cxagent

Your injury is a set back - not an end. Start planning on next year. And I recommend doing other events as part of the preparations. Just keep it fun. When it is not fun I get tired of it. If I am "working" I want to be paid for it.

I rode the Madrone / Juniper Ridge loop today. I cleared several "bad spots". Two were truly downed trees across the trail. Several others were face slappers that had grown into the trail. If I could ride under or around it while staying on the trail, I left it. I will get back out to clear the rest of Juniper Ridge next week. I also "no dabbed" all of the tree gates but one. I snagged a pedal on that one.

Yes I have ridden Juniper Ridge. I ride it at least once per year. I think I have ridden every obstacle on the trail without dabbing at least once. Note I did not say I have no-dabbed the entire trail on the same ride. I still miss and miss a lot. You might want to know that not only have I ridden it, I also helped build it (second only to Charlie on the number of hours spent). When we are cutting trees for a new trail, we will always leave it on the 'tighter' side. Why? We can (and do) go back and take out more trees. But we cannot go put them back. So we leave the trail tighter at the beginning and open it up where we think it needs to be wider. There were also other considerations for that trail. One was keeping horses off the single track. Leaving tight tree gates and low hanging branches discourages horses. The other was ATVs. Same thing there. A group not associated with MTB followed the single track we had just cut and was widening it and smoothing it for ATVs. We chose not to build and maintain an ATV trail so it needs to be narrower. We intentionally left the next couple of tree gates passed where the ATV folks has cleared. So how do you ride a tree gate that is narrower than your handlebars? (I could not find the Dirt Bike magazine so I will describe it.) As you approach the tree gate, stand up and level your pedals once you have enough speed to coast thru. Keep your knees and elbows in line but you don't need to try to 'tuck them in'. Pick the side you will favor - usually the side that is farthest along the trail (as opposed to closest to you). Move your bike to that side of the trail so that hand will hit the tree if you tried to just ride thru. Just before that hand hits the tree, pull that hand back like you were steering a slow speed turn in that direction while keeping the bike vertical (no lean). That will effectively "stop" that hand while moving the other hand forward. Once the 'other hand' passes the tree on that side, lean the bike aggressively like you were turning in the opposite direction of the steered turn. The lean should clear the hand that was about the hit the tree. Shove that hand forward and straighten the bike up right again. Your bars are now past both trees. Hopefully, you can clear the rest of your bike between the trees. The pedal on the 'favored side' will be the next thing to work on clearing. Hopefully this word description makes sense. If I screw up this move, I end up stopped, standing on the pedals with my shoulder against one of the trees. From there I can untangle myself and ride away without dabbing. The more I practice this move the higher speed I can carry thru the trees. I suggest you start learning it my planning to ride into the tree gate and stop with your shoulder on a tree, then learn the move. Then learn to carry some speed (not stop). I hope that helps.

Would somebody point out which rock was moved???

There will be a prescribed burn at Reimer's Ranch on Wednesday 7/24/2019. The area is -->NOT<-- the existing mountain bike trails but the trails are expected to be smoky all day. Plan accordingly.

Thanks! I will head out there on Wednesday evening.

Uh, no. Every trail has features that some people like and other people don't like. If those tree gates are so bad that you have trouble riding them, go to a different trail. This is being written by a guy that raced real Enduro (not bicycle enduro) for years. I could go thru a tree gate that just wider than my knees at 10 to 15 miles per hour. With a little practice I bet I still could. On a mtb - it is SSSSSSOOOOOO much easier.

I am getting second hand reports there are a bunch of trees down across the trail. Can anybody confirm? Or better yet - point me to where I need to attack?

If anybody has pictures - please post. If not, I will get to ride Walnut again. Hooray!?! Or is that WhoRay?

The music is fine. If you like it - use it. If someone does not like it - they can mute or not watch.

Yes. And some people do a good job of walking the line between providing appropriate information and providing too much information. Great job AB! And Thank You! (See it is not a completely thankless task 😉 )

Around noon today I was at a school in southeast Austin. Not really in the city. Not really in the country. Kind of on the edge. While I was waiting for my escort in the office, a male peacock and three turkeys walked up and stared in the windows. That was not a sight I expected to see.

