The Tip

I'm sure that "who's vaccinated" will be a prevalent fire side conversation. I want to make sure folks know that you don't have to be a camper to come out to ride. We have a Saturday morning group ride planned. The Dana Peak Facebook group will have some volunteer ride leaders coming to show us around. Different distances and paces that they'll declare so you can choose who to follow. Meeting up at 9 am near the campground restroom. Roll out by 9:30. Community camp fire will be at site #8 going by 7 pm at the latest. Make a day of it. There is plenty of parking outside the park. I'm pretty sure that you don't have to pay to ride to the camping area.

My wife and I have a tandem that we enjoy. Our best experiences have been in East Texas State Parks. Around here, for camping and kayaking, we go to Inks Lake mostly. The only put in here and take out downstream float we have done is in Bastrop on the Colorado. That was fun. You have to check for the flow rate to make sure that's good.

Pretty good and a lovely setting for drinking it

My input: The first two pictures are riding uphill. I don't even think that the trail depicted is in the Flow Trails Area. There is an uphill, Return trail, but that's not it. This might confuse someone reading an article about a fun downhill Flow Trail. Also, AustinBike, in your write up you say "the city has done a nice job" This is a county park. The county deserves a lot of props for what they are doing out there. Even the nice new wood signage is being done by the people that work in that park. But the signs are installed by ARR's steward Ken Reed. He too deserves a lot of props as he's been working hard on trail maintenance and improving things.

The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round Round and round

Nope nope nope. I want "From my living room." I don't want to have to worry all night whether the picture was taken in their living room or recreation room. It's difficult to live with those sort of unknowns. 😉 AntonioGG, right, no one should say, "and here I am in (blank) where I'm not suppose to be." But they can state "don't ask where this is" so we know they remembered the grumpy old man rule.

I've debated posting this because I'll come off as a grumpy old man. BUT, being a grumpy old man I've decided that I don't care. So here goes; I am not going to "like" any more bike pictures, no matter how awesome they might be, if the post doesn't include WHERE THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN. Of course I could have just as easily posted, "Hey folks can y'all please post where you took your bike pictures?" But where's the fun in that?

About a week to go. Yipee! Weather is looking perfect. Hope the 10 day forecast holds. I still have an extra site reserved. Just PM me and it's yours. $24/night. It's an RV site but just tent camping on it is perfectly legal. It's site #7 right across from the bathroom. This could easily get to be a yearly thing. Don't miss out on the inaugural event.

I was shocked at how low my gas bill was. I was expecting much higher because of the cold, but also that I had just installed a gas log, that got a lot of use. Amazing how cheap gas is. Water bill was lower than normal too. Having it off for four days will do that I guess!

I thought you were suppose to take the head of the suspected animal in to be tested. Yes, I'm kidding. But just barely. Did the dog not have an owner with it? Just a rando dog out biting people? And I agree, dogs are great, it's people that suck.

That is probably what the builder was thinking, to ride dirt to Bear Creek then turn around and ride the sidewalk back to the 45/Mopac intersection. But if enough people ride Dirtway 45, then the single track would probably be extended to Bliss Spillar. I've seen a couple of Strava rides where they just came from Bliss Spillar, crossed at Bear Creek, and continued north on the single track. So there is already new routing possibilities. There isn't enough room between the fence and the highway for a parallel trail. I've also seen on Strava that there is a lot of just doing an out and back on it. I give my blessing to this, overriding my "don't repeat trail" mantra! 😄

It will be a little work, but yes, the next SATN Social will probably change up the routes to take advantage of all the new trail. It keeps getting better a better. I'm pretty sure we've got over 110 miles now. The new Dirtway 45 is just under two miles.

I don't know about GPX but maybe you can get something from this: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1uW17XVqKni7OhNBs-iZfFjq84wvng9H9&ll=30.19231555044796%2C-97.87136449999997&z=13

I have three "real" bikes. I justify that because every now and then I can get both my two sons out at the same time for a ride. They don't have bikes so they use mine. Great fun and selling one would come nowhere close to the value I get out of riding with them. My Cannondale Lefty has flats on it. So when I'm wearing work boots and have my Trail Boss tool backpack loaded up for trail work, it works great. My newest bike that is my primary one is a Giant Trance Advanced Pro. My backup bike is a Niner Rip 9 RDO. I take the Niner on our camping/riding trips. I really love both bikes. There wasn't a good reason to get the Giant other than N+1. But going from one bike to the other takes about 30 minutes of riding to readjust. The Giant is very slack compared to the Niner. Going from the Niner to the Giant makes me feel like I am driving a tricked out motorcycle chopper. Or an oil tanker. Going from the Giant to the Niner I feel like I'm going to go over the handlebars if I jump a curb. Very strange sensations either way. There is no discernable weight difference. The Niner is actually a little lighter than the Giant. And I've "had" to ride the back up bike maybe three times now with the Giant in the shop for this or that. I am very glad I do have a back up bike.

Is this just a still shot or captured from a video? Damn good timing for just a snap.

The park had just reopened that morning after the rains from a couple of days before so we didn't notice that issue. But all those East Texas trails can have that problem I think. I remember riding at Huntsville SP in October right after a rain and thinking how lucky we were because, "this could be bad if it's dry."

