cxagent

Does that mean you are wearing pants now?

Rant on Tip. I finally gave up. People will do whatever they want to do regardless of being shown the rules (a large sign posted there), told the rules/suggestion, etc. I look forward to the day when even a few of these people give back to what they take for granted. Maybe participate in a work day. Or write an email / letter to the City supporting trails. There are many many ways they could give back.

What do you need? I have been collecting spare lumber for just such a use. Mostly 2x4 of various lengths.

In most situations I can handle the brakes being reversed. But when the trail gets technical I want the front brake where I expect it to be. Going DOWN a sketchy drop I let off the front brake (right hand) just like on a dirt bike. I keep the rear brake (left hand) at the same braking point. That keeps traction on the front wheel and dragging the rear brake keeps the bike straight even if I pick up a little speed. You know what happens when you let off the rear brake and keep the front on? On a sketchy drop things get ugly fast. Under those kind of trail conditions I don't have time to think - which brake is which on this bike???

I never got far enough to pay. I did see the day pass was $6 per person. And my annual pass has expired... It was $75 the last time I bought one. By using the annual pass, I could fill out a form and leave it on my dash. I parked at one of the points where the trail crossed the public road and rode my MTB from there. It was approved by the park then. It might be different now.

Tried to get a reservation for Pedernales Falls for Sunday (tomorrow). The next available date was in June. I suspect they hit the limit for the non- MTB portions of the park but the web site is not smart enough to separate usages.

I thought I was the only person who runs their brakes "moto style".

I run Magura brakes on all but one of my bikes (Mach 429 bought long ago with Hope brakes). I have been very happy with my Magura brakes - MT-2, MT-4, MT-5 and MT-7. great feel, power and modulation. I have had about the same amount of trouble with all of the Magura as I have had with the one set of Hopes (seal failures). My only complaint about the Magura is you cannot get parts to rebuild them. I guess they don't want anybody going into their hydraulics to replace seals / O-rings.

Check your email.

Keep working on it until you can ride all of 1/4 Notch. Sounds like you are getting close. There is a trick to "walking" you handlebars thru tight trees. Guys on dirt bikes (motorcycles) can do it at 20 - 25 mph. Even very wide handle bars on MTB should be able to get thru at our speed.

I highly recommend Claire instruction. I learned a TON and made some of my best riding buddies thru her classes. I even got my wife and father-in-law to take some classes and they got a lot out of them too. I would probably like Cody's instruction too if I had ever made one of his classes.

Concrete does not work well unless you can guard it for 2 - 3 weeks while it cures. Construction adhesive applied late in the day is usually cured enough be the next morning to discourage moving the rocks. But you have to make sure there is a large enough contact area between the rocks to get a good bond. Where it has been a major problem I take a battery powered drill, 1/2" bit and 3/8" rebar. Once I have put it in that way I have never had the rocks moved. I suggest taking 4 or 5 tubes of construction adhesive with you. I go thru a LOT more than I think I needed. Any leftovers I return to Home Depot for a refund.

Heard back from Travis County. They do NOT want people on the trail until the legal beagles figure out the wording and have the legal disclaimer signs posted. Please stay off the Return and Flow Trails until they are officially open. It was my mistake to think they were already open. Sorry for the confusion I caused.