I hear you. I also wanted to do things to help other and especially new riders. I finally decided the best way to do that was to keep trails open. Maybe for you the blog is the best way. I will check TF when I can. They have been really good when troublesome trails are identified.

Feral hogs are everywhere now. You will see lots of damage where they are finding food. It there is no food they move on. Most of the places they create the damage is where there is deep(er) soils. There was a cougar sighting reported yesterday in my south Austin neighborhood. Not the first time. Won't be the last.

I appreciate you wanting to help and trying to come up with a way to do that. But since I am a cranky old man just like AB, let me encourage you to *NOT* do this. If you do this and make it publicly available - you would probably get trails closed and open yourself and others up to being sued. Once this is publicly available, it is only a matter of time before the land owner finds it. But since ALL trails are opened and ridden only with land owner permission - that is no big deal - right? RIGHT?!?! So why would the land owner care? Because what was a slow trickle of riders that kept the trail small and quiet turns into a flood of riders that turns the trail into a super highway with all kinds of people on it. Now there are so many people on it that the neighbors start complaining about the traffic, noise, litter and even parking. Some of the new riders decide to "help" improve the trail and take out a branch here and a rock there. Then somebody decides that a tree gate is too tight and it is slowing them down so that tree has to go. Pretty soon what was nice tight single track starts to look like a down hill snow ski run. Then speeds get higher and higher as people go for the KOM on that trail. But wait - the podcast has invited new people to the trail who have never been there. So they are riding slowly and listening to the podcast. And a KOM rider meets the new rider in a huge impact. And one of them gets taken out by Life Flight. Now the land owner is put on notice that the land owner MAY have to pay for the injuries / medical bills because the injured riders insurance company is looking to sue them to recover damages. Shortly there after the environmentalist find out about it and decide they need to make that area a preserve so they can fence it off and keep those nasty mountain bikers out. And the land owner thinks that might be a better option than being sued over people using their land. Think this is some far fetched, made up story???? It happened. Right. Here. In. Austin. (Actually I have combined two actual stories. The insurance company suing to recover damages was from a different incident than the trail I started describing.) I would encourage you to take people out and show them the trails. This also gives you a chance to decide which trails they should or should not ride. You can point them to appropriate trails. It also gives you the chance to impress upon them the "rules" for using the trails. And that if they bring other people to the trail they pass on the "rules" to the new riders too. If you want to do more than that - point them to MTBProject or TrailForks. Both of those are trying to show only appropriate trails. But this is just my opinion as a cranky old man. One that has been dealing with this kind of thing for a few years now. And is about to hand that job off to the next person who will take it.

Be warned that the Barton Creek Greenbelt trail west of Zilker has gotten rough. Still a good place to learn but you are going to bounce from rock to rock a lot.

I was in an attic in League City Texas last week. Measured temperature in the attic was *only* 105 F. But the dew point temperature was 87 F. That attic felt hotter than most here in Austin. I could only stay in there about 15 minutes at a time.

Walnut Creek is my suggestion for a new rider in north Austin. The SATN (South Austin Trail Network) for new riders in south Austin. Peddler's Pass in far north Austin (Brushy Creek / Cedar Park) There are maps for Walnut Creek (search this board for my user name) but there are no maps for SATN. For SATN talk to ATX Bikes on Slaughter Lane about where to ride. Either way you will get lost. Enjoy getting lost and exploring. It is part of the MTB experience. Riding with someone who knows the trails is about the only way to not get lost While you learn the trails. Next best is to keep your phone with you and use a/the mapping program. Google Maps will show you where you are in a trail system so you can navigate your way out. MTBProject or TrailForks is even better because it shows you the trail, not just where you are near a road. You scare me saying you don't / didn't have a helmet but you want to go to FreeRide 512. This like saying you want to learn to drive a car in an Formula One race car. Maybe you will survive. But I bet it will go badly. And I doubt it will be fun. Start small / easy and work up from there. Develop skills before your life/health depends on those skills. Protective gear (helmet, gloves, pads, etc) will help with the learning curve.

