cxagent

Pretty much a match with what I found on Wednesday. If there is much rain on Friday or Saturday early - I expect it to become a big mud pit.

I went to MTBR for the first time in a LONG time. (Too much to do, too little time.) I ran across the thread at https://forums.mtbr.com/trail-building-advocacy/consequences-unsanctioned-trail-building-1066346.html . No - I did not have time to read it all. No matter your position, I think it has been posted there. It looks like the whole country is having some of the same issues we are having locally. BTW - I'm not trying to start another food fight. Just pointing out that many of the issues we are seeing locally are found almost everywhere.

Oh BS. Only an idiot would say that. Everybody knows the real questions is - Ford vs Chevy. 😉

Hiked much of Walnut Creek today installing sign posts. Most of it was ready to ride. But some sections were not. Windy, BMX and Church Climb were a mess. I doubt those will be ready to ride before the next (predicted) rain. Get your ride in while you can. Just be ready to bail on a trail that is still wet. If you are leaving tracks. Or if you tires are caked with mud - the trail is too wet. Turn around and ride somewhere else.

I assume you mean 36 hookers while you are alive. You would still be a very busy man. 😉

After you work with government employees for a while you recognize a pattern. IMHO, Government employee are not evaluated on what they get done. They are evaluated on what they prevent from being "criticized". If one government employee wants another government employee's job, they start criticizing decisions (or permissions) from that employee, That usually ends up with the 'criticized' employee being replaced - sometimes by the one doing the criticizing. Conversely, a government employee never gets replaced because the did not do something. No wonder government employees learn to 'just say no'. Another way to look at it is in governments - anybody / everybody can say no. But it takes a very high level person who is willing to take a chance to say yes. And those people are very rare. Normally, they do not get to be a high level person by taking chances. Even though it sounds like it is - those comments are not meant to be critical of government employees. They deal with a different world than most of us.

Consider that process started. Check your email.

I missed that frame. I must have blinked or something.

My first ride of City Park was on a 1978 RM 125. Yes, I was still racing motocross on it at the time. I heard there was a "motocross trail" there and I had to go ride it. Since I started on enduro (real ones, with a motor) it was kind of fun. Just keep the rear wheel spinning or it would fall out of the power band. Once out of the power band it would not climb anything. I didn't go back for a long time either. I wanted a real motocross track.

Just to try to address some rumors before they develop a life again... The entire ~1100 acre Emma Long Park was PURCHASED by the City of Austin in about 1939. Emma Long was attending UT at the time it was purchased. As most college students, she was "of modest means" who was not donating anything of major value such as real estate. The park WAS NOT donated by Emma Long. Attached to this post is the deed where the purchase was documented. You can Google "Emma Long Austin Texas" and find as much as you want to know about her. The motorcycle trails that we MTBr's ride were built by the Kapitol Katz Motorcycle club. They got permission to built those first trails in 1970. They were opened to the public in 1971. More trails were added after the first trails to spread the impact over a larger area. When the BCP was formed in 1996, the Motorcycle Park was NOT part of the BCP acreage. It appears to have been added in 1997 when it was reported that Golden-cheeked Warbler were found on the "motorcycle trails". This point has generated a lot of confusion / discussion because there is historical documentation showing it is in the BCP and it is not in the BCP. At this point it almost does not matter if it was originally in the BCP or not. It would be hard to change and having it in the BCP actually works to our advantage. I have never seen motocross on the Motorcycle Park at Emma Long. At the time those trails were built motocross looked like this video - https://www.facebook.com/Legends.Yamaha.enduros/videos/1034275256624411/ You can find more recent videos of actual motocross. To help the BCP staff understand the difference between motocross and off- road motorcycling, I told them it was like referring to the Golden-cheeked Warbler as a Golden Eagle. They seemed to understand there were substantial differences between those birds. I'm not sure what to tell mtbr's to help keep off-road motorcycles separate from motocross. Since MTBr's have some how confused the term "enduro" with mtb, there may not be anything to prevent confusion. Enduro was already a term defined for decades to mean motorcycles like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U2YXo5xhKc . I may have missed it, but I didn't see a single bicycle or pedal in that video. Please point it out if I missed it. CP Deed.pdf

This appears to be the ONLY thing that works. And even then I find mtb tracks on Slaughter Creek Trail when it has been closed.

