mack_turtle

From DNP: Latta Greenbelt west to Davis, Dirt Colberg to Gorzycki (unless the backside of that hill has reopened behind the new apartments), left on 1826 up past the water tower, past Slaughter Creek and on up the hill to SH45. Not sure if the first trails there would be rideable, so I'd take neighborhood streets to the Bear Lake entrance. Ride around the lake, down Ski Lift, up to Bernia. My only concern is the Jeep road here, might be too mucky at the bottom of the hill. Fly down Escarpment, take a right at SH45 and ride the new bike path to 1626 and back to Escarpment. Do a gravel lap past the soccer fields in Circle C, then gravel past Alamo Drafthouse. Back down Beckett to DNP. It's a lot of pavement but it's better than sitting on my ass all evening. Pavement and hardpack is fun on a light-ish bike with 35mm tubeless semi-slick tires.

What stays rideable after a rain? I am sure most trails will be soggy tonight. After a rain, I am able to put in some decent miles on a cyclocross bike by riding Circle C gravel, Arbor Trails, Latta Branch Greenbelt, Archstone, DNP, VCT, Dirt Colberg, and the 1826 climb. What's Meridian like after a rain? Could I enter near Bear Lake and pedal up to Bernia without sinking in and leaving a rut, or does that get too soft as well? It seems very rocky so it might be OK. Anything else?

Related- I have a long rectangular box that had a flat handlebar in it. Might be the right size for a riding fork as well.

I am being optimistic, for once, that the ground will soak up most of it quickly enough. I would support a few minor reroutes (not my call, but these are my thoughts for alternatives): Certainly Slaughter Creek NP will be closed. Just ride past it and climb 1826. The second half of Drip Drop stays soggy for a long time but we can easily avoid that be using the cul de sacs on Via Correto Drive. Veering off the dirt and dragging mud all over the Veloway might be a bad idea. Keep riding past the Veloway dirt entrance to Genesis. Inner Canterbury might stay soggy, but it can easily be skipped if that is the case. The rest of the weekends for the next month are booked up with other events.

Just looked at the weather forecast. I am a pessimist about rain and trails, and this looks like it will do little more than tamp down the moon dust.

I bought some of these and found them to be too tiny for mtb grips. I prefer something a little broader, that covers most of the end of my grip. However, they fit perfectly on the drop bar of my CX bike, so they are staying there. YMMV.

You have no way of knowing what that bike has been through. It might have fallen off a car rack at 80mph. The rims were all scratched up as well.

Little update- I tried that Sofirn light last night. Holy hell it's bright! I love how well it works but I think it's too heavy on my helmet for comfort. It gave me a bit of a headache after a while and there is no way to adjust the angle. I noticed last night that a lot of riders use a small light on the helmet that uses an external battery pack strapped elsewhere and now I see why. Both of my lights are set on low or medium and are enough light to see the trail ahead, so I am going to have to put the heavier one on the bike and the external battery pack (MiNewt) on the helmet.

I doubt you're going to fit anything bigger than 28mm tires in that bike. Maybe even only 25. After riding several gravel routes and races around Texas, that's not going to cut it. It's going to be miserable.

I saw that bike in the Goodwill on S. Lamar last weekend and immediately noticed the crack in the headtube. It's on the back, right above the headset cup. Looks like someone rammed it into a solid object. The wheels looked pretty borked too. All I could think was that I feel sorry for the unlucky soul who buys it. Might be worthwhile for the drivetrain parts, but I'd scrap that frame. Remove that fork and take a good look at the crown and legs first too.

It looks like Cogburn bikes is gone, but they had some rad hunting specific bikes.

Pro tip: bring a headlight. Not for night riding, but the sudden contrast between riding in bright sunlight and riding through dark tunnel with unpredictable surfaces could make it worthwhile to bring some light.

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Serious note: to whom are they marketing this product?

Not a fan of grips with "wings." Purely personal preference. I feel that a round grip should be comfortable if the bike and body are set up right.

Good thing you had that bottle in your pack to use for scale, Tip! I find that a Tempranillo pairs better with the terrain though. White wine is for anything further west.

No, the path is still there. A few people have veered off the path in that spot and plowed into that culvert instead of going around it. You have to stay right, closer to the street to avoid it. The culvert is nothing new. It's probably been there for years before more than a few people started using it as a mtb route. It's not hard to avoid at all if you know it's coming. In fact, if you know it's there, you'd have to intensionally veer into it to hit it. The problem is that it's at the bottom of a hill that allows you to hit that spot going pretty fast, so if you don't know to dodge it as it is hidden in the weeds, you might not have time to avoid it when it becomes visible.

The rim-killer is here. I know of two riders who have destroyed rear rims on this. You can ride through the creek bed right before the Slaughter Creek preserve easily if it has not rained in a while.

Also, someone with heavy equipment cleared out the creek bed next to Reproductive Cycle. The bridges are gone but that area and the route to Poke Eye Man is much clearer now! Maybe that happened a while ago but I just noticed it this weekend.

I love exploring. That's how I got into mtb in the first place. About the SATN route: Where exactly am I supposed to pass the carwash on Brodie? Does the Latta Creek Greenbelt bypass Chunk Truck? I think I followed the route 99% on Saturday but missed the truck. No Meridian? That might be for the best to have that volume of riders in there day-of, but was that intensional? The diagonal bypass at 1826/Slaughter is nice. That intersection was terrifying. I would like to see if the downhill leading to 1826 behind Gozycki MS is back open, or ever will be. The culvert at the bottom of the hill leading to SCNP might still be a hazard. I keep putting large rocks in front of it to warn people of the rim-killer right there.

None of those clowns understand just how bad litter in the creeks is because they don't get out in the woods. The creek downstream from WC is absolutely full of crap but no one see it but me, apparently. Always looking for snakes back there because it's fun.

I don't have to carry much in my Dakine pack: One water bottle in the stretchy sleeve ID and a credit card One or two snacks Spare 29" tube, rolled up CO2 and Genuine Innovations head Muli-tool and some chain links Tire lever, bacons and poker taped to it Phone Plastic zip bag with some TP and adhesive bandages Radial patch Lezyne pump and larger water bottle on my frame. Baggie shorts with pockets if I need anything else. Not sure what else you need.

Yeah, mine supposedly does that. I doubt I will need the high beam often. Medium is supposedly 900 lumens so I'll use that most of the time.

My helmet strap is a fat o-ring. Loop the ring around the light at the front, pass the ring through two vent holes in the helmet, stretch it back onto the back of the light. Use two for a backup or if one is not snug enough. A rubber wrist band works well too. I have a Livestrong yellow band (for some reason) that I use sometimes. It happens to work really well on my Giro Hex because of the way the vent holes are designed, but might not on other helmets.

Got the Sofirn SD05 mentioned earlier. Have not had a chance to ride with it yet, but it's impressive. Under $50 on Amazon, comes with a battery and charger. Features I like: Massive 21700, 4000 mAh battery. Most lights use a single or pair of 18650 cells, and many are not easily replaceable. The 21700 has a longer run time. It also comes with a plastic spacer tube so you can use a more common 18650 cell. Magnetic ring on the head for changing settings. No rubber buttons to mash. This was designed for diving (so it's quite waterproof) and probably designed with thick gloves in mind. Just drag your fingers in the general direction and it'll click on. Holy ffffff it's bright! I'll probably never use the high beam mode. The emitter is actually four tiny emitters in a group. Fits on my helmet with a rubber strap. Does not get much simpler than that.