radiantm3

Today was a fantastic ride. Had my best run on deception today. Made it through 1/4 notch from the bottom to the top with 1 dab. Usually I can clear the whole thing pretty easily, but I rode from home so I was already about 4-5 miles into my ride. Then I figured the weather was good enough to punish myself a bit more and continued my way down double down (after a quick break, obviously). Made it to the bottom with only 3 quick dabs. Usually my foot goes down 5-6x. Felt great.

If you HAVE to pedal to keep the front wheel up, then you haven't found the natural balance point yet. Front wheel needs to go higher. Once you are in the natural balance point you should be able to stop pedaling and the front wheel shouldn't drop. It's also much easier to control the bike left to right and it doesn't want to flop to one side like it does when the wheel isn't high enough. I've been practicing wheelies almost every day (when it doesn't rain) for the past 10 months or so. I'm not great at it, but it's definitely easier to find that balance point when the bike is already rolling fast. But the biggest thing to remember is that if you have to keep pedaling and pedal faster to keep the front up, you aren't at the balance point. Same goes for if your front wheel keeps flopping to the left or right really easily.

I didn’t even know trains passed on that bridge. Is it that one red light rail that goes to downtown Austin?

That must have been quite a sight to see at speed.

Hey we don’t change the trails to meet our skill level. We need elevate our skills to match what’s required for the trail. 😅 I kid I kid. But honestly I’ve been enjoying the challenge of picking my line carefully with all the leaves. And the berms still provide tons of grip.

So that’s his secret. They absorb all the impact.

Still that’s legit. Why am I crying over here about my 130mm rear travel. 😓

Wait you hit that 10ft drop on a hard tail? 😳

I hit the b line wood feature 4x today. Nothing to it. That main drop though. I need to work on something similar but 1/2-3/4 that size first. It doesn’t look impossible for me though. I can see myself hitting it someday. But maybe not on my 130 rear travel trail bike. 😳

Ah yea I can see how that could be a mental block. It doesn’t look bad from the top but it’s probably just the POV.

I saw the grade of the ladder yesterday. Didn’t seem any steeper than the end of the big mulligan “drop”. But I suppose looks can be deceiving.

I want to see someone send it on the drop.

New cockpit for my Dirt Jumper.

I checked the map and thought it was the north side, but you guys could be right. But it's on the end of Picnic closest to the 183. Not the basket drop area.

Nice! I looked at that feature so many times before deciding to just "send it" one day. It definitely looks scarier than it actually is, but the key is staying loose and absorbing the compression a bit with your legs on the landing. I think alarms went off in my head as I approached the edge for at least the first 10-15 times of hitting that feature. It's definitely a mental challenge. The left drop on gum drop actually scares me the most now because it's basically a huck to flat and it's a pretty hard hit (at least on my 150/130 travel bike).

Anyone have a favorite feature at Brushy? Mine has to be the left drop at the beginning of the north end of picnic. It’s not the most difficult drop, but is exciting because you enter pointing down, drop for a few feet and then land going downhill which just shoots you down the trail. Makes me smile every time.

When I see posts like this from people running for office in Cedar Park, things start to make a little more sense. 😬 https://www.facebook.com/timkellyforcedarpark/posts/564460724154635 "One of my campaign issues was NO BIKE LANES in Cedar Park. It's a part of Austin WE DON'T want in Cedar Park. On top of that it is a safety hazard. If anyone is for bike lanes, DO NOT VOTE FOR THEM this election. Keep Leftist lunacy out of Cedar Park."

This is why us riders need to be extra patient and courteous to trail users not on bikes. If we act like they don’t belong on our trails, it never ends well for our sport. Unfortunately it takes a lot more work to build trails than to tear them apart. Sad to see things like this happening. I see a lot of people enjoying walks on SN as much we we enjoy riding there. Can’t see why any anyone would hate us riding out there unless some of us have been acting like dicks to “hikers”.

No this is still work in progress. If you take the left line, there’s a new berm that goes left right where the little jump to hip is. If you follow that there’s a downhill line to the right which leads into a jump and an insanely big drop if you went straight.

So who’s building a Redbull Hardline drop on Snail? Looks legit and something I’m not willing to hit. Looks like a 10-20ft drop at least. My legs were shaking as I stood near the ledge.

Same! I always thought they might be good for extending rides and getting through long climbs (something we don’t have much of here), but i was surprised by what it really brought. Speed! It made riding suburban ninja almost as exciting as flying down spider mountain.

3. 😁 I'm glad to help out when I can. I really appreciate the work you guys have put in so far and this place is going to be a complete gem.

I snuck a ride today. 😁

Finally brave enough to hit the large step up at the walnut pump track.

I’ll worry about that when the time comes. Learning by experience as I go. I’ve only gotten 1 unrepairable flat in the last 2 years. Going to stick with those odds for now.