Ridenfool

AB really hit all the high points above. With participation in local MTB forums, and a clear attempt to offer competitive choice in destinations they could easily establish themselves from the get-go. A brilliant step in this direction would be a $10 day use fee and $5 per lift ride policy. Give people the opportunity to pedal to the top, try the trails. Then, if they love them they can get a ride to the top, or not. At least it would encourage riders selecting a destination for a ride as a comparable option, cost-wise. If they were to create a second revenue stream, by adding a Saloon and Grill (maybe have live video of action on the trails), and run this side of the business by opening to the public the way that Rocky Hill Saloon once did. They could easily cultivate a steady customer base from locals and visitors to the area to supplement revenue. Add a small RV and Tent Camping area for more income. Make it a destination for a diverse cross-section of area traffic from lake users, motorcyclists, and locals wanting a burger and a beer. The MTB community could be the focus, but not necessarily the sole source of income. Perhaps not even the primary source of income. Back in the day, RHR had half of its gross generated from beer, food, and camping, and half from day use and event admission. These factors did not play into the demise of the saloon, management factors were the biggest contributor to that perfect combination falling by the wayside. It could have as easily grown and been developed if there had been a plan for growth. As Spider Mountain has been pitched, my guess is they will either change policy, or, will be scratching their heads in a year or so still trying to figure out why the creditors are knocking at the door and traffic to their facility isn't what they expected. They seem to be out of touch with the demographics from my armchair quarterback perspective. It is early yet, and this could change, or there could be aspects yet to be revealed. Some marketing strategies aim high at the beginning to measure response with the full intention of adjusting to the market in order to reach a working balance. The fact is that most new businesses fail. This is because those involved with running things have blue sky expectations and live in denial of factors which should have been given more consideration. They don't plan for contingencies or have a strategy to compensate for when their get-rich dream falters. Without this mindset and attitude of catering to the customers, business owners can run out of options pretty quickly. Not because the options weren't there, merely because they couldn't see them. Spider Mountain is essentially our version of Bentonville's Coler Mountain Bike Preserve, except it is private. The essence is the same, purpose-built flow trails, with the addition of a lift. If Sam Walton's grandkids installed a lift to The Hub at Coler would anyone pay $50 a day to use it? I don't think so. Would someone pedal up twice, then fork out $15 to get three lift rides to the top. I think I might.

Not a Lottaburger Green Chili Cheeseburger fan then?

I don't Pay for nuthin' I don't have to ... (I'm starting to sound like a cheapskate, aren't I?) Who the hell is treon and why would I pay them?

At least for now I can ride Spider Mountain vicariously through others' reports and videos at no cost.

It looks like they are using the AngelFireResort pricing model (season pass lasts for a run of a specific 38 day span????). In the words of Axel Foley, "I ain't fallin' for no banana in the tailpipe!"

On the bright side, if it tanks the facility may then be available at a discount in bankruptcy. Which, from casual observation, seems to be a more popular business plan of late. Borrow, build, fail, then the next one can make a success of it.

A dry March, now that's a novel idea. 🙄 Get everyone to march back and forth through the muddy spots until they are dry.

Paul Uhl is asking for help getting the trails ready for the TMBRA Rocky Hill Roundup coming up soon. Anyone who can spare the time on Saturday may contact him at pauluhlpottery at yahoo dot com for all the details.

Their success will be dependent upon getting people out there to ride, then, returning to do it again. Pricing any new service in the Stratosphere is not generally considered to be a good marketing strategy if increasing the number of returning users is the goal. If all they want are a certain specialized subset of the MTB community to participate, and a high price point for a smaller target customer base can sustain their operations, go for it. Just because they are the only lift access bike park in Texas doesn't mean the place is the only place to ride in Texas. I hope that they realize their competition for the MTB dollar is priced between free and $10/day, and, further hope they don't shoot themselves in the foot with exorbitant pricing in the hopes of recovering their investment over too short of a term. Honestly, I don't think I could get motivated enough to spend $50 for a day and feel good enough about it to plan a trip. Were I paying $5/lift I could easily see myself spending $50 or more and coming away happy, but, it would the the $5/lift that would get me out there with little concern of value being met. Their website pricing of $50 for "Pedal Only Access" that does not include use of the lift is patently absurd. Their Season Pass doesn't seem to be very well thought out at all. This is Texas, the "season" is year round. Make it an X-number of months Pass, but don't put an expiration date in the description that provides less and less value as each day closer to that date passes.

