Ridenfool

So, somebody finally managed to get your goat?

All this dirty talk made me soil myself.

Don't they have a pill for that now?

This is what I call the Paparazzi Effect. (it comes with a guarantee ... from Murphy)

Yeah, folks involved in extreme sports never just fuck up and get hurt. It could only have been the pedals.

Build it into a pedal. Flat, of course.

It being an RF device, surround it with metal and it may not work very well.

A thought. How about putting said rocks in as the trail surface at those places instead. If you are there working with large rocks anyway why not armor the trail?

T.I.R.E. Trailwork Imbibe Ride Eat (not necessarily performed in that order)

There have been a lot of lines at RHR that have disappeared or have been rerouted over the years due to erosion. I remember the "original" Black Trac that went straight downhill behind Water 1. Subsequent attempts to create other fall line trails have all been retired and rerouted. I haven't been a part of that section's design, but it seems to be much better now than it has been in many years. Good trail design must always take into consideration the nature of the surface in regard to erosion and water. Building a sustainable trail is about how avoiding building something that requires a lot of ongoing maintenance is balanced with the fun factor.

Speaking of Surfwear, I was also looking at long-sleeve shirts that wick and provide sun protection and found a lot of "rashguard" choices from the surf realm that are quick-dry, SPF rated, and should do the trick for keeping cool and avoiding sunburn in the Summer.

I can for certain say to avoid Vee Tire Bulldozers. The large outside knobs tear off, usually taking a strip of rubber off the sidewall with them. There are immanent plans to modify the Bulldozers, ala Shinerider style, to assure they won't be mounted ever again. Recently replaced a 3.0 and a 2.8 Bulldozer set with a pair of gently abused Rekon's in 2.8 that were procured in barter for a bottle of whiskey. I tend to prefer tires with lots of small knobs over tires with bigger knobs as they will roll better and generally grip well in most of the terrain around these parts.

Thanks! Fixed link to Chino shorts with Zion fabric inserted in original post.

FWIW, there were about twenty or thirty cars out at RHR when I drove by minutes ago ... and, a line at the bike wash station. So, it seems the weather.gov/precip site is under-reporting rain accumulation significantly. The .5" reported by Antonio is probably the number to consider. I'm going to wait until mid week at the earliest before venturing out there and take time to get more done around the house while the water finds its way elsewhere. One of these days I'll put a rain gauge in the yard ...

I may have mis-recalled their sizing suggestions, and those of the reviewers. Best to follow those recommendations. As for the Bronson, I bought a pair of those as well. They are heavier, and cotton IIRC. They will be worn more for daily wear, working around the house and such. I prefer a lighter, highly flexible fabric for riding.

Doing the gopher mound test in the yard this morning (I'm about 8 miles from RHR) I think it will be good tomorrow, if not this afternoon. The wind is blowing and that will help evaporate things. Walking across the dirt in the yard it is moist, but isn't sticking to the soles of my shoes. I'll report further later today if that will help. Won't be riding today due to other plans, so no on site report.

I have plenty of the padded bike shorts made of Lycra, mesh, and such to wear under the more durable outer layer. Seems like every pair of MTB specific baggies I ever bought came with one of the padded under layer bike short and they never seem to wear out. So, I have lots of those. Like you, I only want to buy the over shorts these days and have found more selection and lower cost from shopping for common outdoor shorts which offer a better fit, belt loops, more practical pockets, and other features like quick-dry, stretch fabric that lend them well to the purpose.

I think of them every time I ride past the Y-Knot turn.

I've been buying purpose built MTB shorts from brands like Fox, Oakley, Zoic, Pearl iZumi, and more for years. More often than not I've been disappointed in some aspect. Lately the craze in the MTB specific shorts that just don't work for me have included the use of a snap(s) instead of a button and elastic/Velcro adjustment tabs instead of belt loops. What the hell is wrong with putting belt loops on shorts? These "short"-comings led me to search for something else to do the job that has the features I'd prefer, and I found a pair while searching for active wear (instead of MTB wear) that tick all the check boxes. prAna Zion Chino Shorts (the link below will donate to ARR if you purchase from Amazon on the smile.amazon.com site and have selected ARR as the recipient) https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071G645JD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 These are light and flexy in all the right ways thanks to the Zion quick-dry, stretch, abrasion resistant fabric. They have a button, a zipper, and belt loops. They fit nicely and work well when pedaling. They are about half the cost or less of the mainstays among the current choices in the MTB realm. Three colors available, I bought the Coffee Bean and the Mrs kindly inferred I look like the UPS guy. But hey, they work for me. Here's a stock photo from Amazon.

Pretty cool. Doesn't need more cowbell.

The Weather.gov accumulation data indicates between .01 and .1 inch at RHR so far. The front line is now East of here. Forecast now calls for less than another tenth of an inch after midnight. Lookin' pretty good. Pace Bend got about the same. It appears that Austin got none.

The trails were great today, and if we only get the two tenths of an inch Darksky is forecasting then Sunday ought to be good, if not Saturday afternoon. The soupy spots I found that were holding water were on Karaway, after the pipeline ROW, on Frontal Lobotomy pretty early on, and on Longhorn loop one early and another short spot on the latest ARR reroute (which on the whole this new section has improved flow on LL tremendously). None of these were bad and in most cases tended to clean the tires rather than accumulate. The creek crossing I rode had water, but nothing significant. I bailed at the end of Longhorn, didn't ride Leaping Lizards or Black Trac. both of which may have some spots to watch for, If Austin area trails get hit harder with rain tonight and RHR doesn't, it might be a viable option to keep in mind.

That's Super Secret Switchback. The section that turned me around last time out because of the high clay content. When wet it is just slippery, and as it dries it becomes some sort of epoxy.

I like how this went from Sustainable Trail Building to Sustainable Fantasy Building, in just two posts. Bravo!

It was a perfect day for a ride. The trails were 99% Hero Dirt where the tread leaves its imprint and nothing sticks to the tire, temp was air conditioned, overcast sky distributed light equally, and I had the place to myself. There were three places other than creek crossings with standing water. One on Karaway, one on Frontal Lobotomy, and one on Longhorn Loop. There were plenty of tracks through them as I think these may have been part of the EE last weekend. Here's a photo of the bike after the ride. Afterwards I downed a Modelo Especial and loaded up. Just as I started the engine sprinkles of rain began landing on the windshield. Perfect timing.