Of course they can ride the big F'ing sidewalk. But history says they won't. And it becomes that bad for those who clean up the trail behind them.

Your comment above matches mine. I prefer clips almost everywhere, all the time. Even riding downhill at Angle Fire - I put my SPD's back on. ( I rode up with SPDs and liked that feeling better than flats when I took the lift up.) I went back to clips because I like them better than flats. I probably like them better because that is what I am used to riding. Yes - it is a circular argument. This is how I look at it - I ride for fun. So I do what I enjoy most. Everybody else should do what they enjoy most. I promise I won't make fun of your preference if you don't make fun of mine. ETA - I can ride my SPD pedals unclipped. I cannot ride my flat pedals clipped in. YMMV.

I was taught to drop my heels when braking. But "claw" the pedals to stay on the pedals everywhere else. (Claw = drop my toes, push back on the pedals and forward on the bars and wedge myself between the handlebars and the pedals.) Did I misunderstand that?

Like RidenFool said - I don't expect much change. Berms will develop on corners and trap water on the trail. The standing water will soften the trail tread below the water. The next wheel on it will make the hole little deeper. That little bit of the trail tread will end up on the water dam (berm). The puddle will get deeper and longer. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat again. At first we knocked the berms down. The moto guys complained about that. So we started creating drainage "cuts" and left the berm. The moto guys complained about that. Without going thru all the iterations - we leave the trail tread to them. I was cleaning out old emails over the holiday and found quite a few of those emails from the moto guys complaining about screwing up the trail. Interesting how you can watch exactly what you said would happen - actually happens. Eventually I expect we will have to create drainage and fill holes again. But not until there has been trouble. BTW - I am an old motocross / enduro (real enduro with motors) / hare scrambles / etc rider. I still have a couple of dirt bikes that are worth more to me than I could sell them for. So every couple of years I pull one out and ride. And I like to ride with one or both wheel "loose" 😉 My bike may have two wheels but I only use one at a time. Mountain bikes will do NOTHING to a wet trail like a dirt bike will.

Lower the pins for now. You may raise them as you get used to it. I had to switch to flats for the instructor certification class. I was STUNNED that I did not lose as much as I thought I would. The two areas where I prefer clips are like crazyt said when I need that last little push to get over something or a short run at a climb where I need to generate power quickly. The other place is when bouncing thru a rock garden or bumpy downhill. Clips held my feet on the pedals while my bike and body bounced around. On flats I keep bouncing off the pedals. And yes, I recognized this is problem with poor rider skill.

I suspect you have been confused by events that don't show up here. After a number of issues, ARR no longer does "treadwork" on that trail. The moto guys think we are screwing up the trail by filling holes and creating drainage. So now we leave the trail tread to them.

I think I mentioned that it would be wet. But since riding it wet does not damage the trail - it can be ridden. But "dirt" trails - please stay off of them so your ride does not rut out the trail.

The trail will not be damaged so go for it. You might even ride thru some big puddles. Watch out for wet / slippery rocks. And watch out for dirt bikes (motorcycles).

I would say that I will if you will. But I still would not.

Constantly.

