June Bug

We did a ride Sunday, to downtown and then returning up Shoal Creek. It was certainly do-able but the underpasses were muddy and there were some trees down.

Check your DM's.

Eeeeesh.

Done! I now have an e-bike from TJ's cycles! Still need to replace the handle bars for some with sweep and rise, and that will happen Monday or Tuesday, because that type of handlebar needs longer cabling. Will take for a spin around the block in a few minutes. The Specialized SL Vado can take up to a 2.1" mtn bike tire; right now it has 48mm tires -- some Specialized anti flat tires. Zoom zoom.

Absolutely, and very generous space for a frame bag for touring or storing this and that. I rode it around TJ's Cycles parking lot. Handles nicely. It has some barnacles here and there for attaching racks and bags.

Been noodling around on the interwebs learning this and that about the Specialized Turbo Vado 2 6.0. AI says "The maximum tire width that will fit on a Specialized Turbo Vado SL 2 6.0 is 56mm (or 2.2 inches). Back in the day, that was considered on the wide side for MTB racing. It has something called Future Shock in the head tube that provides a whopping 2 cm of travel! Just enough to take the sting off.

Just got an email flyer from TJ's cycles for their summer sale. Lots of bikes on sale, but the LEVO-COMP-CARBON-G4-UL-2025 carbon e-bike is $5,999 (list price $9,000) - not sure what sizes are available. https://www.tjs-cycle.com/Other-Specialized-Bikes-LEVO-COMP-CARBON-G4-UL-2025-Austin-TX-4683c643-6d74-4dc5-adfa-b1d90138e73e

As noted, I'm leaning towards the Specialized Turbo Vado SL 2 6.0 Friends who have the SL 1 found out it's a Type 3 e-bike. One person is heading this fall to a rail trail that only allows Type 1. I told her to remove the sticker denoting Type 3, then GTG.

Exactly. I can't lift a 50 lb bike onto a bike rack. I might not be able to pick it up off the ground. Lighter is better for me. Still riding my Salsa Spearfish for trails.

Went to visit Joe Ender at TJ Cycles today. Joe previously had Monkey Wrench Cycles on Guadalupe. We both like working with Joe; he's super knowledgeable about bikes. I didn't realize that TJ Cycles has a huge storefront, focusing on Specialized mainly, but with some other brands as well, all different kinds of bikes, road, gravel, commuter and others. I'm leaning towards a Turbo Vado SL 2 6.0. (Mr. June Bug: Vato? No, honey, it's VADO). Two friends bought the Specialized Turbo Vado SL 1 this past week and a third friend bought one a few months ago. They are being discontinued though, and are getting hard to find. They are really light (31 lbs) but relatively underpowered with a smaller battery. Joe E. noted that they weren't selling well in general. Apparently, people that want an eBike typically want something with a fair amount of "go", rather than something that just has a little more assist than their analog bike. The 2 has, as noted, a carbon frame and weights in around 35#, with a fairly large motor and battery, flat handlebar. This version I'm interested in has no intergrated lights or fenders, my preference. It can take at least a 50 x 700 tire and maybe a bit more. Specialized refers to it as a commuter bike, but it can easily do gravel and relatively mellow paths and trails. It has a little hidden shock absorber in the head tube to take the edge off. The front triangle is fairly spacious so there's room for a frame bag. Drive train spec is XT. Would consider a mountain ebike, even a hardtail, but they are just too heavy for me to wrangle (50lbs average) and might overpower our Kuat bike rack.

We were in Concan in March; that area looks like it has potential for gravel biking paradise.

