Barry

It's after 1PM and the sun and the wind have been useless all day for drying roads, much less trails. R&I is dead.

The trails were right on the edge of rideable last night--with mixed reports. And we just got another 0.1" of rain on top of it. I'd say there's some chance it'll be okay, but perhaps not. Certainly it will not be good if we get more rain. But I'll report back if I get an update.

I found that video on FaceSpace. You can see I have my right foot forward. https://www.facebook.com/jessicadavis36/videos/941633236700142

That video was the result of 4 progressively less impressive efforts. The first one, I hopped up on the ledge, did a perfect little track stand, and the side hopped off the left side, landing both wheels at the same time. At that point, @Jessica decided to get videos. The very next run, I hopped up just fine, and just rolled off the other side with no problem, but I wasn't able to manage a track-stand. The next run was aborted because I didn't like the run-up, but still more impressive than the fall-off. The video above was the 4th run. At the time, I thought there was a chance that my left hand was broken. It still hurts a bit, but I've biked over 500 miles in the 17 days since it happened, so it can't be that bad, right? It's good though because the video shows exactly what went wrong. I distinctly recall on the first and most successful attempt, that I landed on top of the slab with my left foot forward. And I've long observed that I can't track-stand for shit with my right root forward--and I downhill and usually coast left foot forward as well, even though I'm right handed. And on the roll-off attempt, and the fall, I landed on the slab with my right foot forward. So I need to do one of three things. 1) just stop screwing around because I'm old. 2) learn to track stand with my right foot forward, or 3) learn to land step-ups and trials moves with my left foot forward.

I'm not sure if a joke went over my head or @mack_turtle's head.

My company (a freakin' Berkshire Hathaway owned company) is literally moving to Broken Arrow, OK next year because they can't afford the rising employee and real estate costs in Austin. And he's coming here because it's cheaper. What a world.

I'm an absolute master at step-ups and certainly never fall to the side. https://photos.app.goo.gl/xhYLziLdSZfNRpGr5

The bottom bell has become my friend.

"New signs" might explains things. But I'm looking forward to seeing how explicit this is outside of the flow trail.

The only place that I find calling the trails "one direction" is TrailForks. And even there some say "popular in reverse." 😄

Like I mentioned, I knew the Flow Trail was directional...but I can't find any information to confirm that the other trails there are directional. I haven't seen it at the park, nor can I find it online. I see arrows pointing, but that can just be used as a trail marker. Specifically directional trails need much more clear indicators, like a "wrong way" sign, a "do not enter" sign, or a "one way" sign. I dug though the park website, but wasn't able to find any indication of directional trails. From where did you glean this information?

I'm pretty sure only the Flow Trail is direction. I think those are just suggestions.

That's a nice option to hit the middle trail after Fenceline to get you back up by the Flow Trail climb.

This is new with the update. When using either an Android or iPhone with Chrome in mobile mode, the "X" which closes the notification window, is mostly covering the "bell" which allows you to view the notifications. The same happens in either landscape or portrait mode in mobile. Like this: It makes it exceedingly difficult to view the notifications, since you're likely to hit either the "X" or the mailbox icons instead. There is no issue with the desktop mode, even when using a mobile device, because the format of the notification window is different.

So far as open meadow type trails go (which I don't usually enjoy), I actually find this one kind of fun. There are enough big turns and little g-outs to keep it interesting if you hit it fast enough. And it was supper fun the one time I did it on my gravel bike.

I like to start with a short warm-up on the green trails. Then I loop back to the start and (after a dozen runs on the wooden pump track), I head into the blue and black trails, making sure I get them all and try not to get distracted with that middle trail that cuts between them. I finish up the blue trails with the northern most singletrack (Jen's Loop on TrailForks), and then hit Fenceline headed west. This routes me back into the green trails for an easy spin to end things. Now you're back at the lot wondering if you need to hit all the black trails backwards or go hit the Flow trail. And of course you should do both.

Funny. I think of summer as bourbon weather. And winter is Scotch weather. Summer is also great for tequila obviously. Any weather is good for rye. Like Raylan Givens said, “Bourbon is easy to understand. Tastes like a warm summer day.”

Nice. Now you only have about 900 reviews to catch up on.

I immediately remembered this story when I saw this sign... I can't even guess why someone would follow another onto a teeter. How do they think that thing works? You can see this one at the top left of the photo. But this is the shortest/tallest that I've ever seen. I'd really like to see it done before I do it.

I was also watching quite a few whisky reviewers at one point. Now I only watch Ralfy--and not even every episode. I probably look forward to his Extras more than his reviews. The prize for worse whisky YouTube goes to the ATX local Whiskey Tribe. The only thing worse and more annoying than them, is their fans. I'm pretty sure they're all PewDiePie fans. I'm currently doing a working/bike trip to view our new BrokenArrow facility. 5 consecutive days of riding that kicked off with DORBA's JudgmentDay. (Turns out a 111 mile trail ride is a tough way to start a trip.) But the relevant thing is my go-bar. I've included a couple of my favorite cheap travel whiskies, including Wee Beastie and EW BIB.

As I understand it, they rode bicycles in the woods at ideal temperatures. So I imagine it was great.

This comment goes for Millican as well; When finding a route out there, DO NOT USE ProjectMTB! TrailFork shows 2× the number of trails for Lake Brian than on ProjectMTB. There are trails on both sides of the lake and it looks like nearly 20 miles now. Amd ProjectMTB doesn't even show Millican. But TF shows a newer system of trails in the North Eastern area. So probably a decent number there as well. Or use Strava Heatmaps. But ProjectMTB us pointless these days.

Do you plan to continue bicycle riding over the next several years? If so, DIY. The supplies are quite inexpensive. Sure, watch a couple of YouTube, but the Shimano instructions work PERFECTLY!

In.

Taco Flats has a nice jalapeño margarita that I've enjoyed. But I've never made a spicy one at home.They also have a spicy frozen margarita--that just seems confusing. And they have one of my favorite cocktails in town, La Dosos. It's a kind of egg white whisky sour with an Islay malt AND mescal!