AntonioGG

Brushy Creek's Peddler's Pass. In the summer you can do the Splash Pad, picnic, rent a kayak, etc. I'm positive I've seen one of those creepy ice cream trucks parked there in the summer. My kid rocked Peddler's on his 24" hotrock, then 26" hardrock (this is upgraded and for sale btw) now on a 29er he's moved onto doing deception. Peddler's is still his favorite trail. Then there's Suburban Ninja, park at RedHorn, go ride, then go have a drink.

We need to carry on the history thread here.

That's awesome thanks! I was a bit confused trying to figure out which trails to grab on Snow White but now I know. The only question is, which direction is most common for Gnargasm and Snow White? I've been riding them ccw. Given the feature at the connection between Gnargasm returns and Snow White, I'm thinking that's the "correct" direction. I've never ridden Caddyshack. I was wondering if what I was seeing from the BCRT was a trail. Now I know. Also, it was my first time riding Brushy Creek in weeks, and my first time riding Peddler's in months. That new section is awesome. Thanks to Ronan and all who contributed. My 12yo loved it even though on his first time yesterday he either cleared everything on 1/4 E2W the first time or on the 2nd try.

You'll have to ride to MLK and do the U-Turn. I fully expect to ride the sidewalks and crosswalks, but when I rode there was a clear in traffic so it was safe to get on the road and do the U-turn lane, then got back on the sidewalk. One thing to watch out for is that Westbound drivers on MLK have a dedicated turn lane and may not be watching for you to cross there. We opted to exit the turn lane onto the crosswalk and use the island between the turn lane and the main 183 access road. There's a temporary paved path connecting you from the sidewalk to the YMCA parking lot and trailhead. I didn't see a water fountain, but there was a hose bib to refill, and one of those sets of tools at the trailhead.

Killer deal on an S-works with automatic transmission. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/621649548306293/

I third Mack’s 1-5 with emphasis on #3 Pump track (not jump track). i love the lumberyard because it has a basic pump track. My 5yo nephew can play around in it and I finally learned how to pump and I wasn’t bored. Then they have more advanced tracks and also mtb skills like skinnies and drops and step ups. btw, that area is kind of a bike shop desert. If someone were to open up a bike shop in east Austin close to the SWCT I think they’ll do well.

Sunday we rode (on road bikes) past the north entrance to BMX and saw a kid with his tiny BMX bike caked in mud. It was so bad his dad was having to scrape it off or carry it because it wasn't rolling. 😞

I have no problem with dogs. I had 4 (and a cat) at one time. Back up to 1 after going back to zero (losing them is so tough.) My problem is with people, specifically bad owners who: Don't pick up after their dog (I know on leash doesn't guarantee they will, but off leash the dog goes wherever and owner is not aware). Coliform bacteria in our water is real. Have dogs that have zero recall. Have dogs that are aggressive toward other dogs or toward people or toward cyclists. I've had dogs charge me multiple times. I've had dogs attack my dogs. Get "confused", and think all parks are off leash. It's only a few apples that ruin the barrel. I used to take my dogs to the trail, but I stopped because of the above reasons.

I think all those are public. So it is not an issue. Or is Circle C public? Steiner Ranch is also private. I've only been there as a guest of a resident.

I had a 9 gallon HF compressor, it lasted for about 10 years. The motor tank and compressor were still good, but I had to replace a plumbing piece early on, and more plumbing pieces toward the end. I recommend getting an oil bath compressor, not the oil-less. The intake muffler was very cheap. The thing was super loud. You'll find more uses for the compressor eventually.

+1

double post

There was an interesting post there where someone posted that the reason it's LD is because the City said they'd close the trail down because they didn't have the budget to maintain it. Since when has CoA maintained any trail? Do they mean cleaning up litter or actual trail maintenance? What they need to do is just ban off-leash completely and start fining people that don't pick up dog waste and people that litter. Use that money to pay the people that empty the trash cans.

You have until March! I've never hiked the trail but my wife has used the courts (I think because she was playing a local), and I've parked in the lot when I'm doing Big View repeats.

Definitely need to upgrade to geared loppers. And that tree pruner, I have a nice one with a saw at the end, but the lack of string on this one seems very nice!

And I'm down in the rabbit hole.... This little jewel was in there, with reference to getting out of Steiner Ranch/Riverplace like it's the state penitentiary or something! LOL!

DING DING DING DING!

Yeah my wife hates touchpads, while I use mine even for CAD work. Though I have to admit, they are vastly different from brand to brand. Some are horrible. I'm just glad you don't like the little joystick thing. Now, those people are weird. 🙂 The landscape of what ports come with new laptops is changing. I haven't looked into the latest Windows laptops but I think they mostly come with HDMI now. That may be a consideration for you depending on whether you already have a monitor.

Are you a heavy typist? Are you picky about keyboard feel? How about do you like a touchpad or the little nub some laptops have? Having asked all that, someone here was listing a Lenovo T460 new for $450 (killer deal). If you can swing that extra $150 you'll get quite a lot more quality. I've bought really cheap laptops and have been unhappy with them mostly because of keyboard feel and touchpad feel. I personally stay away from the cheap HP. Lenovos seem to do really well (one of two choices we have at work). My wife is very happy with her Acer. I also have a mini tower Acer that's my media computer. I've had it since 2010 and still works great. I'm pretty happy with the Acer brand quality. If I were buying for the purpose of what you're describing, I'd pick by keyboard feel (because I'm picky and I'm a heavy typist), touchpad performance, screen resolution, then I'd maximize the memory and disk size for my budget. Without needing graphics capability, you should be able to get what you want for $300.

sa·cré bleu!

The one place I read that gave a reason for this was because of how one way your chain is impossible to extract if it gets jammed in there vs the other way. It seemed reasonable. I have not read specific reasons as to why to do it the other way.

51st is awesome in comparison. Most of the way you have a wide lane and part of the way you have bollards dividing you from the traffic. We felt safe riding on the road lane when we didn't have our own lane. On Desau, even the sidewalk made me nervous because the road lanes and the sidewalk are very narrow and the cars are flying, racing, revving engines. The sidewalk was also very trashy. It was a bit crazy for 3:30pm on a Sunday afternoon. I think you ride this during the week right? https://www.strava.com/activities/2089808863

I've been building wheels for a few years too. Matt, I re-built the PowerTap wheel (with ZTR 355) wheel you built for me back in 2010. I couldn't keep that thing tensioned to save my life. I went with an Arch rim and changed the lacing (the CycleOps manual has some notes on how this thing is unconventional) and that seemed to fix the problems. I had always meant to talk to you about this to get your thoughts on it. It's partly troublesome because it has a relatively low max tension limit. I also use Spocalc.xls which is Damon Rinard's creation and I think that's what Sheldon Brown links to. Now, what's the deal with which spokes are innies vs outies? I've seen conflicting opinions on this and for different reasons.

Wow! Desau Rd. is terrible on a Sunday afternoon. We just rode the sidewalk the whole way. There's no good Northeast passage as far as I'm concerned. In the future I'll just take 51st to the SWCT and get extra miles some other way.

Their CK website says SD axle is not compatible with LD hubs. I'm guessing LD axles will not go into SD hubs. https://chrisking.com/collections/iso-small-parts/products/iso-b-and-sd-front-axles