The Tip

I thought it was new strain of weed. The video that The X posted makes it look so easy to install. Geez. Cush Core should monetize that guy's video by paying him to take it down!

The Ranch. Reading the article was interesting. The land is owned by the owner of Bicycle World and another guy that owns a pizza place. If I rode there I would definitely patronize their shops. What a commitment to a community!

😁 So...how was the event? It tore me up to miss it, but I was out of town. How did it go? Did anyone do the Social challenge or did everyone just succumb to lure of the Hunt? Was there a big turnout? WERE the trails and weather okay?

Just a bump and a reminder that next Saturday, November 16th, will be the SATN Social redo sponsored by the Bowie MTB team. Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bulldog-mtb-scavenger-hunt-satn-social-challenge-november-16-2019-tickets-77524420629 Annual Bulldog MTB Scavenger Hunt plus South Austin Trail Network Social Challenge November 16, 2019 All Scavenger Hunt and SATN Social Challenge Ticket Proceeds Benefit the Bowie High School & South Austin Middle School NICA Mountain Bike Race Teams SCAVENGER HUNT - Not a race and not a group ride, but a big dirt adventure where you'll check in at as many points as you can on the South Austin Trail Network (including beer, food and bragging). Over $2,000.00 in raffle prizes. Tickets are earned by riding in the event and can also be purchased. All skill levels welcome. Ride as much or as little as you'd like, as fast or slow as you'd like, just plan on having a really good time while raising money for our South Austin youth mountain bike racers! Family Scavenger Hunt - a free event purely for families with elementary age riders, a compact course within Circle C Metro Park. Strider Race - a free event for the young riders that don't yet use pedals! Kids MTB Race - a free event on a short course that stays close to the event venue, 12 and under only. SATN Social Challenge - A celebration of the South Austin Trail Network. There are three routes that all start and return to the ATX Bikes' parking lot. The north is 18 miles, the east is 15, the south is 25. Do all three for a 58 mile ride! Tickets towards the raffle will be earned by completing 1, 2, or all 3 routes. This is a self led ride following preset routes which can be found here- https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31330330 SATN SC riders can checkin starting at 8:00 AM. The cutoff for Podium classification is 3:00 PM. SATN Social Challenge will have it’s own Podiums with times based on your Strava.

And that's what I like about Danny MacAskill's videos. At the end they show all the crashes. Not only is that good for a "don't try this at home" thing but also a "yes we know this is a fantasy thing" that can't be done in the one take as it is presented.

Apparently suspension is highly overrated. Took me about 30 seconds to realize what he was riding.

I really like ice cream.

Good, support the local economy! Orange Seal is making an "Endurance" formula now. I don't know if it's just a marketing ploy to charge a little more, but supposedly it was designed with Texas summers in mind to stay liquid longer.

I try to educate people all the time about cooking vs. baking. Baking is a science. Cooking is an art.

This made me look around the internet to see what the general consensus it. The general consensus is that there is not a general consensus. You would think by now there would be a standard home brew recipe. When I first read Kyle's recipe I thought of the little flecks I see in Orange Seal. Then looking at different recipes I see glitter as an ingredient that I suppose replicates that aspect. All very interesting.

It's just about all gravel road from Bear Lake to Bernia/Espcarpment so that would be doable. Except for the single track that goes from the jeep track to Bernia. But on a ride, how would you get out to Bear Lake? Just roads? Yup, we are off for tonight. When I rode yesterday it was softer and more moist than I thought it would be with all the sunshine Sunday. As I rode I was thinking that if we get any rain at all it would put us out of biz for Tuesday.

Holy moly, what a great day. Unbelievable what shape the tires were coming back after the different segments. So clean. Actually hard to believe. Nobody counted, but the general consensus was that we had at least 150 people for the send off. An almost perfect weather day. Big shout out to ATX Bikes and Giant Bicycles. They didn't have to go all in with bar b q and beer like they did. ATX Bikes paying for 100 SATN Social tee shirts was over the top. They did NOT have to do that as they already showed so much support towards the SATN community. So cool. This event, with it's seat of the pants, less than 24 hour planning, turned out great. For all you folks that want a taste of it, sign up for the Bowie Bulldog Mountain Bike Team SATN Social Challenge. They have stepped up to offer a complete SATN Social to accommodate all the folks that were disappointed by not being able to attempt it today because of poor trail conditions. There were over 150 riders that showed up to ride the abbreviated version. We all know that there were a lot of folks that wanted to attempt the full 58 miles and were disappointed about not being able to. Here is where you sign up: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bulldog-mtb-scavenger-hunt-satn-social-challenge-november-16-2019-tickets-77524420629?fbclid=IwAR1zWy6haXte1L_wZnXFu1IOQ5b_KRa496E7jCIUtZnd0YzlEYPCcPLF8zs Did I say what a great day it was?

