Ridenfool

Added a new section to Litterbox. Wheel mileage from Trailhead to Trailhead read 17.7 miles. Ridership has been picking up. Over 300 riders have submitted the Annual Waiver so far this year. Trails are in great shape, despite the wind's efforts to drop dead fall, riders are letting us know and we're clearing debris. Update: on a more recent ride I included the "Race Loop" around the pond at the entrance and back up to the trailhead and wheel mileage shows 18.01 miles.

Met a couple of riders from Austin who were crewing on a commercial shoot at Rocky Hill. They brought their bikes along so they could take a short ride during the lunch break. It was their first time to RHR. They said they would be back to sample more of it. The shoot itself was a long day, 6a-6p and it was amazing to watch all the people and equipment that set up for it in the campground. At the end of the day I sat in the van and played Jackson Browne's "The Load Out" while watching them break it all down and pack it up. Riding was open and there were a lot of riders out. From what I could tell from returning riders the trail was in fine shape after Thursday's rain.

As I understand it, It is only charging or operation in extreme cold without prewarming the battery that might be an issue. Storage, not so much of a worry. Generally, for long-term storage keeping the battery charged at 75% or so is optimal. Never leave a lithium battery on the charger longer than necessary to reach a full charge as that can reduce the lifespan of the battery. Every battery may have it's own idiosyncrasies, so the definitive answer will be found in the documentation that came with the bike. Essentially, RTFM for the correct answer. 😉

Some yahoo named Aaron Gwin was hot-dogging at Rocky Hill earlier this year and some folks made a video of it... I'd tell ya this is a no bull story, but, it actually is a Red Bull story. Link above goes to a page on the RHR website with the video, enjoy. BTW, Aaron was a really nice guy and he rides like a wild man.

Gave the Rocky Hill Ranch website a long needed makeover. Check it out. Also, have instituted an Annual Waiver, sign up online or use the paper version. Sign up now and be covered until January, 2026. But wait, there's more. Envelopes at the Check-In, printed with blanks for the usual info in a Step by Step order. Coming soon, check in will be located under an awning on the side of the shed with a drop slot. (I needed the interior for storing supplies and such) Last week's rain has left the trails in spectacular condition. Two riders today (Tuesday) reported on how much fun it was. Come get some before it gets loose and dry again.

Thank you both for all you've done over the years. It is appreciated. Best wishes going forward. Hope someone steps up. Maybe combine the two domains onto a single host.

Combo padlocks are exactly what we have at the moment. A few locals that ride weekdays and routinely use the shower already have the combo.

FYI - Weekday Visitors I've implemented a new Bathroom/Showers policy after a weekday rider found two people sleeping in the men's room when they entered for their post-ride shower. There have been other abuses. I've had to install lockable toilet paper dispensers due to an unbelievable amount of TP being taken. Is there a black market for this? The Bathrooms will now be locked Monday - Friday and opened up for weekend riders, and for campers as needed. Hopefully this discourages the late-night vagrants who have been making this a hang-out. Anyone planning a trip out during the week who wants access to the bathrooms, please contact me here, or via the Contact Form at www.RockyHillRanch.com a day or so ahead of the visit and I'll make every effort to accommodate you. Long term, I hope to eventually install video surveillance, motion-triggered lights, and recorded messages warning how photos of intruders will be shared with the Bastrop County Sheriff's Department. People, are a problem.

SpaceX has demonstrated what is possible. There is little reason now for others not to follow.

FYI, I moved the Check-in shed. It is now located beside the slab by the Pavilion and Bathrooms.

The largest and most powerful space ship ever launched is now one step closer to being fully reusable. We live in amazing times.

Once we are further along, and the temperatures are better, I expect to have workdays. I'll post up something here when that happens.

I collect the money, pay the bills, then spend the rest on improving the place. I don't expect to be putting much of it in my pocket for a year, or two. I have a dream A dream of Rocky Burgers and a vast assortment cold craft beers in the cooler behind the bar. Every visitor to RHR brings the dream closer to reality. This might take some time, if it is even possible at all. Now I have to go to bed. Gotta get up at 0330 for my date with the surgeon tomorrow morning. 😳

I had no idea just how busy. Looking forward to cooler weather.

Paying the bills, tending the grounds, maintaining the facilities, making improvements, increasing visitor volume, updating the website and social media, and all the stuff running any business would require.