Just back from two nights there so I'll add my input to this "resource" thread. It's a nice park. There isn't a lot of trail, but what there is was fun. Anyone reading this would do all of it in one ride like my ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/4969268839 I repeated a little because I missed a turn. The system consists of five loops that can be ridden without repeating. The easiest, meaning the least amount of climbing because none of it is technical (even the "most difficult" C loop), are the EZ loop and loop A. Somehow these felt all downhill. The climbs are switch backed in such a way that I just never felt like I was on a grindy climb. We did not kayak on the smallish lake because it was too cold and windy the day we had planned to. It would have taken about an hour to paddle the entire shoreline I think. But a super lovely setting to do so. Very pretty and pristine. We drove 25 minutes on the way out of town to Lindsey Park. We didn't do all of it because one of the two of us got tired of the climbing involved pretty quickly (ahem...clears throat). But if you are in the area make time to ride here. It was definitely made by mountain bikers. Several wooden features and lots of flowing trails with berms and little jumps. I was disappointed to not be able to do all of it. There is a very nice disc golf course in that park too.

They do. Either indirectly as the undocumented part of the rent on residential property, or directly, like commercial renters do. Most commercial leases have the renter paying the exact amount of the property taxes.

Austin is getting to the head scratching point that California has been at forever. When I graduated, a LONG time ago, a friend and I were hired by the same company. He went to San Francisco and I went to Dallas. We both were making the same salary. But his apartment cost three times more than mine. How does that even work?! I still don't understand how it works. It has been fun getting the emails from Zillow telling me how much my property is worth these days. And it's not even yearly changes. It goes up month by month. Ridiculous. Of course it's no fun getting the property tax statements.

Yay! "Reserved tent spot." Does that mean a tent spot on someone's RV spot? Or a spot in sites number 21-25 that are tent only spots but have water, electric, and a pavilion? Or (gasp) tent sites T-1 through T-8 that are really just spots on the ground they are calling a site?

I'm excited about this whole thing but wanted to wait until it was closer to start the chatter about it. WELLLLL, it's only a month away now. So let the chatter begin! 😄 All the RV sites are now reserved. By my count we will have 35+ people. That's not assuming better halves are coming, which of course some will. I'm also sure there will now be people deciding, "sure, why not" and will be coming. That's great. Yes, I thought we should organize some group rides. Friday afternoon, Saturday morning (time?), and Saturday afternoon(time?)? Does that sound right? I would like to find some ride leaders that know the park. Hopefully maybe three at least, and someone willing to lead a lower impact ride too. I thought of reaching out on the Dana Peak Facebook page. Knowing the mountain bike community I'm sure we could get as many volunteers as needed. Or, do we want to "keep it in the family" and not bring in strangers? Strangers that will be our friends after the ride and two beers though. I'm planning on one more ride Sunday morning but by then everyone will know the park and know what they want to do again. So that's an on-your-own thing I would assume. If anyone has decided that want to come now, say something here. The park has liberal rules about how many can tent camp on each site. So having a place for you shouldn't be a problem. We just need to be sure everyone has a place. Some folks are tenting on our site so they can use our water and electric. Remember, the few tent sites still available to reserve, have no water or electric. Our spot is number 8. It has lots of room around the fire pit to enable a big group with social distancing. It's also the closest space to the bathroom. That will be convenient for our evening Imbibing/Dranking!

Yes, it's on that trail, "Fenceline." But the actual "13 Jumps" segment is all between your bottom arrow (the highest point on the trail) and the "m" on "Intermediate Trail." The blue line that goes between the "e" and the "r" of Intermediate is Two Cones Road, a jeep track. After the last jump (actually the one I'm going off in the picture) you can turn left to ride the jeep road for 75 yards and then turn left to go up that black line pictured. That is Cardosa's Climb. I don't know why it is black, it actually is a very easy blue, and blue only because of the climb involved. Turn left on the not pictured short cut back to Fenceline to repeat the jump line. Edited to say, a picture is worth a thousand words: https://www.strava.com/segments/27442820

It is slower to open than other local trails. You can check if the mountain bike trails are open on their website: https://parks.traviscountytx.gov/parks/reimers-ranch?fbclid=IwAR3IEGoMIZg10S9AzIgezCUrA2pVkqsIhzS9ZFJgGm_706HQHVRzcQ8752A The 411 on Reimers: -30 minute drive from The Y in Oakhill -$5 per person to get in -Approximately 18 miles of single track AND 18 miles of scenic double track. All of it has very good trail signage now. -The single track looks confusing on Strava, but it is very easy to see how the trail system was laid out once you start to use it. Very hard to get lost, just keep on going. There are very well labeled green, blue, and black trails. Don't be scared of the black trails. There might be a few challenging features here and there but 90% of both black segments can be ridden by just about any rider. It's possible to ride all of the 18 miles of single track in one long segment without repeating much. -Very scenic. Lots of photo opportunities out on the trail. -All the single track is one direction. Never worry about head-ons there. -The Flow Trails Area features big machine built features utilizing 140 feet of drop. Very different from anything else in the area. Take Milton's Shortcut from the bottom to do multiple runs. Most of the features have at least two lines to them, some have three. You don't have to leave the ground to enjoy this trail. Do it multiple ways. Fast on the ground, or taking air at every chance. -Practice your jumps on the "13 Jumps" jump line. It is four groups of 4 or 3 small jumps to get anyone comfortable in the air. It is on the "Fenceline" segment. The jump line is mere feet to the right of the established trail tread. -Swim in the Perdernales River after your ride. -Hike Climber's Canyon to see a Jurrasic Park type environment. Ferns and springs. Very interesting. -Ride out from the single track area to find one of the two Pogue Spring Canyon overlooks. It's not the Grand Canyon, but it is impressive for being "right there." Bonus jumps: there are three big water bars (humps in the road) on the jeep road just east of Fenceline that are fun hitting at speed.

Me enjoying one of the new jumps on "13 Jumps" jump line at Reimers.