I had to clean out my old emails and ran across this one from May 2016. I thought people should see an example of what the City of Austin and particularly Parks hears about MTB'rs. This email was about Walnut Creek Park. (Note - I have intentionally removed identifying information. This post is not to shame anyone. It is intended to educate MTB'rs.) To Whom it May Concern, I've been using the park 3-4 days a week to run on the trails, hike and take my dogs for walks for almost 5 years. The mountain bikers have become increasingly dangerous and rude and there are far too many riders using the park now, which I assume has a lot to do with the increasing population in the city. Riders are on every trail in every section of the park now at all hours. They fly around blind corners at full speed and do not slow down or yield to people on foot, nearly running hikers off the trail and I've witnessed dogs be almost run over, including my own. When you have an off-leash dog park you simply cannot have this many mountain bikers using the park. I've personally done a lot of mountain biking over the past 20 years all across the country from California to New Jersey and have never experienced such carelessness from riders before. The bikers in this city do not seem to understand basic trail etiquette on multi-use trails. The majority of the time they do not call out when approaching people, they don't announce how many riders there are in their group behind them and do not slow down to pass. They do not yield and actually get angry and confrontational when walkers don't dive out of the way. I've heard several individuals get into arguments with irresponsible riders. All of this overuse is also devastating all the trails in the park. There is far too much catering to mountain bikers in the park, allowing them to leave broken down bike frames and tires on the newly installed tire stations along with other trash and taking over the entire park for races all the time, which is really destroying the trails and speeding up erosion. In order to co-exist with hikers/runners/dogs, I strongly believe that bikers should be limited to certain trails within the park and should face fines for not abiding by these regulations. There also needs to be trail etiquette signs posted visibly at the trailheads and throughout the park to remind riders that they do not have the right of way and that they need to yield to people on foot. The riders are ruining the park experience for everyone in this city. Thank you for your time. Mike Here was my response to PARD - Thanks you for standing up for us. Charlie is out of town right now so I am handling this as the Trails Program Director for the Austin Ridge Riders. First, much could be said about over generalizations in the email from Mike. But those don't help move toward improving the situation. Here is what the Austin Ridge Riders can and will do to try to minimize conflict between the users at Walnut Creek Park - 1) We have always included training on Trail Etiquette per the IMBA Rules of the Trailhttps://www.imba.com/sites/default/files/Team_IMBA/RulesOfTheTrail.pdf We will emphasis those rules on all rides. Somehow, I doubt it is the kids doing our Kid's Rides or the women doing our Ride Like A Girl rides that are the problem. But the Sunday rides should reach many more people and maybe some of the impolite riders. We can start this immediately. 2) We ask your permission to post some signs with the Rules of the Trail. Can we use some space in the new kiosk at the trail head? That will help for anyone who looks, but I bet most riders never look at the kiosk. I also request permission to add some stickers to the Carsonite sign posts on the trails. We want to add a yellow triangle that shows who yields to who. We have similar stickers at Slaughter Creek Trail with horses (has right of way), hikers (yields to horse) and bikers (yields to everybody). (We may have to get some stickers made to not show horses.) We need your permission and time to make or buy signs. 3) We need to clearly define what parts of the park are off-leash and what parts are leash required. The email from Mike makes me think he considers all of Walnut Creek Park to be an off-leash dog park. I think signs would be required here too. Is that something you / PARD can do or can ARR help with that? 4) We will request *ALL* Austin Ridge Rider members recognize the issue and follow the Rules of the Trail. We hope to set a good example that others will follow. This will be posted on our web site and Facebook page this week. Even if we do all of that and all Austin Ridge Rider members yield and are polite to everyone they meet, I expect there will still be issues. Not all mountain bikers are members of the Austin Ridge Riders. My suspicion is that the riders causing the issues are relatively new riders who are riding aggressively at a busy park because they don't know any better. We (ARR) have little influence with them unless we can attract them to other trails. That may not be easy if it happens at all. But we will try our best. I look forward to hearing your answers to my request to post signs. If I should take this up with D'Anne or someone else, please connect me with them. Trails Program Director Austin Ridge Riders

PM sent. Thx!

Don't know about the straps you are seeking. But I keep making "rubber bands" by slicing inner tubes along a radius. Motorcycle tubes seem to be about the right size for making rally really useful rubber bands. I have even bought a motorcycle tube (~$10) just to make rubber bands.

I found the map in the files below. Since it already in the public domain, there is no reason it can't be posted here. I am still looking for my SOS map.