cmc4130

Just an update:

on behalf of Austin Ridge Riders, I worked with  a Travis County grants writer to apply for a State grant to finish out the flow trail system at Reimer’s (four downhill trails and one return).  We won the $200K grant!   (There is not a specific date though to get started planning and building). 
 

Not mine, but the Black Market Mob was made in SoCal by S&M BMX.  
 

Here is a complete one for $1000

https://m.pinkbike.com/buysell/2989140/

Earlier this year we (ARR) walked the trail with Travis County and provided input to one of their downtown staff members who was applying for a $200K-ish State of Texas grant—part of which would  go towards finishing out the other four planned Flow Trails.  It was Travis County who contacted ARR about this—THEY want it finished, which is a refreshing attitude. 

We are supposed to hear back regarding that grant application this month!! Cross ya fingahs!

I'll be back in Northwest Arkansas on the weekend of November 13-15.  We're going to be going to stuff outside Bentonville-proper this time.  STOKED!

On 9/26/2020 at 11:01 AM, ATXZJ said:

100% this^

I (used) to see people at the gym and at work who were grossly out of shape, up and decide they were gonna take up an aggressive crossfit program or the old P90x to "lose weight". All they ended up doing was permanently injuring themselves, or at best just giving up after a couple of weeks.

You cant got from a sedentary office lifestyle to being active or erase decades of poor diet and lifestyle choices in 120 days. With the pandemic, I see people who should NOT be running, trying to get laps in on their lunch hour in the middle of the summer. One of the owners of a local auto dealership who's in his mid 50s tried that, and had a bad ass heart attack for it.

This is the one that scared the shit out of me:

https://www.bicycling.com/health-nutrition/a25337675/mark-weir-dodges-widowmaker-heart-attack/

 

Thanks for the link.  I oughta get heart tested.  I don't think I have symptoms, but it runs in my family also. My dad had a heart attack when I was around 25, and he's still here with those stents 20 years later.

EDIT. Just asked my folks, and my dad had the same condition as Mark Weir--"left anterior descending (LAD) artery, which is the main pipeline of blood supply to the heart."

On 8/26/2020 at 10:34 AM, RidingAgain said:

I found this video interesting to watch all that happens physically, with bike and rider, as the bike hits the ground.

What first caught my attention was a delay in the movement of the suspension of one of the bikes when it hit the ground. I understand this is in slow motion, but it was still interesting for me to see... And that the different FS designs react differently in time/movement after landing.

Then I began to look at how the rider movement was on each different suspension system.

I know... Many variables... But I thought it was worth taking a longer look at.

Here's the video...
 

 I wasn't expecting that much rear tire squish with 30 psi!    

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/13/austin-city-council-cut-police-budget-defund/

“Another $80 million in cuts would come from a yearlong process that will redistribute money used for civilian functions like forensic sciences, support services and victims’ services to other departments. About $50 million would come from reallocating dollars to a “Reimagine Safety Fund” that would divert money toward “alternative forms of public safety and community support through the yearlong reimagining process.”

The council's proposal also includes eliminating 150 vacant officer positions, so that the police department will begin fiscal year 2021 without any unfilled sworn positions.“

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2020/06/what-100m-from-the-apd-budget-looks-like/

Bill Spelman, a criminal justice policy researcher and former Austin City Council member, said one issue with defunding police departments as a way to deter police violence is that policymakers have to make sure the department’s duties are adjusted to reflect the budget cut. He said a reduced amount of officers with the same amount of duties could inadvertently lead to increased police brutality.

“If you’re taking money out of the police department and giving it somebody else, and they’re also taking the work that they used to have to do, it’s not a big deal from the police department’s point of view,” Spelman said. “If, on the other hand, we are removing that money to try to punish them, and we’re going to give them the same amount of work, they have the same number of calls to answer, the same number of crimes to deal with, then … there might be all sorts of consequences which none of us really want to have happen going on downstream.”

From 2017:

https://www.kut.org/post/austin-city-council-unanimously-rejects-police-contract
We’ve talked a lot about the numbers tonight,” said Council Member Alison Alter. “At the end of the night, we have to understand that if our police department is going to be the highest paid then we must also expect the highest level of transparency and accountability.”

Put in 18 miles with Carl today on SATN.   Stoked!

A "lot" of junk bikes . . . somehow adds up to be worth $300!!    Yellow Bike Project must be sitting on like $100,000 worth of bikes!!! 

https://austin.craigslist.org/bik/d/round-mountain-bicycle-lot/7092034112.html

2 hours ago, cxagent said:

That is *EXACTLY* what was intended. The green loop (Great Escape) is intended for everybody. There are still some mildly technical spots but not too technical for a newer or younger rider. I don't feel bad about a new rider walking about 100 feet of a roughly five mile loop.

We still need to built three bypasses for the remaining technical climbs on Great Escape. Someday. Hopefully soon.

I'm checking with the listed Trail Steward to see about plans for those bypasses. 

--Cullen, ARR Trails Program Director 

There are also old barbed wire fences in several places around the park. Y’all could tackle that. Although if you do, and you’re going to want to use tools, then lemme know so I can give a heads up to the Park. We may need to coordinate.