I have held off telling people about this new trail - until now. It is starting to come together and we will need volunteers soon. So here it is. In 2017, Travis County hired a landscape architect to survey and design some new trails at Reimer's Ranch. Our very own MTB trail builder, rider and instructor Jake Carston helped with the design work. The attached PDF file shows the overview of that trail design. The design sat on the shelf for a while. ARR got a grant from REI to start building those trails. That process has now started. We will be building two of the 5 trails shown - marked I1 (Intermediate 1) and Return. These are intended to be Flow Trails. There is not enough elevation to call them Downhill Trails but there is enough to get a good flow without a lot of peddling. We have surveyed the planned trails and picked the I1 trail as the one we want to build first. It has great topology for fun and interesting trail. We have met with Travis County (land manager), REI (funding source) and KOM Trails. We want this trail open for Cranksgiving so we want to get KOM to do the biggest part of the flow trail. ARR will be building the return trail (how you get back up hill). This looks like it will come together and be ready in November. To have it ready in time, ARR will need volunteers to build the return trail. Work days will start in September to avoid the summer heat. Racers can plan on getting their PayDirt hours early this year. Keep an eye out for work day calls and come help build our new MTB trail! And make sure you thank Travis County, REI, KOM, and ARR for making it happen. 2017-03-31_Reimers Flow Trails.pdf

Long Live the CnD!!! But seriously - be nice and polite to the security guy. He is only doing his job.

I have caught all kinds of wildlife on game cameras on Austin area mtb trails. When I reported the more unusual ones to whoever I though appropriate, I generally get the same answer - 'Yes we know about those. But please, Please, PLEASE don't tell or show anyone. If you do, there will be a public outcry to destroy it/them. Just look at the coyotes." When I had a picture of a cougar I went to the TPWD web site and looked for what TPWD said about where the cougar were. I recall a Texas map that showed them in every county around Travis, but not in Travis County. Hmmm, so the wild animals get to the county line and stop to think "I need to go around this county". Yeah. Right. Now I find a somewhat similar map that shows cougar mortalities instead of sightings - https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_w7000_0232.pdf That map shows cougar mortality only in one adjacent county to the northwest.

Other people with more personal knowledge can handle the 'trails ride' recommendations. But I have recommendations fro planning your trip. I plan to drive not more than 4 or 5 hours most days. I try to plan a ride that is about that distance away. So on a trip to Moab (hitting only the high points, not every ride) Palo Duro Canyon (Amarillo) Taos NM Durango CO Phil's World (Cortez CO only about 2 hours from Durango but not to be missed) Moab UT Return Trip Fruita CO Breckenridge CO Colorado Springs Palo Duro again Waco We never felt like were just trapped in the truck for hour after hour after hour.

You were lucky the derailleur or hanger were not bent or damaged. I see this a lot on my bikes and my wife's bike. I don't think it has to do with 'not tightening the axle enough' because I have torqued axles down to where that was aluminum juice squeezing out. Some of my axles consistently loosen and some never seem to. I have cleaned threads, checked clearances, checked alignment, etc. etc. etc. No change. The ones that loosen - still do. The ones that stay tight - still do that too. What has worked for me is to check the axle when I check the tire pressure before every ride. It only takes a second to check. And I have never had one come loose during a ride since I started checking.

It is always error prone to take a small sample and extrapolate that to the entire population. It does not matter what you are looking at. But I think there is a more obvious reason it *appears* so many of the new arrivals to Austin are from California. Those new arrivals like to tell you that they are from California. And extend that to say what was done in California should be done here. So if that was the "fix" in California, why did you move here???? (Said from the perspective of someone who worked in the aerospace industry with almost nothing but California transplants. And got to watch them move back to California when the Austin facility closed.)

Make sure you hit Phil's World and ride Rib Cage. That alone is worth the trip. I have never managed to ride much in Durango even though we have stopped and tried several times. It has always rained when we were there. We just moved on to the desert where it had not rained.