June Bug

I couldn't find a separate dedicated Spider Mountain thread, so I'll start here with this item. The January print issue of Texas Highways showcases an article titled 13 Things To Do In 2020 and biking at Spider Mountain made the list. That page is "Choose Your Adventure at Lake Buchanan" and the print version features two large photos of Spider Mountain, one showing people on the lift and the other a mountain biker w/ bike looking out over Lake Buchanan and the first part of the text highlights Spider Mountain. To see the online version (which doesn't show pics of mountain bikers) just click on the link above and scroll down. Text is the same. This is kind of a big deal and should get Spider Mountain lots of attention.

This fall Hays County approved a 13 million dollar bond to buy part (500 acres) of El Rancho Cima, the old Boy Scout Ranch. The rest of the 2,300+ acres will be developed. Hundreds of Hill Country Acres to become parkland in $13M deal

A new route has been added to Bikepacking.com called the Sam Houston Restaurant Tour. It's an easy relatively short weekend route on bladed dirt roads, with an option for a restaurant meal at each end of the "figure 8" loops. It's east of Huntsville, west of Lake Livingston and south of Hwy 190. Looks like a good shakedown ride for checking out bike packing. Sam Houston Restaurant Tour

Mr. June Bug had partial knee replacement (the inside half) on Aug 1 and was really sorted out and on the bike after about two months or so. The physicians assistant gave numerous warnings about hitting it too hard too early and the realistic possibility of sustaining an injury in a fall and having to redo the surgery, based on her personal experience with hard-headed roadies and mountain bikers, but all was well this time around. Dr. Jake Manuel, St David's Center for Hip and Knee Replacement My sense is that they have a very good protocol in place to prevent infection; Mr. June Bug had no problems with infection this time around.

Eyelets (mounting holes) for rear pannier rack? Or am I not understanding the question?

I'm considering trying one of these for future tours: spiderflex.com/index.php Most saddles are comfortable for an hour or two, but all day in the saddle hurts at the sit bones.

Sounds right. It belonged to my stepdaughter. Hope it finds a good home!

The rise of gravel bikes based on road bikes (narrow tires, no suspension) seems to be tracking the development of early mountain bikes. In the early days of mountain biking, people started thinking, this is REALLY ROUGH, how can I smooth out the ride? This led to front suspension and things like Thudbuster seat posts. And on the way, things like suspension stems were tried. These approaches were both abandoned for the most part. I just came across this gravel bike seat post, called the ShockStop suspension seat post, which may have possibilities. It's linkage based rather than spring or elastomer based. https://redshiftsports.com/shockstop-suspension-seatpost ($199). I read one very positive review. These folks also sell a suspension stem. I also came across a recent gravel bike frame design with a mini rear shock where the seat stays meet the seatube. I recall that LiteSpeed or Lynsky or some other titanium frame Moots! had this design maybe 15 years ago (and still does); it provides about an inch of pivotless rear suspension So, gravel riders coming from a roadie background gravitate to a more roadie type bike and realize, at least on rougher roads, that it's pretty damn miserable, so... Also, disc brakes becoming very common on gravel bikes.

The nice thing about Christmas shopping at REI is when you run into something and go, "Whoa, XMas present for MOI!" REI has the Co-Op Trail 5 Waistpack on sale for $22 (original price $44.95). They are available on line, but I found mine in the downtown REI. I like that it has light padding on the back, but isn't structured. I tried an Ospey pack but had to return it; it was structured enough the it wouldn't conform to my lower back. Inside the main compartment are two flat pockets, and a net zippered pocket on the inside of the lid. There is a long zippered pocket on the back (good for folded up maps or other flat stuff) and a small front zip pocket that would be just right for a cell phone, even a largish one. There are also two straps on the bottom that could early hold a light jacket. You can attach stuff on the front with straps or little carabiners. There are stretchy pockets on each side which might hold a very small diameter water bottle or snacks. It's just right-ish, and also has room to add more little pouches onto the waistbelt, if one could find such things.

We've used this free resource for planning gravel road rides; a company called Texas Trails Maps makes county maps showing all public roads; most Chambers of Commerce/Visitor Centers stock them for free, at least in the Hill Country. The company is based out of Llano and if you contact the Chamber of Commerce in Llano or Mason, they will be happy to mail you a map for their respective county. In fact, the Llano CoC mailed me maps of Mason and Llano Counties, IIRC. http://www.llanochamber.org/ Phone: 325-247-5354 We did two rides out of Castell three or four years ago and used the maps to plan our route. Each road or highway is named; you can sus out the gravel/dirt roads based on the narrower, lighter line marking the road. We found them to be accurate. Also, it's easy enough to check out google maps to confirm road surface. These are big fold-out maps, so a bit cumbersome to carry; we made copies of the route on regular 8.5 x 11 sheets and and carried those with us as we rode. You can also cut off all the superfluous ads and whatnot on the margins and have a more manageable size. Either way -- quite handy. When we were in Mason this fall to ride on the James River Road, we stopped in at the Chamber of Commerce/Visitor Center on the square and stocked up on maps for San Saba, Kerr, Northern Burnet, Blanco, Hayes, Lampasas, Menard, Mason and Llano counties. As noted above, these are fold out maps; the full county map is on one side, and a map of the county seat on the other, plus a few other towns if there's room. Ya, ya, paper maps are quaint in this era of GPS, google maps, whatever, but there's nothing like it for an overview for figuring out where the **** you actually are. More germane to this thread, you can use them as you preview/review your route for the Grind.

