rbetzing

On 5/27/2019 at 1:17 PM, Cafeend said:

When we were out there Saturday working a family went by and they had a little girl , maybe 3rd or 4th grade. She rode by us and said real loud and happy "this is the best trail EVER!!"
Somehow hearing her and seeing the smiles of her family mean alot to me as a dad and Honeybadger and KOM should be real proud.
A trail that can make a little grom like her smile and a crusty old rider smile then that's cool.

My 3rd going into 4th grade daughter absolutely thinks PP is the best trail ever.  Really grateful for all the people who have spent hours and $'s making this thing what it is.  

Went and rode snow white just now and part of gumdrop.  Still some rutty spots on gumdrop.  Snow white is beautiful.  

I was actually thinking today, I think snow white is the perfect trail for a beginner.  The 3 things that beginners(myself included) struggle with is technical climbing, downhill cornering, and jumping.  Snow white has all three in a nicely packaged loop that you can ride over and over again. I find myself taking those corners a little faster, getting a little more lift off that jump, and dying a little less on those climbs,  and I know I'm improving.  

Even that berm they built after you cross under Parmer and go down the hill is awesome.  I used to wash out like a boss on that flat corner trying to get speed to climb that hill, now you can bank around that berm and launch up that hill.  SO awesome!

3 hours ago, Tree Magnet said:

Every family that takes their kid out there for their first REAL ride on a REAL mountain bike trail appreciates what you've built.  We fix what they mess up and we ride on.  

For the record, I bought my daughter her first real mountain bike for her 10th birthday, and her first real MTB ride was on snow white then peddlers pass.  She hasn't stopped talking about it for the past two weeks 🙂 Especially the fact that she rode a trail called "snow white." 

Report from the eastside - As you can see, Brushy creek swallowed up the bottom of gumdrop. 

Rode over to Snow White, which is totally rideable. Also rode most of gumdrop from west to east and it’s in good shape.

I’d never known about the rest of “Candyland” until I saw the kick ass map that First Blood posted. I went up Snow White around what I believe is Joshua’s drop(y’all are crazy) then rode along that upper trail by the golf course( think it’s called “abort”  on the map.) Finally saw the end of gnargasm in person, had only seen that ramp over the boulders in pictures and videos. Y’all are f*ckin crazy.  Went up what believe was caddy shack, there was some wet limestone along a somewhat exposed ledge, sketchy enough that I walked my happy ass back up to that abort trail and rode a few sessions on the jump at the bottom of Snow White. 

Also rode playground which is in great shape except for one small rutty spot. 

Super cool discovering some new trails, but my rookie ass is gonna stick to peddlers pass for a while lol.  

Everything was a giant mud pit yesterday...I'm about to go check out Candyland, will update shortly.  

15 minutes ago, First-Blood said:

Did you ride into the new development. Some bug hucks in there right now and you can rut it up all you want.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

That’s a really good idea actually. I wanted to go for a ride before work tomorrow and wasn’t sure where if any trails would be dry enough to ride. Might as well go take advantage of all the dirt their pushing around over there!

Rode from my house (Brightwater/Wyoming Springs) to the YMCA and back just now.  Didn't really get off the BCRT.  Hot mess out there. 

11 minutes ago, cxagent said:

I tell people that around Austin we night ride two times a year - Summer time and Winter time. In the summer it is too hot to ride when the sun is still up. Winter it is dark when I get off work. So we mountain bike with lights at night.

Your picture makes me think you have one light. I strongly encourage you to ride with two lights. First - the new lights/batteries don't get dimmer and dimmer as the battery runs down. They stay near full brightness until they shut off. At night, alone, in the dark when your one light suddenly shutting off can be a disaster. Second, my eyes can't judge distance and speed with only one light. A handle bar light seems to never point where I need to see when I need it most. So I put the light on my helmet so the light is always pointing where I'm looking. Then the light is so close to my sight line that it does not throw a shadow. I never knew how much that shadow is used to give depth perspective until I tried to ride with just a helmet light.

You can find decent lights/batteries on Amazon for around $30. One good crash saved is worth that much. Of course it is your choice.

I agree, could definitely see riding a lot at night when the Austin summer sets in.

Thanks for the advice...I actually ride with a helmet light, as well as two flashlights mounted on my handlebars, and a handful of spare batteries in my backpack.  Shut off the helmet light for this pic.  It would absolutely be a disaster if I lost my light somewhere in the middle of peddlers pass, especially on the west side. 

I just got into the sport about 8 weeks ago and I am absolutely hooked. By far the most fun I’ve had with my pants on. I’ve got a single speed hardtail 29er and I’m still learning how to ride. Best time at PP is currently just over 22 minutes. I went ahead and signed up for the race, fully expect to be DFL but I don’t care cause it’s gonna be a blast. 

In other news...anyone tried riding it at night? I rigged up a pretty solid light setup and gave it a whirl a few nights ago. Totally  different world out there in the dark lol .