cxagent

Can't patent and charge as much for it.

I can't tell the difference between the metal and the polymer. I just ride whatever was in there when I got the bike/shock until it gets loose. Then I replace it with whatever I can get. I have not tried the roller bearing version. I want to try them at some point. Here is one example - https://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspension/real-world-cycling-shock-needle-bearing-kit-awesome-998670.html

I must be a hack because I have always used sockets and a c-clamp or vise instead of the proper tool. Look, even Fox shows that method on their web site - https://www.ridefox.com/fox17/help.php?m=bike&id=251

I agree with Greg's last sentence. I think there is a very simple answer to the concern of collisions on those trails. Everybody should ride within their ability to brake or turn to avoid collisions. It is up to YOU to avoid collisions. There will *ALWAYS* be other riders or hikers or children or dogs on the trail. You must be able to handle the situation. At all times and under all conditions. If a hiker with earbuds gets in your way - is it the hiker's fault? Really??? Does it matter? History shows that the biker will be blamed. What about children in your way? Or dogs? The biker will ALWAYS be blamed. Trails are not closed to hikers - they are closed to bikes. There will always be changes to the trail as rocks move or trees fall. YOU must be able to handle the situation. At least in that situation there is no question of who is to blame. It is the biker's fault. So ride within your ability and there should be no problem.

Are you saying I'm an endangered species??? Maybe I can start riding behind some fences!

I would not expect an endo from that picture. If they have any forward momentum at all they should land on the ramp, not on the lip. A few years ago I was endo'ing at least once per ride. I had a bike fit and they lowered my seat almost an inch. I quit endo'ing. Than about a year later I started endo'ing again. I thought someone had raised my seat as a joke. That was not the problem. Eventually figured out my forks were leaking. I started checking the air pressure before a ride. No more endo's. (Replaced the fork seals a week later.)

Travis CAD shows all of that area as private property. Most likely to be the storage facility but it could be the two houses adjacent to the storage facility.

I think both the Democrats and Republicans have been doing exactly that.

On Tristan's track you can see where he looped back to get a good run at climbing the hill. Not sure why it shows him crossing Spyglass at the top of the hill. Stopped for a Taco maybe? It looks like all of this GPS points had a lot of error in them. That track would be hard to ride because of all the trees and brush in the way. Not to mention the gully to the north of the utility road.

Wow that "7 second" track is not even close. It is roughly perpendicular to the actual climb. But apparently one point on the climb is all Strava needs to "know" what segment is what. I still question if anybody was doing 50+ mph on the road to get those Strava times. I actually climbed up the new switchback climb instead of the rock utility road. Since they are roughly parallel and near each other, I could understand Strava thinking they were the same.

We will get the homeless to build the wall and pay for it. 😉

So I finally relented and started using Strava a little bit. And found something I call BS on. Check out the Strava times in the attached screen shot. Does anybody really think somebody rode, ran or even flew down rock road at the Spyglass entrance of BCGB in 4 seconds? At over 50 miles an hour? I have to think that somebody is "editing" the GPS file. I can see how someone might drive their car on some of the road segments and get this kind of time. But not on this rock utility road.

There are several reasons to girdle instead of cut them down. First, girdling kills the whole tree including the roots. Second, The ligustrum dies slowly so there is time for other trees to fill in. If it is just cut down, it leaves a hole in the canopy. Third, It is SSSSOOOOO much easier that cutting it down and then digging up the roots. It takes me about a minute a stem to girdle a ligustrum. Once it is dead or nearly dead, I can push them over by hand and the remaining roots come up. There are some tricks to making it work. The cut(s) has to be deep enough and wide enough or it just heals over. Large stems (>3") are likely to need two or three times to kill the tree. It amazes me that the stuff we want to kill is so hardy it has to be girdled repeatedly. But the stuff we want to keep is so fragile that we cannot walk or ride too close to it or we will damage its Critical Root Zone.

That is a MOTORCYCLE track. This is a motorcycle trail. Mountain bikes are allowed to use the motorcycle trail. We call it City Park or Emma Long. Most MTB's know this trail is a tough technical trail. That is why we want to ride the trail - because it is challenging. So those riders (both MTBrs and motorcycles) find this "rock garden" too challenging to ride. Some how, I am not following the logic here. But the evidence shows that some people want the challenge of a difficult trail but not the challenge of a "rock garden" that is almost paved by the flat rocks that were hauled in and placed carefully by hand. Note the rocks between the camera and the model. To get it much flatter we would have to use concrete to make it like a sidewalk.