Clearly you have overlooked the undercurrent to prevent anybody from buying a bike until we've had a long dry break in the weather. Sorry, you aren't going to get any sort of serious encouragement to do something that could further jeopardize everyone from being able to ride. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the you.

The pricing scheme would be more attractive to me if it were per lift rather than per day. Provide users with a lift ticket that can be reloaded at say $5/ride to the top. Provide a phone app and/or online for loading the Lift Ticket as needed. Scan it for each ride up, deducting from the account. This way if for whatever reason a day out there is cut short (mechanical, injury, time constraint, etc.) the money spent can then be applied on the next visit. I could see myself driving out that way, spending some time at RPR, then heading over to Spider for two or three lift rides to wrap up the day. Or, riding Spider without feeling compelled to maximize my value by riding after getting tuckered out at the cost of safety. Food for thought.

Went out there with the best of intentions, and we all know where the road paved with good intentions leads, right? Good, we're on the same page. At this moment I'm back at home recovering. Both my smart watch and bike computer agree that I rode 1.68 miles (they rarely agree). The watch also shares how I accumulated over 5400 steps, 73% of which were "Active" and 3% were "Intensive" which may help explain why I feel like I need intensive care about now. Now, for the good intentions part. I brought the Fiskars 15" loppers along. This is a nasty habit of mine that seems to have fully infected my blood, a habit I can't seem to kick, a monkey perched precariously upon my back and gleefully laughing while holding on to the end of small bow saw tucked in my pack. It has been a while since I had my last fix. I guess I was Jonesin' and must confess how I didn't go into this relapse all reserved and timid. I mainlined it. And no, the 5400 step program had little effect, other than leading to my being WFO (Wore Fuckin' Out). There is a section of trail I had built years ago that cut out a section of Grey's Way (by request of the land owner) that went up Ike's Peak. Ike's replacement added quite a bit of new, challenging trail to Grey's Way. It appeared to have not had a trim since I originally hacked it out of the hill where it parallels Fat Chuck's Demise. I have noticed how it seemed to be seeing less and less traffic as folks probably glanced at the growth on this trail that goes straight, at a point where riders can take a bailout to the right onto Fat Chuck's instead. Today it got hacked back enough to last at least another five years, hopefully. Sight lines have improved and trail lines are available again that the growth had blocked. I hope that folks find it inviting and enjoy this rather grueling section of trail more often. Next, I wanted to trim another of my creations, Super Secret Switchback, as it has become very narrow at the top just before crossing the jeep road. As I meandered in that general direction I was reminded of a bypass put in for a recent race in the wet in order to avoid the nasty clay section in the first switchback to the right going up. The work was clearly done in haste to make the race route passable. It may have been used since for other events, and if this continues the bypass could turn into a drainage that would eventually erode away if folks continued to use it in the wet. I appreciate what a mess that clay section can be and I've had misgivings over originally routing the trail there just to gain a little more length. SSS trail has become a favorite route up for a lot of riders, and this one section makes it a real pain to ride when it is wet. But this bypass, though workable now, may not be a permanent solution and I had been scouting for a fix for a while and found a spot between the makeshift bypass and that clay turn that I think will let riders carry more speed both going up and especially coming down (once it forms a berm). It will drain well and meets the 50% rule of trail building. For now I've left the original trail open, and hope to see folks start using this new section. If it catches on I'd like to close the clay section and make this a done deal. However, I didn't have all the tools I'd usually use to build new trail. Particularly missing was a rake to remove ground cover, so I crafted a makeshift rake from a Cedar branch and got 'er done. This last effort had eclipsed the event horizon of my good intentions for the day as I spiraled into the black hole of fatigue. The legs were done, I was toast, and, embarrassingly, I never made it to that last section of SSS that needed a trim. Knowing this will be a fairly big job, I put it off for today, but will try to knock it out next time I'm out there. UPDATE: The clay section will be permanently retired. If you like collecting sticky clay while riding in the wet get it now, before I hide it forever. I'll probably be carrying the loppers on more rides at RHR from here on. Over the years my method was always to spend fifteen or thirty minutes trimming on any given ride. By concentrating on being thorough rather than quick, by cutting most of the Yaupon at ground level and trimming back bigger stuff, the efforts can last a few years. Doing this work with a plan will eventually open things up and the face slappers will be out of business. Just wish that more riders at RHR shared such an approach to mixing in a little trail maintenance with their ride. Despite paying a fee to ride, the fact is that most maintenance work done out there is by volunteer labor. As far as trail conditions go, it was a little wet, but no significant accumulation, only slick rocks and roots. Keep in mind I only rode about 3/4 of a mile in from the Upper Campground, and then a little less back out as I took the road from The Wall down.