Greg Stevens (ARR) posted this on facebook today (May 11) about a new trail system that will ultimately connect to Reimers Ranch in the future. Hamilton Pool Preserve is the Travis County Park, but it seems this may be a private development by the same name? Not sure. (I had incorrectly thought it was Mirasol Springs - it's not.) Austin MTB Trail Conditions Greg Stevens I had the chance to preview a new trail system adjacent to Reimer's Ranch today called Hamilton Pool Preserve, and I wanted to share my take on it real quick. We got there for the ride out at 9:30, and I guess about 75 riders were there? We rolled out a little later, but it was a good number of riders. Not knowing what to expect, we did a lap of the 8 miles that are built. To be honest, I was pretty 'meh' on it. Got back to base camp and hung out with the crew for a bit, had a couple of pre-noon beers, and I was encouraged to do another loop. So I said fuck it, let's go. Gotta say, the second loop was MONEY. It felt like a completely different trail. It was running so much better as the trail was improving with all the wheels on it. I was stoked...so glad I did the second lap because had I not, I would have left not feeling disappointed, but...kinda. The second lap was a blast! Turny, but lots of support in the corners with a lot of berms. Being the first time anything big happened there, the track will be fine-tuned after today. But many of the berms were spot on. Now, the pre-noon beers didn't have anything to do with the stoke on the second lap (well, maybe a little...haha), but the trails that are there now are the first part of the project. There will be about 25 miles of trail out there eventually. A lot of permitting bullshit has to happen, but lots of building will be going on in the summer/fall and should happen pretty quickly after that. It's going to be a destination for riding and hiking. Much more technical stuff will be going in, and while there isn't much tech there now (this isn't a complaint), the 8-mile loop is fun with a few technical-ish sections. It's a solid green/blue-ish trail with vibes of the green stuff at Reimers, as the topography is very similar being adjacent to it. Eight miles on the nose and about 350 feet each lap. Punchy climbs, beginner-friendly, but fun for seasoned riders, too. There will be cabins and lots of accommodations to spend the night there. There's a spring-fed pool that you'll have access to and, again, more trail. The plan is to connect to Reimers by trail, so you can spend a weekend there and ride both trail systems. I think it's great. And the views of the hill country on trail are glorious. So, according to the guys running the show, there should be another preview in a month or two. I think this is going to be a GREAT addition to the riding experience in the Austin area. While the 8 miles that are there aren't gnarly at all, it's super fun. I'm anxious to see what the other 18 miles are going to be like. Overall, I'm super stoked for this project and I'm looking forward to hitting it again...! We live in an amazing place for mountain biking...it's an embarrassment of riches. The HPP is going to enrich the experience here a ton! YouTube of the ride:

45SW Trail The 45SW Trail is a 4.5-mile paved shared use path that provides an alternate transportation route for cyclists, and recreation for the public, with future connections to the Violet Crown Trail. It features two trailheads with parking and bicycle repair stands for public use, beautiful hill country scenery, and interpretive signage with augmented reality experiences. In addition to a beautiful display of springtime wildflowers and an overlook at Bear Creek, you’ll find 14 informative and highly visual interpretive signs along the 4.5-mile trail. Immerse yourself in the rich history and natural wonders of the Hill Country and Edwards Aquifer by stopping to read the signs as you travel. I am very interested in the augmented reality experiences, which I haven't had since college days. Also, interpretive signs are typically, by definition, highly visual.

Wonder how it will work if two people are trying to text each other -- one person has cell signal but the other doesn't. I wouldn't think it would be a problem, but who knows. Which aspect is slow? Acquiring a satellite or the time it takes for a text to be received?

All these things. I went to the Apple store last week, and the person I talked to had no idea if the satellite connectivity was inherent to the phone, regardless of provider, or if the provider was the gate keeper. I think it is inherent to the phone, because Apple offers the satellite connectivity for free for the first two years. I found it bizarre that anyone working for Apple in their store wouldn't be current on that aspect of the phone. T-Mobile is offering the satellite connectivity for free until July, I think with Android; after that there's a charge for that option. Probably will get two iPhone 16e phones, one for each of us, because the whole point is to be able to communicate with each other if we get separated in the middle of no where. I'll probably let my InReach lapse if we go this route, because the phones can be used to make the emergency call.