June Bug

October 24, Thursday night, 9-ish, we'll probably end up with about 2 inches of rain out of this cold front. Still raining in the WC neighborhood.

How long will the flow and return trails be?

MTBR.com thread from 2015 'til now: Bike packing for elk, anyone else doing it? Some interesting set ups. The gun rack appears to create issue with, um, stand-over height, but the rifle barrel could potentially help stop an endo when one is half to three quarters of the way over. Surely that counts for something.

So two trucks on MoPac today carrying mtn bikes via tailgate pad, and one with the pad but no bikes. This seems like a very easy and inexpensive solution. Ditto on van; have a Toyota Sienna and love being able to roll the bikes into back and close the hatch. Yeah, we don't have kids so all he back seats have been removed and stored.

Arkansas has put together a web site listing all of the mountain biking options (Monument Trails) at their state parks. Monument Trails in Arkansas State Parks

Is there an overview of where this park is located? Are mountain bikers considered stakeholders? How many acres is the property and what type of terrain? What is the trail potential? I did a quick google search that didn't provide this information.

Thank you, Milton! RIP.

Those little guys were wonderful: I crashing into a tree and it was AWESOME! This is beautiful and touching in so many ways. Step daughter just moved to Gig Harbor, WA. It's like the most astoundingly scenic village on coastal Maine, with the biggest mountain you've ever seen looming RIGHT THERE on the skyline. I was thrilled that she's living in a scenic place, but, dayum, if the Big One hits or the Rainier blows, it not the place to be. One the other hand,

Texas' state parks are desperately underfunded, but shouldn't be. Palo Duro, Big Bend Ranch, Pedernales Falls, Government Canyon, Colorado Bend, Franklin Mountains, Hill Country SNA, Seminole Canyon, Caprock Canyons are state parks with viable mountain biking trail systems. This post lays out why state parks are underfunded and what can be done about it; here's the gist of the post below: On November 5, Texans will have the opportunity to vote YES on Proposition 5 to protect Texas' natural areas, water quality, and history. Importantly, this requires no new taxes or fees. Prop. 5 will dedicate revenue from the SGST [Sporting Goods Sales Tax], so those dollars can only be used by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission on public parks and historic sites, and not for any other purposes. As noted above, there are parks waiting to be opened, and at least one of these has great trail potential. Without adequate funding, the development and opening of these parks will proceed at a glacial pace.

Today, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, at 1:21 pm it's 92 degrees BUT THE FREAKING DAMN HEAT INDEX IS AROUND 100 degrees. So...the heat is too damn high.

On the east side of Metric? There's a sidewalk that comes down to the multi-use path. If you go left (upstream) you cross under Metric on the path. There is always some something that washes across during rains. IIRC, there's a bench there as well and some bare ground that contributes to the problem.

Which Gracywoods Park are you referring to? The Southern Walnut Multi-Use Path has been open for several years and still has trouble spots after rain washes mud, sand and gravel onto the trail. It's not a big revelation that water flows downhill. A fundamental aspect of paved path design should be that water is diverted away from the trail surface, instead of incorporating design flaws that annoy and endanger trail users.

I'll use this as an opportunity to kvetch at little bit about the lack of design for both the Southern and Northern multi-use paths. Even the southern path starting in Govalle Park still has issues with mud, gravel and sand on the trail after rains. STILL. I knew when the Northern trail went in those same issues would arise and they did. A lot of work days went into addressing those issues. Hoping in the future that when the initial planning takes place that the verge will be appropriately graded away from the path and drains installed to keep mud and gravel off the paved trail. I love having the multi-use path going under MoPac; I use it three or four times a month to go to the library on Amherst.

I ended up getting an Apple iPhone SE, because it was quite a bit smaller and therefore handier to tote around. I text occasionally, make a few phone calls and use photos, camera, timer and alarm. That's pretty much it. It has pathetic battery life and as I like to say, it's a great phone if you don't actually use it. I do have a Garmin, which I never use. The Karoo looks great because it seems to have wonderful displays on a large-ish screen. TheX, please give us a product review in the future.