Well yes, it's plugged into my husband's computer. So here's the drill. I email whatever I want to print to myself in gmail. Go to his computer and access my gmail account there, open up Word on his computer and then waitwaitwait until Word finally opens, copy and paste my text into a Word document and then print. It makes me feel cheap and tawdry; I write a lot of lists by hand these days. He's fine with the arrangement. Two worst words in the English language, in combination: work around.

Yup, HP laser jet. It's not going anywhere.

Shouldn't it be Karousers?

Damn, Hammerhead Karoo is now facebook stalking me.

I imagined something practical like a device that would allow you to see a larger version of the little device's screen on your big phone screen. Or something. Who am I kidding. Every electronic device that I've purchased has caused me unremitting irritation and misery, except for my Chromebook, which I like, except that it sent a successful print request to our blue tooth printer on Day 1 and every since it's acted like it's never heard of a print command, or it might send a print command but, gosh darn it! it's Thursday on an even day of the month, so NOPE. Anyhoo, I've used my Garmin (830?) twice in the last year, but it's button activated; no swiping or touch screen. The Karoo's largish navigation screen has a touch screen/swipe function, which gives me hope. Post up if anyone sees deep discount coupons.

Any updates on how you all like the Karoo? Compared to Garmin or others? Is it missing something you'd like? Do you use it paired with your smart phone? Easier to use? More "intuitive," whatever the **** that means with any electronic device.

I have a great phone (MOTO G) that I quit using because updates were no longer supported. Now I'm off to investigate uses for phones without a cell plan.

Ditto on the dingy tunnel creepiness factor. Tacos, because.....tacos. If you cross over the dam and stay north on Pleasant Valley, past Canterbury and Willow streets, there's a permanent taco trailer with two picnic tables out front (Tacos Guerrero) behind an insurance office on the left (west) side of N. Pleasant Valley, just before E. Cesar Chavez. Good tacos (tasty corn tortillas) just a two block detour from Lady Bird Lake. It's permanent enough to show up on googlemaps. And yes to continuing connectivity to Govalle Park on Bolm Road (the start of the Southern Walnut Creek Multi-Use Path). The opening the old highway bridge to bikers/pedestrians is a step in the right direction.

Access to recreation by water creates a healthier populace, both physically and in terms of mental health, so infrastructure that supports this is important. My favorite moment riding on the board walk was coming across two girls under full steam in full-on quinceanera mode; yards and yards of billowing neon pink taffeta and net and lots of makeup, in the middle of a weekday. Not possible to say where they had come from or where they were headed. Some examples of quinceanera dresses here. For those not familiar, a quinceanera is a 15th birthday celebration marking the passage from girlhood to womanhood in Hispanic culture, with both festive and religious connotations -- a debutante ball of sorts, with family, food and church. Have also seen quiceanera photo shoots underway at Zilker Botanical Gardens; the subjects were dropped off in limos and the guys were in tuxes. It's a very big deal. Oh, and I'm fine with whatever bridge solution happens, as long as it's wider with a much higher guardrail.

Makes sense that some <55 year old buyers would want to buy the house and rent it out while the years pass until they are 55 themselves. Not too interested in Sun City - like communities, but the lock and leave lifestyle is becoming appealing.

Fantastic. The guard rail on the water side is very low relative to a cyclist; I hate it. I have cycling friends who take their chances with traffic rather than use the walkway. Alas, five years to completion? But yes, this will be a wonderful upgrade to the Lady Bird Lake Trail loop.

That's the damn truth. I'd use the term explosive. That area is between TX 130 and the (partially completed )183 Toll with no impediments to high density development -- lots of open, relatively flat land. In addition, the 183/I35 intersection is being developed with overpasses in all directions and there is easy connectivity to the 290 Toll.

Intense has three wheel-size iterations for the Primer: 27.5", 27.5"/29", 29". MTBR.com does a comparo of all three here: 2020 Intense Primer First Ride, The Tale of Three Primers

I have a Road ID bracelet with name, TxDL#, phone number of contacts.

Intense has just come out with a reverse mullet bike: 29" in front and 27.5" in the rear.