brentb

In an attempt to beat whatever rain we get this weekend, I tried to ride early this morning. The slimestone on rim trail was treacherous so after a bit of that nonsense I turned around. It was otherwise a great ride this morning (around 9:30) and I saw only one other rider on the trails.

13 minutes ago, RidingAgain said:

Oh shoot... I thought it was this month. Thanks for the heads up, I would have been setting up at Bike Farm wondering where everyone was.

 

I hadn't been to a frankenbike in a while, and I have a couple old MTBs to get rid of, so I'm glad you posted the link.

1 hour ago, RidingAgain said:

Getting ready for Frankenbike this coming Saturday.

https://frankenbike.net/frankenbike-austin-162-saturday-march-30-2019-10am-4pm-at-austin-bike-farm/

You are posting from four weeks in the future.

What is the future like, besides having Frankenbike still?

2 hours ago, gotdurt said:

Okay, checked out Spider Mt with Ganderson today, and here's my take, for anyone interested:

We did the green (Itsy Bitsy) first; .... but it is a legit beginner trail.

The blue (Viper's Den) was pretty good at first but got boring after 5 or so runs (for us). It's a mild jumpy-bermy trail, so those that like that stuff will probably wear it out.

[...]

IMO, they need a legit black; something like "Viper's Den" in steepness (and thus length, too), but with the tech of "Stinger".

Unfortunately, we totally forgot about the 1/2 blue (Venom), which is accessible from the green... I'll go back and hit it when they get another trail or 2.

I went out today, too. I ignored the blacks since I have no confidence in my brakes right now, and stuck to the green and blues.

I think your descriptions are spot-on. Itsy Bitsy is pretty swoopy in its numerous bermed switchbacks, so you can get pumpy with that. Stay high and out of the gravel and this trail just got more fun.

Viper's Den has two turns not far from the start that are going to need rebuilding. The berms were blowing out, so by the time I left today, I think it was the one of the right-hander berms that had a huge rut along the upper half. Someone out there told me they had "200 riders" yesterday and attacked like locusts. There were these blown out turns, and numerous holes from the rocks knocked out of the trail.

I hit Venom (the blue that starts 1/2 way down) a couple times. It's a little (barely) more tech than Viper's Den, but empties out into the hardpack jump line. Nice table top jumps (6-8' I'd guess, lip-to-lip), well packed, and good visibility. Definitely a fun line.

Oh, the pricing is $50 for the lift ticket. No land-access fee that we were seeing on the website, just the lift ticket.

And the chicken tacos from that little trailer were awesome.

10 hours ago, circuitbreaker said:

here a great reference map:

https://caltopo.com/m/6DN1

 

OK, that's very cool, thanks for the info. I'll have to try this app out with the archive of .gpx files I have.

2 minutes ago, Albert said:

Dave's Ditch. I didnt ride it on Thursday as there was still plenty of water at the top and the limestone gets super sick. I'll check it out again tomorrow. 

Thanks. The water was just a trickle tonight, but I'm going to head back to check out the rest soon.

4 hours ago, Albert said:

I was going to ride today, but I'm a pussy and didn't want to ride in the cold, so I'll ride tomorrow instead.

Ha, that was me today. I finally headed out at 4:30 and had a good ride until dark.

Speaking of which...

Because I've been away from my bikes a while, I am not familiar with all the trails built out at brushy creek. I have ridden deception for a a few years and knew of picnic, but I'm surprised at how much trail there is now. It's a lot of good trail.

So I took rim trail to it's end, where it drops into the limestone ditch near the park boundary. I followed that downstream (towards the main trail) to the first drop. What's the name of this? Heading downstream, 183A is on the left.

2 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

1. proximity to Austin so I can ride it.

2. shade, so it can be ridden in the summertime without baking alive. (get TXDoT to give us some space under an overpass!)

3. rollable pump track

4. drops of various heights

5. maze of skinnies

6. alligator pit to jump over. I dunno, never ridden a bike park.

56 minutes ago, TheX said:

Big pit full of foam things for flipping in to.

Definitely 1-5 from mack_turtle. TheX, maybe a big pit of foam alligators. Make everyone happy.

I've been looking for other videos of indoor bike parks, and I ran some numbers. The old industrial cities have lots of warehouses / factory buildings that are unused, and therefore cheap. Ray's MTB park in Cleveland is about 120,000 sq.ft. -- nearly 3 acres! The Lumberyard, the Wheel Mill, Joyride 150, etc. I found about ten indoor parks.

An otherwise unused space under an overpass would be awesome.

Joyride's pump track: 

Ditto the comment about Fruita. Lots of trails and networks there, see the Bookcliffs.

And should it be interesting, the Raven's nest zipline in Moab was fun. My daughter and I did that last year. The lines go from fin-to-fin at the northwestern edge of the slickrock trail. 

Oh no! Is it a break?

The instagram post answered the question about carrying the bikes. I guess they go up on hooks before you, and the lifties unload them?

Well, I don't like the prices, but I'll go try it out.

BTW, how are the bikes carried up? Hooks on the chairs? Hold it in your lap?

Just got the email. Opens Friday Feb 8.

Might have to call in sick due to a ... spider bite.

I wouldn't put much stock in anything the website says until they actually open. It may have just been some copy-paste sloppiness from a more traditional skiing season pass policy.

I'm eager to try it out, however it is

3 hours ago, olddbrider said:

Any updates on the opening date for those of us who aren't on the email list?

IDK about email. Nada on twitter, IG, or website yet.

2 hours ago, Bamwa said:

Cant wait to marathon the chairlift!

I wonder how many runs would be possible in a day

Look what I found this evening: Copyright says 1993, 1994.

What this thread is telling me is I need to toss some crap out.

On 1/2/2019 at 11:35 AM, Browndog said:

I wonder if I still have my Kelly Creek t-shirt somewhere.

Auugghhh. My shirt was just destroyed. I thought that shirt would never die, but my dog grabbed it and ran, and my daughter decided to help out and grabbed the other end of the shirt, pulled, and it ripped. This happened a couple weeks ago!

Kelly Creek was a good trail. I raced it once back in '94 I think.