Review here: Hammerhead Karoo Nice big screen. It's based on an Android OS. As the owner of a perfectly functional smart phone that lost it's ability to be updated to the latest Android OS after three years and is now unusable, I have to wonder if this thing will become obsolete and not updatable in the (relatively) near future. Is that how Android works? Is that how all of this works?

Has anyone thought about aqua jogging for knee rehab? Can be boring, but it's zero impact in the water, so could be a nice respite from the heat at Barton Springs or Deep Eddy. You can even do structured workouts: runnersconnect.net/coach-corner/aqua-jogging-for-runners/

Coupla questions: Max tire width for rear tire? What kind of wheels do you have on it now? Interior rim width? Is this your SS? Bike weight as is?

Just based on riding the TMBRA course out there, lots of roots and sand. Sam Houston National Forest Maps West Side Trails East Side Trails These are multiuse trails, so can be mountain bikes, hikers, equestrians, OHV

I get Gene Hamilton (Better Ride) emails once a month or so. Today he's blogging about Choosing a fun and confidence inspiring mountain bike. He discusses new-ish geometry trends, including reach, and how they make a bike climb and descend better and safely do both and also discusses brands and models that have adopted this approach. <snip> <snip>

This! I catch the multi-use path on Lincolnshire and ride over to the library on Amherst. I love seeing all the people out and about using the trail, especially families. Also great because there are quite a few apartment complexes that border that path on both sides of MoPac, so it's a great way to get out of an apartment and exercise. I do a social roadie ride every Tuesday morning on the Southern Walnut Creek Multi-Use Path and found that I wish it were wider by about three feet on either side. Use is about 90% cyclists and it's just not quite wide enough to sometimes safely pass the pedestrians that venture on to it. A few weeks ago there was an extremely fast group of (maybe 10 or 12) guys (Mellow Johnnys? BSS?) riding in a pack that kinda scared the crap out of everybody. They did manage to stay in their lane, but had they come around one of the bazillion blind corners on that path and discovered some walkers dead ahead with oncoming bike traffic, it would have been game over. The riders that had been dropped from the pack were also going extremely fast trying to catch up, riding close to the center line. I was in Atlanta for a wedding in May 2018 in a great neighborhood (Poncey Highland), close enough to walk to the old original Sears building, which is now the mixed use Ponce City Market. The railroad that went by Sears has been converted to a paved multi-use path and was about 6 feet wide on each side, with incredibly heavy foot and bike traffic. Because it was so wide, it easily accommodated everyone. ATLANTA BELTLINE EASTSIDE TRAIL Atlanta plans ultimately to have a beltline multi-use path the encircles the entire city. I hope it comes to pass. Anyway, thanks, CX Agent for being on top of this with the City.

Has anyone checked out bike packing in the Sam Houston National Forest? I can't find any trip reports. There seem to be enough trails for a reasonable overnighter.

Wow, this just stirred up an old memory of finishing up a hike in the mountains near Santa Fe and insisting on giving two mountain bikers a ride into town, because a truly violent summer thunderstorm was starting to hit. They hid their bikes in some trees and accepted my offer and were glad they did when it started to hail. (They'd planned originally to just ride their bikes back into Santa Fe.)

Weather Underground <wunderground.com> has a new graphic presentation of relative humidity on the 10-day forecast; I'd really not noticed it before. Lately when I ride to the gym in the morning, I'm instantly soaked in sweat while locking up my bike, like, "I really need to take a shower before working out" sweaty. Looking at the graphic, relative humidity peaks about 92% at 8 am and then continues to drop slowly to about 30% around 6 pm, so mystery solved. Yesterday, the mercury thermometer in the shade on my front porch peaked at 107 degrees. A record high of 103 was recorded at Camp Mabry. It still has not rained at my house since sometime in July. Those pop-up thunderstorms here and there have missed us completely. Forecast shows a wee bit cooling at the beginning of the week, with some chance of rain.

Garmin isn't there yet, apparently.

Right now there are many people in the Bahamas who are trapped in their homes/attics, or worse, adrift, streets are many feet under water, there are medical emergencies -- most physical ways of orienting have been wiped out or under water. If I'm understanding how the What3Words app works, it could (hypothetically) work in this situation for first responders to locate those in distress, correct?