June Bug

Joe at Monkey Wrench is backed up two weeks on repairs and whatnot. He's gone to half day (afternoons) M-F, so check the website for updates or call before you head that way. He said he's having to de-spider older bikes that come in -- they've been sitting in somebody's garage or shed for five or six years and spiders are coming along for the trip to the bike shop.

My first full suspension bike! On the other hand, elastomers.

Gah!

cxagent, thanks for all of your hard work over these many years! Take a well deserved break and get back to enjoying life without that particular headache! Looks like some rain will be in the forecast until *checks weather notes* starting Friday and continuing to the end of the current 10-day forecast. Who knew e-bikes were so, uh, powerful.

This.

We're been mashing up "what is gravel biking" and "what bike to ride on gravel" and we've made great progress on this rocky (but very, very small rocks) issue, so now I need to know, Where is gravel? What is the closest 20-mile gravel ride to Austin or even a 10-mile out and back? Texas has been great on paving ranch-to-market and farm-to-market roads all over the place. Where's the gravel?

Wanted to clarify about the relative number of people. I was on the far side of the park; there were no hordes as there can be on Saturday or Sunday morning at WC. But people were wandering in Tangle of Trails. It's partly an emphasis on realizing that people can be in unexpected places. That said, this was later in the afternoon (~3:30 to 5:30); the weather was perfect. The morning was windy, overcast and cool, not the kind of weather that draws people out. Plan accordingly.

Any place you can dig a hole. ARR has lots of shovels.

I held my breath and walked back up the trail a little ways.

Went over to the WC to do some lopping and trimming in the little section of trail between the cyclone fence and the left turn into Mark's Art and also the section to the right if you don't turn into Mark's Art. While working, I heard a bike coming so I stepped off the trail. The guy got right up to me and sneezed the wettest sneeze humanly possible just as he got even with me. Seriously, it raised the relative humidity and he had both hands on the handlebar so it was all just out there. Then another guy wanted to show me a picture of a mushroom on his cell phone in case I could identify it. No, just no. So, social distancing was not 100% successful. Anyway, this leads up to the real point of my post. There are a lot of people out and about on foot at Walnut Creek and I'm assuming every other trail system and also people who don't usually ride, like (no disrespect) guys in baseball caps on 26ers. It's spring; everything is growing and the sight lines aren't great. There are many, many more people hiking, walking, strolling than usual and for the most part they aren't alone. I know this because I could hear them talking, even if they didn't make the turn onto the section of trail where I was. They may be walking single file or side by side, there may be kids and/or dogs. They may have zero awareness that mountain bikers even use these trails. The guy who was trying to ask me about mushrooms had on big headphones and I've noticed a few people with ear buds talking on their phones while running. Save cxagent from agita by being extra cautious controlling speed when you can't see what's around a corner being ready for anything being super considerate of and courteous to your fellow trail users, even if they are oblivious

Damn! I've got a vacuum bag (unused) and a dust-mite-proof pillow case. And a sewing machine. And maybe a little elastic. Whoo boy.

Excellent! I adore punny stuff, and that is perfect. I'm inclined to contact Evil to ask the age of the person that came up with this. Could be a boomer.

I saw a reference to the Evil Chamois Hagar and thought "what a weird name for a bike" before I had the "Aha" moment. Sammy Hagar, y'all.

Yes, Fred is the Energizer Bunny of cycling or he's a droid powered by some weird nuclear reactor.

Thanks! I need to go find it once, and that will mark the location in my mind. The big concrete drainage ditch is a good landmark. Then I can access it if needed in the future. Nice project for tomorrow when the rain clears out.

Fred Schmidt, an 83-year-old mountain bike racer/cyclocross/gravel grinder guy, knocked out a century yesterday in the Waco area.

Also this from Outside Online. What Happens When You Need a Rescue During a Pandemic

AB, Glad to hear the Pickle back gate is open! They do close it during non-working hours during the week, though, so be mindful of the time. Not sure what time they open it in the morning. Also, could you post the cut-through to the MoPac sidewalk again?

I may have posted this upthread, but San Marcos closed all of their river-front parks last week. I like big paper maps, and the City of Austin has a large format map (folds up small) of all bike routes in Austin, color rated relative to the amount of traffic & the type of bike infrastructure (if any). These "might" be found at your LBS, but call ahead to see if they have some in stock. Good for route planning purposes because it's easy to get an overview of the entire city. Online option at http://austintexas.gov/page/bicycle

We went to the bike fest in Sedona. Most of the riding was way beyond my skills, but we did a ride led by a famous pro racer (can't remember his name). There were various skill levels on this ride and almost all the riding is big ledgy drops followed by a punchy climb up an eroding fall line trail out of a wash, some mellow single track, repeat repeat repeat. One thing this guy noted was, if you're not adept at pulling up your front wheel, just roll the ledge. BUT, get low over the center of the bike, and then get lower, and get low some more, exactly like this. Still low and centered:

The 70 -79 bracket has fewer numbers in Austin because we're scared shitless and staying home. I've been out Thursday a week ago and the Thursday before that to grocery shop and that's it, other than outdoor exercise solo or with Mr. J B. Immediate family member (immunocompromised) 73-year-old, is in a hospital outside Atlanta, in an isolation room with a cough, fever, a spot on one lung waiting for the test result. This family member went out one time in 12 days to get a monthly infusion at a doc's recommendation. Hoping that it's "only" pneumonia.

Sometimes you're on the internet and find stuff like this cardboard thing. It's basically two tools: a serrated knife a screw like thing (like what you'd use to hang something on drywall) that joins pieces of cardboard together Then you or the kid or you and the kid make things, probably out of Amazon boxes. Could be fun and a great way to repurpose bike shipping boxes into...something. https://www.make.do/collections/all-products Heading out to the front porch to take down Christmas lights.

I have a gallon of this 30% for weed control; IIRC, I bought it at The Natural Gardener. I hate to use salt, because it's irreversible, but it does get the job done. A past co-worker gave me a tip on the efficient use of Round Up. Cut everything down to the point where there's only a leaf or two remaining on the target plant. Coat those leaves with Round Up; the plant will then suck the poison into the root system and the plant dies.

San Marcos, as of 11 pm, Tuesday, March 24: City to close river parks to protect public health

Friday, March 27 update: Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Hovenweep and Natural Bridges National Monuments are closing effective tomorrow, Saturday, March 28 Moab Hospital, health agencies, elected leaders plead for park closures They are asking for closure of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Hovenweep and Natural Bridges National Monuments. The article linked above notes that there were over 700 cars at Arches National Park this past weekend, and 90% were from out of state. I cannot fathom why any national park is still open to visitors at any level of access. Also an indicator of people not understanding the nature of contagious disease. Random info: Although Moab has a permanent population of around 5,000 people, visitation in a typical year is around 1 million.