June Bug

That may be an option. One cracked last fall and I replaced with a new set, but I don't know where the survivor of the original set got to. I'd recommend staying in Salida for as long as humanly possible. I got excited today because I noticed that the forecast high temps may drop to *101* near the end of the current 10-day-forecast with some at least minuscule chance of rain.

An ask: does anyone have a spare shorty Ergon grip (just need one!)? They are used with Grip Shift and Rohloff hubs, like this: Ergon GP1 Gripshift Handlebar Grips Will also check at yellow bike project. The Spearfish is at Bicycle House waiting for its left side Grip Shift (to shift double chainrings). Mechanic said he thought that set up could work, although there may need to be a new dropper seat post lever. random info: Grips for a Rohloff hub have one short and one long, cause you are only shifting on one side. For Grip Shift, it's two shorties. I'm assuming nobody with a 1 x uses GripShift, but if so, they'd just get the Rohloff set.

Was at Palo Duro at the end of a rainy May. They were biting my "flanks" through my bike shorts, even after drenching skin and clothes with something DEET based. They were undeterred. Could be related to this: Pestworld.org: "Adult horse flies typically feed on nectar, but females require a blood meal before they can reproduce effectively. Female horse fly bites,especially in large specimens, can be quite painful because their mouthparts are used for tearing and lapping, as opposed to mosquitoes which simply pierce the skin and suck blood." Picaridin and citronella-based repellents may or may not work.

Mr. June Bug, who is 78, thinks nothing of hopping on his bike at mid day for a 30-mile ride in 100 degree heat (although not since things are topping out at 105). He's come home every time under his own power and doesn't seem to be demon possessed, but damn! I don't like cold weather, but my heat tolerance keeps dropping. Tomorrow I'm planning to ride to a swimming pool that opens at 8 am (maybe Walnut), do a water workout and ride home, getting back no later than 9:30. Balcones (on Amherst) and Beverly Sheffield North West Dist Park on Shoal Creek are also options. Each one is closed one weekday.

Side note: Bikepacking.com posted up the WeedSac 140 route -- a loop in the Sacramento Mountains with a start/finish in Cloudcroft. FRIENDS IN COW-PIE PLACES: FIELD NOTES FROM THE WEEDSAC 140 Any part of it could be a day ride and the detailed elevation profile can help you avoid this: Encompassing 140 miles and 14,000 feet of climbing through the Lincoln National Forest, it’s a collection of their favorite canyon descents strung together by long climbs to get to the top of the next slide. This includes a 27-mile continuous ascent midway through and a leg near the end that rises more than 2,000 feet in just 7 miles. Prior to seeing this loop, I'd thought about setting up a shuttle (maybe to La Luz Canyon?) at a higher point, riding, camping and finishing in High Rolls, mostly downhill. I checked the Cloudcroft 10-day weather report and it does look like a monsoon pattern is in play.

That's a Paul Uhl decorative platter hanging on the tree trunk on the left!

I do have two bikes with a 1x drive train. At first I kept trying to down shift to that little chain ring, but that was short lived before I remembered that there was one and only one chainring. I'll try the grip shift option if it's compatible. Then 1x if it's not.

Dear Hive Mind, I have a 10-yr-old Salsa Spearfish. I still like it and it's going strong. It's a double chain ring set up that works just fine. Then last fall I got a dropper seat post. There isn't enough room for the shifter levers for the double chain ring and the dropper seat post lever to work together. It's awkward and easy to either miss a shift or miss the dropper seat post activation for up OR down because nothing is in the right position. I was considering going over to a 1 x set up, then came across someone on the facebook Cylists 70 and Over page who had switched over to a grip shift on the left side for some reason. I've had major problems with hand numbness in the past, but could always shift with Grip Shift. Another plus is that one can buy short Ergon grips to work with the shorty grip shift. This would be a potentially economical and practical solution for an old bike that works well. Any down sides or incompatibility issues that come to mind? I think the item would be the SRAM GX 2 speed: MODEL ID: TS-GX-11-A1 https://www.sram.com/en/sram/models/ts-gx-11-a1

Heh. Finally getting around to updating the InReach Explorer; I'm loaning it to some friends (3 experienced boaters, ages 65 to 74) who are floating the lower canyons of the Dolores River next week: Bedrock to Gateway, CO and a very remote stretch, Gateway to Dewey Bridge near Moab. This update is possible because Mr. June Bug finally went from an utterly decrepit version of Windows to something recent this spring by going through the usual stages from "I can install this myself, how hard can it be?" to Despair and then Resignation: "Sometimes it DOES pay to consult a professional." And no, Garmin still doesn't support Chrome; it's MAC and Windows. The app required for the update is downloadable to desktop only, so this update can't be done from a phone or tablet. I had to get out the InReach Explorer starter guide again to sort out how to turn it on. I hate the user interface and doubt I'll ever really bond with it.

A fatality was reported this past week at Brushy Creek. AJ Camp posted this on facebook on June 8: "From what I was told by my fireman buddy (just wasn't on shift but it was his station that responded), a man and his child roughly 10 yrs old were riding Picnic when he fell and was struck by a punji stick just below armpit height. He apparently removed the stick/spear from his wound and then later when emergency services tried to help him he was combative - was a big guy so was hard to calm down. He was probably in some type of shock. He passed later - don't know if in transit or at hospital, but I head - at the hospital."

