The Tip

How much rain can it take and still be in good enough shape for the ARR ride this Saturday? And are the RV sites affected by rain? We've got a spot for Friday night but everything is looking so iffy now I'm trying to decide what to do

Progress!

It's tomorrow. ATX Bikes has lined up a great raffle table this year. Good stuff. Food and drinks too of course. Gonna be fun https://www.atxbikes.com/articles/s.a.t.n.-social-pg1250.htm

Wow. That is a big news. That will for sure keep you busy.

There were a lot of signs at various trailheads that said "no e-bikes or pedal assist bikes."

This travel section is helpful. I got a lot of useful info from Throet's original post. What I have to add about Sedona is to "respect the trail ratings." If it says it's a black diamond trail...it is. I also figured out that Double Black Diamond means that you will probably hurt yourself WHEN YOU ARE WALKING YOUR BIKE! lol. For real though, I almost did an endo on Hog Heaven walking my bike on a precarious spot. Crazy stuff.

Was just there. Grindstone Lake trails were all good to go. The riding had LOTS of climbing. LOTS of scenery. Trails were fun and interesting. The Cedar Creek system was closed. The town is mostly business as usual. But driving around we did see lots of burnt buildings and also mud covered businesses.

phruck

I'm trying this again. Can you see the picture?

A long time ago I was invited to go for a night ride. I declined and thought that those guys were crazy going out on the trails, that were hard enough in the day time, but now in the dark. But then I finally did and just kicked myself for waiting so long to do so. Lots of fun, Interesting phenomena is I'll set PRs without even trying, I frequently say, "All new trail at night" too. Things change. Not worse, just different. You should have at least two lights. One on handlebars and one on helmet.

My pedal clearance is lower on my Santa Cruz than any mtbike I've ever had. It's taken a bit getting use to. It's a mullet, so maybe the 27.5 rear tire has more effect than I thought it would.

I now have three pairs of dedicated burr socks because I've given up picking them clean. When all three pairs are dirty I hand wash them by themselves.

I have a Santa Cruz Heckler S. So far I've had no trouble with it. I tell people it's just another arrow in the quiver. I enjoyed a long ride on my Niner the other day for example. I ride the Santa Cruz ebike on group rides because I don't want them waiting on me.

Fortunately Travis County "gets" mountain biking. So hopefully it won't be that hard of a sell to have mtb trails included in the planning.

"Too much trail" is an oxymoron. So this will be a good thing. Even better if they can get an easement to connect both parks. I've read a couple of articles about it. One just said "trails" but another one specifically included "mountian biking trails." Hopefully they won't slap the dreaded "preserve" designation on this tract. Sad but true, now when I read things like this, I seriously hope that it can happen "in my lifetime." lol Like the Great Springs Project. https://www.tpr.org/environment/2023-07-30/like-texas-appalachian-trail-great-springs-project-working-to-connect-austin-and-san-antonio The Violet Crown Trail was first envisioned in 1999. Here we are 25 years later and it is still not complete. I onced asked the VCT head project manager how long it would be before the section from the south end of Purple Tiarra to the parking lot at 45 and Mopac opened. This is on Water Quality Protection land, like Maxwell Trail. He said, "Not long, not long at all." When pressed for a time he said, "Maybe five years." Five years! The point being that trail buidling isn't so hard, but getting land owners permissions and agreements to build are. Oh, by the way, that conversation happened over five years ago. And still...no trail there.

We had about 70 folks start off. Good turnout for an iffy weather day. But the rain held off until the very last. Good event

The weather doesn't look perfect, but it looks like it might work. So it's happening. Fast Friends is going to give all participants a dollar off their first post ride beer. Hey, it's something.

Yes, locks don't stop dedicated bike thieves. They only prevent thefts by opportunity.

I think all the warnings and disaster proclamations ("Buy extra food! Stores will run out!!" etc) are going to be another Y2K bust I do believe that traffic on 290 will be a nightmare though.

sigh. I really didn't want to address this but, to protect what little reputation I have, I am compelled to do so. I am not sure why I am having to endure TAF's unrelenting wrath. It started with his suggestion for a cleanup of a particular spot in the SATN. I didn't immediately jump on it and make it happen. He has been very angry at me since. I'm not sure why he didn't organize this event himnself if it was so important to him. But I'm amazed that he accuses me of "doing nothing for the community." The irony being that I would be willing to bet that there are less than five people in town that have given as many hours to trail building, maintenance, organizing clean ups, putting on community building events, and participating in other's events too, (ARR etc), as I have. For example, I've used Strava to track my walking miles at trail work for eight years now. I average over a hundred miles a year. That includes just walking to do hours long projects at single spots. It would be fun if Strava tracked all time hours at each activity too. He wants The SATN Facebook page to be an open forum. Well, that is not why that page was created. It is only for information dissemintation. There are at least two other local mtbing Facebook pages that are designed for open discussions. So his ire about that perplexes me too. I have nothing against the man. This all just seems so strange to me.

I was getting reverse snobbery about my almost bald rear tire. Astonished looks followed with a "man, you need a new tire" comments were frequent. I finally put a new one on when heading to Big Bend. So that's my philosophy.

I was shocked by this reelection result. Not only that he won, but by the margin.

And don't forget bike chop shops!

It's such a pleasure to see the city cleaning up camps after so many years of doing nothing. Two big camps on the Big East Loop of the SATN have been cleared. One at the Bluff Springs entrance to Onion Creek Metro, and the other off of Brandt Rd. Now if they can just get the police to nip in the bud any new activities. Policeman, "Nope. Sorry buddy, move it right now. And pick up all your trash!" Much easier to get that single camper gone before it turns into another environmental diaster area.

I think if you post your picture to the 311 app it automatically locates where the picture was taken.