The Tip

I was already pretty sure this is how it worked. So I'm looking for the actual person in ARR. I probably know them, I just don't know who has what duties.

Someone is working hard to add trails and descriptions of the SATN in Trailforks. Unfortunately a lot of it is wrong. Both wrong names as well as wrong stop and start points for the correctly named trails. Does anyone know who the local admin is of it? I'm pretty sure ARR is responsible. It would be great to get in contact with someone that would allow me to more easily edit all those mistakes. Trailforks is a good resource. Might as well make it accurate.

After every ride I just assume that I brushed up against some and do the Dawn wash down.

I had a thought. Why do these new viruses that develop always cause harm? Why can't a virus all of sudden appear that does good? THIS JUST IN; New virus first seen in Bolivia is now sweeping the earth curing dandruff and acne! That story at 10 tonight!

"I'll give you 15 minutes to stop that right now." 😄 The trails I'm seeing hikers and families on is fascinating to me.

I really had my fingers crossed when the TABC came up for Sunset Review. Such a worthless and redundant agency. But they squeaked by and still continue.

A friend posted a picture of himself wearing a mask that his wife sewed for him. I responded, "It definitely improves your looks."

Forgiven! "Ready" and "Open" apparently are two different things. But this whole area is such a win we wouldn't want to aggravate the powers that be by pushing this and jeopardizing it. Thanks for the report.

I guess I'm more altruistic than average. I think it is rather selfish to not share a great resource with the world. What if the National Park service opened a park and just didn't tell anybody about it because they didn't want to have Yellowstone type crowds? The public would eventually be outraged. ("Outraged" because that's the only reaction people have these days when they disagree with something. But I digress!) Not trying to inform the public is even more selfish in this context because that selfishness might cause injury to the uniformed person that has already discovered the trails. Also I think it's worth the chance of increasing trail traffic as a trade off in the attempt to educate the multitudes that already are on the trails. Teach them how to act correctly to not negatively impact my riding experience. Better to have 15 riders that know trail etiquette than 10 riders stopped in the middle of the trail on their phones. And consider the more trail users there are the more allies we have. I envision people at a city council meeting holding up pro trail signs. The more the better. And the more users there are the more likely more trails will be developed. And that guy out on his 20 year old Walmart bike now considers himself a trail user. He is much more likely to vote for a pro-trail bond than he would before he dusted off that bike. Big picture folks. Send an email and save a kid from a lifetime of dealing with a brain injury.

Shy, lil' ol' me? 😄 You bet, send them my way. But I think any of us would know how to convey this important message.

The trails were filled with newbies today. People without helmets, parents without helmets, even kids without helmets out on single track. Am I wrong to be so worried and scared by this? To me it's not much difference from Michael Jackson holding his kid over the railing! Just to make it easier for you to send a story suggestion, next time you have your computer or phone on (humor in an attempt to move you to action), here is their email address: NEWS@KVUE.com

Take the head to Home Depot and see what fits. This is a picture I sent to Fiskars. They sent me a box of saws. I broke those too. Now I have repaired a couple with bolted on metal straps to put the broken pieces together. This solution has worked so far.

What is the defining thing? Where's the line? What if you had the munchies and needed food? What if you wanted to go pick up your buddy? What if you needed another six pack at home? There's a point, whatever the consequences, that you will take the risk for the desired thing. That is what this unanswerable debate is about. When is the unknown risk worth the known reward.

Have you been drinking today?

I think that is a good analogy. "If it would save just one life...." is just wrong in a lot of ways. Yes we could save 50,000 lives a year if we all gave up driving. But at what cost? At what cost? (he repeated dramatically) But the decision making problem, and the arguments one way or the other, are complicated by the fact that there are no facts about what we are saving in lives. The models have already been proven wrong. Then they come out with new models. And those were wrong.

"None of those things are communicable. " You missed the point of my post entirely. Even quoting Sweden's COVID STATISTICS vs their neighbor's misses the point of my post. How many in Sweden are NOT dying from the shut down related things I listed? The point is that the big picture needs to be taken into consideration. This is not just about preventing the virus spreading versus people's economic needs. A big consideration of course. But that is an apple's to oranges thing in a way. Much harder to debate as opinions vary. I am trying to compare apples to apples. That being deaths. Deaths by virus or deaths by other shut down related reasons. Edited to say after reading ATXZJ's post, I have discovered that people's opinion on the shut down varies in correlation with their financial situation. Those receiving regular paychecks seem to favor continued shut down. Those that haven't a clue how they are going to pay for groceries are much more willing to take a chance on opening things up. Funny how that works!

The debate always seems to center on "look how many lives we are saving." This statement is wrong though. It really needs to state, "Look how many lives we are saving FROM COVID Virus." I say that to put that number in play. Now, compare that number to lives being lost due to the shut down. And there are many. Heart disease kills 850,000 a year. Stress causes heart problems. Because of the shut down could deaths increase by 10%? 85,000. Suicide claims about 50,000 a year. Could that double to 50,000 more because of all this? Alcohol related deaths (not driving) are 90,000 a year. 20% increase possible? Saw on the news last night that people are putting off non-emergency medical care. The story was focused on cancer screening. The doctor was saying this was a bad situation that was going to cost lives because people will be too far along to be saved. How many other important health issues are not being addressed? Could we actually lose more people to shut down related causes than to the COVID virus? Sweden is still functioning. Yes, their COVID rates are higher, but not dramatically so. That herd immunity concept might be working. I don't think history will look kindly on this shut down solution. Not to say it hasn't help prevent the spread of flu illness and more flu deaths. That fact cannot be argued. But at what cost? Get things going. But wear masks. Wash hands. Have hospital capacity adequate. Accept that people get sick and sometimes die. Sad but true.

I've come to realize that this debate, "Stay closed for health's sake vs take a chance and open for the economy's sake" is about as likely to be resolved as the pro-life vs pro choice debates. Three men of different religions were asked the important question, "When does life begin?" Catholic guy says, "Life begins at conception." Protestant guy says, "Life begins at birth." Jewish guy says, "Life begins when the kids finally move out of the house."

I disagree. It will definitely make a difference in traffic...during the 15 years of construction!

Rode across it today. Very interesting that they open it when they still have lots of work to do on it. So different from other road projects where they won't open until everything, including paint, signage, and lighting, are totally complete. I asked a supervisor on a job one time why they wouldn't open the road that looked totally complete. "It has to be 100% for contractual and insurance reasons." Also strange that the most popular option, going north on Mopac, is not open. But as a biker that is no concern to us.

Holy crap. That is as misleading a headline and story as a meme I saw:

I agree. Just like on a golf course too. So annoying messing with my out in nature experience. But on my ride the other day, with all the blind turns, I actually thought about this. I decided that I would much prefer tolerating the "cow bell" effect of the radio than smacking into an oblivious ear bud wearer.

ATX Bikes is selling off their Giant Advanced Pro 29 demo fleet. 5K bike for 3.5. Really good deal

I can't even watch them anymore. Colbert and Kimmel's frothing at the mouth hatred of Trump is too hard to watch. I like to laugh at Trumpisms too but their observations are just too mean spirited now to be funny.