I *LOVE* riding with my wife. I tell her we can ride any trail at any pace she wants to ride. That is until she drops me and I can't keep up 😉

Hmmm. My experience does not match your suggestions. We armor the whole trail - like 10 feet wide. Solid rock for 10 feet. People ride around the rock armoring. The only thing that works is to pile brush on either side of the armoring so that if they want to ride in the mud, they have to stop and move the brush. They still stop and move the brush but it slows down some of the mud riders. Attached is an example picture I found easily. (Too many pictures make it hard to find the one I want.)

I also suggest the SATN. Lots of options. Most are easy with little climbing. Rock gardens are the most common tech. I would suggest the Dick Nichols area trails and Violet Crown Trail. See my comments in your list above. ETA - And THANKS for doing it. Pace Bend that is.

My experience is a Presta chuck is a waste of time and money. I bought one. It is too restrictive to seat even the friendliest tubeless MTB tire / rim setup. If you want to seat a tubeless tire, pull the presta valve core and use a standard Shrader tire chuck. That is the only way I have put air in fast enough to seat the tire on the rim. Yes - that means you have to put the presta valve core in with air coming out the valve stem. If you don't keep a good hold on that core, the air will blow it across the garage where it will never be found. If you let all the air out of the tire before trying to put the presta core back in the tire sometimes comes back off the rim. I have tire pump with the tank. I still have to take the presta valve core out to seat the tire. But this works at least as good as the compressor and usually a little better. But I still use both methods. YMMV

Just saw that there demo days the next two weekends - Bicycle Sport Shop demo'ing Santa Cruz at Spider Mountain 2/16 Mellow Johnny's demo'ing Ibis at Walnut Creek 2/23 If you buy a new bike - please coordinate with everybody else who buys a bike so we can get all the rain over at once...

TAF - Let Seth have first crack at the lumber. They are doing more 'lumber oriented' builds than we are. But I will take anything Seth does not.

I think I have a picture of you showing off that injury ;-) Fun times for sure

Like the part where you got to ride. Don't like the part of going to the ER.

It is easy to tell the difference AFTERWARD. If they made it and rode or even walked away - that is badass. If they didn't make it or had to go to the doctor - that was stupid as hell. Not much overlap in my mind.

Here is an example to illustrate the problem with riding wet trails. IMBA published trail design guidance. Others, like the US Forestry Service, National Parks Service, and many others have published almost the same guidance because it works. The recommended trail design follows the Half Rule. That means that the trail slope is not more than half of the slope of the fall line (steepest slope of the hill). This is done intentionally so that water runs ACROSS the trail instead of down the trail. The trail is also "outsloped" (see picture below). Again, this is done intentionally to drain water off the trail instead of down the trail. If the trail was "insloped" at least a portion of water running down to the trail from above would be trapped by the back slope and start running down the trail. The "berm" shown in the picture needs to be removed so it allows water to flow across the trail. So look what happens when a few riders ride on soft wet trails (red parts in picture). Some of the water is trapped on the trail and runs down the trail. That makes the whole trail softer. The a few more riders come thru and ride the softer trail. Now the trail is more like a drainage ditch than a trail. Then water is directed down the trail instead of across and off the trail. That water focuses all of the energy on washing away dirt and rock and everything in its path. Pretty soon the only thing left of the trail is a big erosion ditch like crazyt's picture. At some point the trail has to be repaired or the whole trail washes away. Don't think that happens in Austin? How about this picture from City Park. You know that trail we all try to ride when everything else it too wet. There are quite a few people who spend a whole lot of their time fixing trails so the trails stay open. I know I would rather spend that time riding or at least building new trails.

I thought the first line of this thread was what it was about. Maybe I missed something along the way. The "Austin environmentalist" is kind of a misnomer. Most of what I keep seeing is "Not In My Back Yard" stop anything I don't like. Use any reason / excuse but stop just it. The part I was addressing is that limestone is not a hard surface that does not erode. It does erode and there are many examples visible on the trails all around town.