Work on the extension to Manor is underway from the north end of the Southern Walnut Creek Multi-use Path at Daffan Lane. When construction was underway on the now completed Southern Walnut Creek Path, we went with a group of friends on multiple trips to ride mtn bikes through the construction zone on Sundays to explore and chart progress. I made a joking reference on Facebook about an overview of the route and construction corridor (there may be an existing rough two-track) and noted it would be fun to explore on a mtn bike. Pretty quickly, a City of Austin rep posted up, "Please don't do that..."

KXAN news this evening had a brief mention of a bike rider down at Brushy Creek on Friday, so I looked it up online. Around 3 pm wilderness first responders went to 10800-10825 Dodge Cattle Drive "attempting to find the person who was injured". That paved trailhead takes off north from the cul de sac on the image below. It wasn't clear if the bike rider was on the paved path or single track. The person was STAR Flighted to St. David's Round Rock with life-threatening injuries. My first thought was a rider without a helmet going over the handlebars onto his/her head but other scenarios can cause severe injuries.

Fixed it for ya!

A rider reported two cars with broken windows at the Slaughter Creek trail head parking lot this morning. One of the cars was broken into while he was on his ride. The usual reminder -- never leave ANYTHING in sight in your vehicle while parked at a trail head.

Interesting. Is there on-site camping? It appears there are miles of gravel riding from that location. Just found this online: Mellow Johnny's is sponsoring a TMBRA race there in Sept. https://www.bikereg.com/tmbra-the-forrest-creek-ranch-race Here's the URL. They have hunting, so assuming the venue will be closed at times. Also, there's a lodge for any kind of event. https://www.forrestcreek.net/

REI Gateway has a "garage sale" area in the corner of the store. Each item has a little tag with the reason for the return, and sometimes it's trivial. I have to practice discipline by not buying stuff I don't really need, even if it's a killer deal. I don't think the downtown location has this; it's such a small store, I don't think there is room.

Finally made it to Barkley Meadows Park at the intersection of 71 and 130 along Onion Creek. It's an obscure spot that turned out to be quite interesting. There's a small network of concrete paths, some fully shaded and some not, that ultimately lead...nowhere. One path crosses under 130 and parallels a pond and what I think is an immense borrow pit for construction of 130. It just dead ends, although the park map shows a loop. The other path dead ends at Hwy 71, very close to where the highway crosses Onion Creek. Had conditions been drier, we would have gone under the bridge and connected up to SE Metropolitan Park. There is a bulldozed road that goes from the side of 71 down to Onion Creek. But, there are some amazing pecan trees, shaded picnic tables with a shaded playscape, Berdoll pond to fish for catch and release, a bridge along the Old Bastrop highway on a "closed" trail, an interpretive sign for an archaeological site, and a bazillion signs in large lettering that note to watch for SNAKES ON TRAIL. We did see a snowy egret, a caracara and a hawk. The interpretive sign for the Old Bastrop Highway bridge notes that Fort Comanche (1849) was located nearby, but I can find no references to an historic fort or camp by that name, even on this quite extensive list on the Texas Forts website. It would be a great spot to spend an hour or two with small children able to ride a bike on the paths, picnic and play.

They opened that very nice store in Round Rock by IKEA, then closed it a few years ago. It was a great location - incredible volume of traffic goes by everyday and it's by I 35. I'd guess the demographic wasn't right.

Hand-y craft-y thing with bike chain:

Thanks for the offer. I won't be ordering, though, until the sale starts on the 19th. Good to know that the bottom bracket and cranks can still be used and yes, bottom bracket bearings inspection will be good. The dropper post was installed last summer. I made it work by stopping at the top of the drops that were "scary", dropped the post, got into the small chainring and gear to climb up since two of the drops went into drainages with an immediate steep climb out. Now, what about an oval chainring? Anyone want to share an opinion?

REI is having a big Memorial Day sale starting on the 19th. I'm contemplating getting a microSHIFT Advent X setup and use my 20% off and Mr. JB's 20% off to lower the price on the two most expensive parts. I need a 1 x drivetrain to make the dropper seat post work; there is no way to make it work with the shifters for the double chain ring set up I have now and easily access the dropper lever. I still like my 10-year-old Spearfish, so this would be a (relatively) inexpensive way to upgrade. I had planned to order the parts and have REI do it to get their member discount on the install, but now that won't happen. Dear Hive Mind: I'd like to keep my nice carbon cranks, but will need a new chain ring and does the bottom bracket get replaced or no?

A sign on the door at REI Gateway entrance today noted that they won't be doing any bike service or repairs because they don't have any mechanics. REI let go 150+ people at headquarters recently. REI also went from a net income of $97.7 million in 2021 to a $164.7 million loss in 2022 in spite of record sales, accord to a website that tracks such things. The salesman I talked to about a bike part seemed to allude to problems but wasn't specific. A few weeks ago there were several mechanics busy working in the repair bay.

Cow funk or oil/gas funk?

Just came across this on facebook. The dedication for the 7-mile Chad Alan Foster Memorial Trail System in Borger was yesterday and a TMBRA race is happening today (April 23, 2023). Singletrack for hike, bike, run! If you go to Palo Duro Canyon, a fun side trip to Borger could yield some fun single track. This being Texas, it's an 8-hour drive from here to there. Where the heck is Borger? It's a bit northeast of Amarillo, at the same latitude as Oklahoma City. Link to the race page HERE, and if you scroll down a bit there is an over view of the trail system.

April 21, 2023: Frog strangler at Walnut Creek early last night, some reports are up to 4 inches that came down fast. The creek was running 4,000 cfs at Dessau Bridge at one point. It's going to take awhile to dry out.