When I was leaving on Saturday morning, all of the parking lots were full. There was a line of 32 cars (I counted) at the guard shack waiting to get in. I have a feeling "over crowded" was a major understatement. The return trail is done - marked, mowed, ridden in. It was visible and easy to follow on Saturday. Hand made signs are up on the trail. Travis County has made some wooden signs to mark where the Multi-use Trail (horses, hikers, etc.) splits from the flow trail access. There is not yet a sign to direct riders to help find the Flow Trail. I suspect Travis County is not ready for that yet. Part of the reason I think that is there are several signs that parking is NOT allowed near the top of the Flow Trail. To find the Flow Trail, you have to have some idea where to look without help from any signage. There are marked B-Lines at all the larger features. KOM did a great job designing and building the Flow Trail. Most people can ride the trail - even mid level beginners can use the B-Lines. (I suggest a true newbie may want to avoid all Reimers trails including this one.) As long as riders look at the feature and decide for themselves if they think they can ride it - I don't see a problem. My concern is if somebody decides to send it without looking - they may run into real trouble. There are jumps where you need to turn up the face of the jump. It is not obvious from above that there is a turn there. If someone sends it off that jump and does not turn - they will end up in the brush along a ledge. I'm pretty sure they will only do that once. Other places have gaps that I want to make sure I clear and try to land on the down slope. Come up short and I would case it on the next jump. That usually leads to a trip over the bars. This trail is coming soon. I have not heard why it was signed as closed on Saturday.

Rode it/them yesterday. Told others how to find them. Then went and saw a "Closed" sign. Will be checking on why that sign was there. Will post if they are open or not. This was the first time I rode them on a bike. Maybe I'm just getting old but I think everyone should do a sighting run before they send it. There are consequences for coming up short on some of the jumps.

Here is what the search turned up on CNN (I added the BOLD in the first paragraph) - LEFT BIAS These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Left Bias sources. Overall, we rate CNN left biased based on editorial positions that consistently favors the left, while straight news reporting falls left-center through bias by omission. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to several failed fact checks by TV hosts. However, news reporting on the website tends to be be properly sourced with minimal failed fact checks

It has been discussed and discussed and discussed for many many years. Chardog put together a plan and proposal 7 to 10 years ago. But the City is waiting for ... something. Makes me think they are a government organization.

The lower portions of that chart are just useless. I move up toward the middle of the chart before I learn anything. I also suspect the chart is quite out of date. I used to watch CNN and feel like there was useful information there even if I had to 'read between the lines'. Now I watch CNN and can't understand how people think it is anything but activism. I use watching both extremes to identify bias. Using your example it is like aiming dead on the bulls eye then seeing how far off the bullet hit. From that 'error' you see how much and what direction to "hold off" the bulls eye.

We need more tree gates and horse scrapers (low branches about 6 feet high).

I drove by three different Violet Crown Trail heads today. All are on City of Austin property. On everyone of them I say groups of people getting on the trail.

I did not see if this was posted before - but it should be. Since we are all "social distancing" and missing riding.

I think that Washington Post article should be required reading for everyone. And I don't generally like WaPo. But I read all kinds of sources to try to figure out what the real info is behind all the opinions and blame storming. I suspect many of the deniers think it is their own decision that does not impact anyone else. I hear that from the anti-vax'ers. If that was true I would say to let them do what they want - the only person they impact was themselves. But that is not true. Anyone can transfer the virus to someone else even if that person does not get the illness. If someone gets the illness the virus is multiplied in their body so they are much more capable of spreading the virus. But someone who picks up the virus on their hands, clothes, etc. can transfer it to somewhere else where a third person who has never been near an infected person may pick it up. This shit real. It is contagious. Some people may get it and have zero symptoms. But some people who get sick will die. I don't know how to predict which is which. I don't think the medical community does either. At least until someone is really sick and can't get enough oxygen. At that point their chances have become not very good to just waiting to die. Another article (by a doctor) says that the longer a person requires a ventilator the less their chance to ever breathing on their own again. The combination of the two articles makes me think going on a ventilator due to Covid-19 means the chances to live are small. Let's be safe people. As somebody else posted a previous generation was sent to war. We are only told to stay home. Surely we can handle that much.

And another supporting article - https://medium.com/@jurgenthoelen/belgian-dutch-study-why-in-times-of-covid-19-you-can-not-walk-run-bike-close-to-each-other-a5df19c77d08

I received an email from PARD - pretty much everything is closed for Easter weekend. Plan accordingly. Here is a link - http://www.austintexas.gov/page/pard-facilities-closures

I know - don't ride City of Austin Parks this weekend. A lot of our trails are NOT on CoA Parks land.