Just queue up Kenny Loggins' "I'm alright" and give Carl Spackler a call.

The lengths necessary to find dry trail are a getting to be a tad much. Would love to be in Taos right now making brakes smoke on South Boundary, getting lost on North Boundary, or just traipsing about on trails by the river, if it weren't the middle of Winter. Though I've heard rumors that there are other things to do there in the white stuff.

After doing yard work all day and getting drizzled on sporadically my enthusiasm for a camping foray has waned and the long haul to RPR from here has lost whatever luster it held for me. So, what's the word for any of the trails in the greater ATX?

It is just awful what a slave-driving boss they have at ABHQ. Busting ass on a Friday eve for this map emergency shows dedication, though I'd wager they aren't getting overtime pay for this. It does leave me wondering what the post-emergency beer would be ...

fickxd

LMGTFY ... http://www.austinbike.com/ Trail Forks App? https://www.trailforks.com/region/walnut-creek/ MTBProject App? https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8014022/walnut-creek-metropolitan-park They do have those lovely plastic bags available at the park, but no map info on them.

FWIW, you can choose in their ordering options selector the color of GG decal they place on the carpet-fiber background. In other words, it is like the Model-T, "any color you want as long as it is black."

A call to check with Crystal at Inks Lake confirmed their trails are hiking only. Because sites like MTBProject and Trail Forks have volunteer contributed content the trail may have been posted by someone who rode it unaware of this.

Their map and descriptions don't mention bikes. I think these are hiking-only trails. But you're probably right about the composition being water proof.

Looks like Canyon of the Eagles is a private park, but they do have camping for $30 / tent spot, and $45 (weekday) or $49 (weekends) / RV spot a night. (kinda pricey) Inks Lake is the closest state park, and is a little closer to RPR than Canyon of the Eagles. Camping prices range from $11 to $23 a night. I am starting to lean toward driving out to Inks, get a campsite. Head to RPR for a ride and then back to Inks for the night. I could pick up something on the way home on Monday that has a good report over the weekend, like Muleshoe, Pace Bend, Reimers, or some ATX trail.

RPR is on the list of considerations for some day soon. Only snag is I may want to stay Sunday night wherever I choose to go and the RPR policy specifies camping being available only for Friday and Saturday nights. Flat Creek is looking promising. Watching for Jimmy to update the conditions. Haven't been to either of those places in a long time and both have new-to-me trails to explore.

With the threat of a 25% tariff on Chinese-made goods, production in Colorado may have another advantage over those among their competition who are currently importing.

Granted, there is rain in the forecast, but, looking at the details it seems to be merely one hundredth of an inch each day. Essentially, a heavy dew. With this in mind, what are the current conditions of area trails? I'd like to go get some strange this weekend. Pace Bend? Brushy? Canyon Lake Madrone? Word?