—Cullen

Austin Ridge Riders, Walnut Creek Trail Steward

The pump track has some broken plastic lawn chairs that I recently gathered up and need to be thrown away. Someone also brought out 4 office chairs that shouldn’t be there. (This is a PARK!) And an old rug. I know BMX trails culture uses carpets to keep moisture in jumps, but not appropriate here.  I was planning on getting rid of that stuff this week, so if your office thing is not this weekend, then it’ll already be gone....

At least among the Dirt Jumper dads, the Norco Ryde 24" https://www.norco.com/bikes/2019/mountain/dirt-jump/ryde-steel/ryde-24/ is most recommended for young DJ riders.    Note how short the chainstays are--the rear 24" wheel comes up close to the seat tube. The chainstays (rear-center length) are only 367mm or 14.4 inches.  For a little kid to learn a bunnyhop or manual (or even just to lift the front wheel off the ground), short chainstays make a big difference.  Compare with a 26" hardtail that has closer to 16" chainstays,  With a 29" hardtail, the shortest chainstays you normally get are around 430mm (16.9"). https://www.konaworld.com/unit.cfm 

The NS Clash JR. is similar, but is intended for gears. https://nsbikes.com/clash-jr,119,pl.html   

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/ns-bikes-clash-jr-hardtail-bike-2020/rp-prod187090

The Specialized P.Grom was also popular, but hard to find these days. https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2703757/

Something like the Specialized Hotrock https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2713986/ does not have short chainstays.  https://austin.craigslist.org/bik/d/austin-specialized-hot-rock-bike-24/7075302188.html

https://austinparks.givepulse.com/event/167738-Walnut-Creek-Metro-Park-Mountain-Bike-Trail-improvements?fbclid=IwAR0yjQD8qPwDoNOyF-EwUrDPgDKXTFNX3WopXmaJs5WlVX6ucMsIAi5xElE
 

https://m.facebook.com/events/221255545933940?acontext={"ref"%3A"3"%2C"action_history"%3A"null"}&aref=3

Integrated the left-side jump option with a more consistent transition; added dirt to landing area; removed side rail logs that were getting knocked crooked (which also allows for someone to roll off the side easier). 

Pics from work day.   Adding Log features back to Outer Log Loop.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=464574400881733&id=278952176110624

Part of where I got the idea from was Keystone Bike Park back in 2011. They have a lot of features built with cut tree logs, and the logs get exposed, either intentionally or not. 

http://www.bikemojo.com/speak/68-dh-urban-trials-bmx-dirt-jumping/90258-vail-keystone-winter-park.html#post1044056

I don't know where this photo was taken (from the Internet), but these are the size and straightness of logs that we'd ideally be using. 

Here's an indoor version at Ray's in Cleveland (although slightly different, with logs on the up and middle). 

Here's a  flat ground version, but it shows the idea of jumping them.

http://www.bikemojo.com/speak/14-austin-voodoo/95383-walnut-creek-wednesday-workday-june-19-a-2.html

This has been a concept I have had for a long time, and is the basis of what we're doing on the Outer Log Loops:  a log feature where there is dirt up, logs in the middle, and dirt down.  You can optionally go slower and ride the logs, go faster and skim them, or pull up and jump them.    

On the first one (at the beginning of Outer Log Loops), we spent one 3-hour Austin Ridge Rider work day cutting and gathering logs, then another ARR work day building it (Jan 19):  https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=467776887228151&id=278952176110624
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=464574400881733&id=278952176110624

We intend on making more upgrades (like more dirt on the right side of the logs to hold them solid.   (The little dirt kicker that was added to the top left side was an unauthorized addition, and I've had several conversations with the guy who added it. I'm going to re-do it further to the left, but not tearing what he did down until that time).  

There are also plans to improve the second one (after the 180 berm). So, basically, both will get upgraded to version 2.0.   (The drawing says 3 feet tall, but right now, they're only about 2 feet tall).  (The drawing has two features back-to-back, but on Outer Log, it's just a single feature.)

--Cullen

Austin Ridge Riders, Trail Steward, Walnut Creek Park

With the rain today (Friday), we will have great dirt-work conditions by Sunday morning!! 

https://www.facebook.com/events/461357238073094/

https://www.meetup.com/mountainbikes-130/events/267991886/?isFirstPublish=true

Next trail work day:

Sat Jan 25 Walnut -- ARR Trail Work,   8:30am (Pay Dirt)

https://www.meetup.com/mountainbikes-130/events/267906418/

We had a huge turnout, thanks to NICA (high school mountain bike racers and their families).  Re-covered/blocked old Powerline Hill (after the electric company cleared out their easement; it had grown over pretty well in the last 3 years).   Did a lot of work on Tangle of Trails' Flow Section.  A couple rollers for diverting water, two fixed berms, two new/improved berms. 

THANKS Y'ALL!

Cullen

Austin Ridge Riders, Walnut Creek Trail Steward and Trails Program Coordinator

Austin Ridge Riders Trail Work at Walnut, January 11, 2020.  8:30am

https://www.meetup.com/mountainbikes-130/events/267452180/?isFirstPublish=true

https://www.facebook.com/events/466991820683754/

(edit . . . probably spoke too soon about getting out Tuesday eve.  we'll see   : / )

You look at photos like this and think WE CAN BUILD THAT.