a bit. I have friends in the west that struggle at the DH park when it comes to steep tech, where I am still getting comfortable hitting bigger jumps that they are just sending. To me, tech is now hitting all those rocks & roots pinned. It's a pretty wild departure.
Climbing up tech might as well be trials riding and I'm over it. My fictional trail system will have non of that 🤣
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Wife and I rode racoon in 2017 and liked it quite a bit. Was around Thanksgiving so the leaves could be treacherous at speed.
Main topic:
I'd love to build a longer/higher version of spider sans the lift. I don't think CTX riders understand what a disadvantage riding only local trails put them at. Sure, my abilities to ride tech improved a ton in Austin but I was behind the curve when it came to high speed flow, berms and jumping. Having places like spider to session helps a lot IMHO and we could use more of it.
#1 thing I'd do is make the parking/trailheads at the top and have an easy shuttle road to ferry people back n forth if they choose. Le massif in Quebec had the trailheads at the top so you just ride straight down from the parking lot and got after it. So good!
Mix machine, tech, and some features all together. No need to have only one type of terrain provided there's enough dirt in available ctx.
For the rest, there's plenty of switchback,ledge,ledge ,ledge , switchback climbs with 15ft of downhill out there already. No need to create more
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Things that keep me from riding to ride:
Heat
Monotony
I did enjoy the CTX trails a lot more when the weather was in the 50-60s.
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Getting some popcorn for this one😁
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3 minutes ago, RedRider3141 said:
I rode SN this morning, most of it is unchanged. Some of it was very surreal but the real loss was those apartments, yikes.
Of all the places to wear PPE, that's one of them.
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3 hours ago, Barry said:
So yes, if I had just climbed the 2500 feet to get to the shuttle drop-off from town, would it be worth it to climb the extra 1000 feet? Or is it more like the punishing south-side Dale Ball trails?
Shuttle was way worth it for those of us that hate to climb. Also made the beers and burgers at Tesuque that much better😁
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Put the trailbike on a diet and lost a pound by removing the DD assegai and DHF EXO+ combo i was running. Made a trip to the sale rack and found a Rekon for the rear and DHR2 up front. Both EXO only.
Should make the cloudcroft climbs a little easier.
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2 hours ago, TAF said:
Came on the bike, which I purchased unexpectedly a couple months back during the big Ibis 25% off sale. Prior to that, I was (in Colorado) riding my 12 year old Stumpy which was a size too small. I guess it never occurred to me to switch the tires out - they've been fine so far. Been enjoying the bike immensely!
Nice and congrats!
They're great tires but hate rolling and weigh a ton LOL.
29x2.5 DD assegai that I just pulled off my trailbike.
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On 8/9/2023 at 1:46 PM, Charlie193 said:
Escape from the heat in Cloudcroft.
Looks great man! We'll be up there in September
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On 8/16/2023 at 11:30 AM, bradtubgin said:
Switzerland?
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10 hours ago, TAF said:
Monarch Crest, a tad under 12K. A glorious day!
Nice! I also gotta give you credit for all that climbing with Assegais F&R😲
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On 8/16/2023 at 4:35 PM, throet said:
Here you go buddy!
https://bikerumor.com/dangerholm-scott-lumen-eride-worlds-lightest-emtb/
Hah. All that dangerholm stuff is nuts in a kinda cool way.
There's so much climbing out here that e-bikes are making more sense. The closest DH park is 2.5hrs away and seems pretty mild. Lots of good freeride options in EP but those climbs are rough.
In CTX it seems like a bit of a waste to have an ebike just to ride around in some pasture or ditch. I had the most fun on gravel and light/efficient bikes there. Although I'd be down to grab that Austin energy e-bike rebate if it was applicable.
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Would love to get one of these newer style compact emtb for the wife. She liked the trek when she saw it, so might be a good bike to demo.
https://global.pivotcycles.com/products/shuttle-sl
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12 hours ago, hurronnicane said:
We leave Flagstaff on Friday for Teluride, and Saturday we begin a six day ride to Moab so I’m hoping that I hold up to long days in the saddle and a bunch of climbing!
Those climbs are no joke
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23 hours ago, jcarneytx said:
If by 'sciatica" you mean low back pain that goes down the leg, then not anymore. I have a squashed disc at L5-S1, but haven't had pain in a while. Yoga, specifically cobra pose (hips on floor, face down, push up 30x keeping hips on floor) helped a LOT.
100% this^
Had three bulging lower discs preceded by sciatica which I ignored to my own detriment. Physical therapy followed by chiropractor then finally yoga was the key to recovery without shots or surgery. Yoga also did a lot for building core strength to stabilize those weak discs .
@hurronnicane Id listen to your body, and at minimum find a chiro that takes your insurance.
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Thats sucks man!
Was there in july and hit SN on @Chief cross bike. Looks like you guys are losing one of the more fun/flowy trails in the area😕
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On 7/17/2023 at 4:21 PM, quixoft said:
The idea was mostly to keep grime out of the brake pads/rotors but it sounds like a bad idea. Thanks for the tips! I'll forgo the cover.
We're driving to Bentonville to ride there for a week in early August and then on to Duluth to get some rides there and go fishing.
Get the muc-off then. That's exactly what they're good for.
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4 hours ago, hurronnicane said:
Flagstaff. Really dusty, but lots of great trails to be sampled!
Nice!! Mrs went to NAU back in the day and still misses it there.
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First thing newcomers to TX learn is never rage at anyone in traffic who has no A/C. I saw more than my share of roadside fistfights back in the 90s.
It was kinda fun back then🤣
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2 hours ago, RedRider3141 said:
I thought @ATXZJ had a Rotor/Wheel cover that was meant to help.
Yep, the muc-off ones are good for preventing brake squeal when you're dragging your bike behind you in the elements.
What was the first trail you rode in Austin?
in Mountain Biking Discussion
Posted · Edited by ATXZJ
Barton creek greenbelt, in July. Moved to ATX from NM and after riding at high elevation for 18mos, I thought I'd be a hero pedaling along at a lowly 600ft.
I was wrong.