The Hills told me a few weeks ago that they won't be able to keep running Rocky Hill Ranch and, that they are planning to close the place after 30+ years. ... unless I would want to take it over. Retirement wasn't all it is cracked up to be, and I spend all my spare time there anyway, so I'm now focused on the front end as well as the trails. After several weeks of hitting it harder than I did trail building, I'm really, really, tired. Plus, I had the left knee replaced in July and will be getting matching new bling on the right one in a few days. I love a challenge. The old website is now more up to date with a little refresh, and there's another completely new website in the works. It'll debut after I'm mobile again in four or five weeks post-op as there are some things on the ground that have be done to coincide with the new website. An Online Waiver Form is coming and will only need renewal once a calendar year. In the mean time I've knocked back the overgrowth from the highway back to the trailhead. This took 15 hours on the Kubota. Have begun a longer-term makeover project for the Pavilion, while chasing plenty of plumbing and electrical punch list items. Getting lots of encouragement and positive feedback from the riders. I've slacked off now. Don't want to go into surgery completely knackered. Here's what I did one day this week. Yes, I removed all the doors, and all their hardware, touched them up a tad and reassembled. Okay, I did take up slacking off the very next day and have been keeping that pace and feeling better for it. Everything was red before. I watched people walk up to the doors and grab the padlock hasp to open it. Because the red door handle, on the red door, trimmed in red, may have camouflaged itself. There is now a little contrast that should help folks with finding the handles. Had a rider from Houston offer to help with some trail work after his ride. The passenger seat in my van was loaded with stuff, so we took his truck and did a little chainsaw work on a leaning pine at the beginning of Black Trac. I've also made the rounds with the tractor-shredder knocking back some of the tall grass on the trail sections I could get to. More to come.

Very cool.

As long as there are e-bicycles to hate, One Wheels are safe from our wrath, right? 🤷‍♂️😉 I think they are cool, sorta like when you see an MTB Unicycle on the trails.

Nice plane. Won't have a pilot though. 🙁 Looks like Burt Rutan's company Scaled Composites has a hand in it. They design very cool aircraft, like the EZ canard kit planes from years ago. His brother, Richard, was the first to fly around the world without refueling in a Scaled Composites design. They designed Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space plane as well.

It is always good to hear that sort of thing from the doc. Both of my knees were injured riding dirt bikes, and then surgically reconstructed. These were each busted and fixed about ten years apart, but the injuries were nearly identical. So, I'm going into this as a veteran to knee surgery. Both of them still have screws in the Tibia Plateau, and very little Meniscus remains in either knee. Similar to your experience, in both cases the surgeons were quite outspoken about how impressed they were with the speed of each recovery. I fully expect the upcoming recoveries to go quicker than with the previous surgeries as the knee will be weight-bearing immediately. Reading reviews on knee replacement in mtb forums had a repeating theme of, "I wish I hadn't waited so long" and this played a huge part in committing to the shiny new parts purchases now that I'm caught up on trail building for a while. No pain any more is equally motivating for me. The e-mtb will play a key role in each recovery. 🚴‍♂️

As for me, my dance card is booked solid starting next month, as I will be having some sweet upgrades installed to replace both knees by the end of the year. 😳 So, I've got that going for me. The purchase of an e-mtb has been world-changing in that I'm riding much, much more than I was able to before. Hopefully, I'll be back on the trails again by Spring of next year.

I see folks writing about what it felt like to ride a borrowed or rented e-mtb from a shop, and this often leads me to suspect they were likely riding the bike with the default power setup for each of the modes. You can set the modes to provide exactly what you prefer. On the Levo you can have three customized setups for how and when the assist is applied. These can be based on where it is ridden, or a variety of personal preferences. For instance, you could set the Eco level on a Levo to offer only enough assist to more or less offset the weight of the motor and battery, and this "ride" could feel very acoustic. An e-mtb can have an acoustic flavor of ride when you want it, just set it up that way. Then, by pressing a button, have options for other custom assist levels when/if desired. For me it has become a matter of "Choice is always better than no choice," as I can dial in the ride I want for any given situation. There's so many ways to fine-tune how it delivers power, conserves battery, etc. that it can offer different rides to select from for any occasion, or as the trail changes. Some of the later models have Bluetooth integration between the motor and the gears. You can set your preferred cadence in the app. The bike shifts gears to maintain that cadence. The motor can spin the drive-line independent of the cranks, so it shifts without you pedaling. Manual shifting is available too, and no matter which is used every shift is always a perfect shift as it can work around any torque you are adding. As for me, I'm not getting any younger, and have never used the word "enjoyed" to describe any ascent I've ridden over the decades (though techy stuff can be fun). I have always, and still do immensely enjoy descending. The purpose of my bike since I was a boy has always been to "take me to the next downhill section" because that is the part I like the best. I've tweaked the Levo settings so I have a mode that will actually make me sweat if I want to. Then, I can also switch modes so as to rarely exceed a very happy heart rate that doesn't spend much time pushing the envelope. Like most other disruptive technologies that we humans are faced with, these will become the dominant bike-form as the price of batteries and improvement of motors bring the price down with economies of scale. This moment in time is similar to when the flip-phone was faced with the smart phone introduction, or chemical film cameras once digital photography was widely available. E-bikes are on a transitional S-curve tracking the "smart bike" moment for bicycles. The good thing is, the longer anyone waits to be assimilated, the better the value will become as more features are added and cost reductions bring the difference between acoustic and electric closer together.

double post

The Pivot Les doesn't appear to be electric. Maybe it was a Pivot Shuttle?

I think we did see the Booster tip over, but video cut off before it completed the fall into the Gulf. Definitely saw when Ship hit the water, but the camera was so toasted from the slag coming off of that melting flap that it wasn't much of a view. Happy to see that feather functioning well, all the way down, despite all the gooey bits dripping off. My curiosity left me wondering if SpaceX then hit the Flight Termination System to sink them, or, were they floating for a while and maybe got a SpaceX inspection before being scuttled.