Early scouting of trails has shown what we all knew. There is no way that a lot of the routes will be even close to being good to go. But the scouting that has been done has discovered that some of the trail WILL be good. So there WILL be an event. BUT it will start at NOON. This decision was also based on the fact that our generous sponsors, ATX Bikes and Giant Bicycles, have already bought and paid for the food and drink for a party. So let's have a dang party! Please continue to scout trails. They are improving hourly of course. Even Saturday morning go and look and see what can be ridden. Then at noon we will come up with the game plan. We'll go ride for awhile, then come back and eat and drink. ATX Bikes will put up their tents and have music going. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon. No tickets or prize table this time. But the things that were to be given away will now be rolled into the Bowie Bulldog Scavenger Hunt. It is scheduled for November 16th. It too utilizes the SATN. Here's the link to sign up for that: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bulldog-mtb-scavenger-hunt-november-16-2019-tickets-77524420629 Saturday is going to be a beautiful day. It will be fun.

Early scouting of trails has shown what we all knew. There is no way that a lot of the routes will be even close to being good to go. But the scouting that has been done has discovered that some of the trail WILL be good. So there WILL be an event. BUT it will start at NOON. This decision was also based on the fact that our generous sponsors, ATX Bikes and Giant Bicycles, have already bought and paid for the food and drink for a party. So let's have a dang party! Please continue to scout trails. They are improving hourly of course. Even Saturday morning go and look and see what can be ridden. Then at noon we will come up with the game plan. We'll go ride for awhile, then come back and eat and drink. ATX Bikes will put up their tents and have music going. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon. No tickets or prize table this time. But the things that were to be given away will now be rolled into the Bowie Bulldog Scavenger Hunt. It is scheduled for November 16th. It too utilizes the SATN. Here's the link to sign up for that: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bulldog-mtb-scavenger-hunt-november-16-2019-tickets-77524420629 Saturday is going to be a beautiful day. It will be fun.

I'm always amazed at how quickly the SATN recovers. I'm thinking that even an inch and a half won't put everything out of business. I've frequently said, in that sort of a rain event, that a day afterwards, "It's 95% good to go." Which means don't put off a ride waiting for that 5% to dry up. But it is actually going to be good if we get 1" or less. It will soak up and knock down the dust. Perfect trail conditions and it looks like the weather is going to be perfect too. Maybe bring a jacket for the post ride activities. We'll assess it late Friday, while the route is getting reflagged (again, grrrr) and cancel it on the SATN Facebook page if it's not gtg. But if there is no cancel announcement it's on.

I want to observe some trail activity. I'm not very tech adept. If I get one will I get frustrated trying to make it work? I would like one that would send something to my phone when it detects movement. Any recommendations or advice?

Sure sure, all well and good, but the important question....how's the bike? 😉

A recap of the information: The SATN SOCIAL will be held this year on Saturday, October 26th. The SATN SOCIAL is designed to be a fun ride to celebrate the South Austin Trail Network and to promote it as the wonderful resource that it is. The sponsors are ATX Bikes and Giant Bicycles. ATX Bikes, the location of the event, is at the center of the SATN and will be the start and stop of each of the three routes that make up the 58 miles of the ride. How much of it to be ridden will be an individual decision. The north route is 18 miles, the east route is 15 miles, and the south route is 25 miles. ATX Bikes and Giant will be donating lots of goodies to give out in a raffle. Tickets to be earned by completing the different routes as well as the opportunities for bonus tickets. East route, 2 tickets. North route, 3 tickets. South route, 4 tickets. Bonus 2 tickets for completing all three, every extra 6 miles (repeating official routing), 1 ticket, and the person riding the most miles between 8 am and 4 pm, 10 tickets. Also one bonus ticket fro every segment ridden “perfectly.” Two extra tickets for riding all three segments perfectly. If you have a winning ticket you will be asked to show your ride on an app, either yours, or someone you rode with, to verify your accomplishment. But tickets are NOT the reason for doing this ride! There will be three different starts. 8am, 10am, and noon. The hope is that no matter how many of the routes are attempted everyone will be finished sometime between 3 and 4 pm. The food and drink, with beer provided by Austin Beerworks, will be available starting at 3 pm. The drawing will begin as soon after 4 pm as it is organized. The routes have been practice ridden at the last few Crank and Dranks. There should be several people that will be willing to lead those unfamiliar with the SATN. There is a wide array of pace available. Know what your average trail speed is so you will know who to hook up with. Again, it is very helpful to use a ride app like Strava prior to the event to know your average trail speed. Those that are familiar with the routes will hopefully hold up their hands to say something like, “I’m riding at 9 mph. I’m going south, east, north.” Groups will then form. Updated information is available at the South Austin Trail Network, SATN, Facebook page. Maps of the routes and GPX files are located there. Don’t park in front of Austin Diagnostic Clinic. This ride is self-supported. Use your caryou’re your refueling stops.

SATN SOCIAL, more ways to earn tickets! We need to reward the people that take the time to learn the proper routes, So for each route that is completed correctly ANOTHER, EXTRA, ticket will be awarded. This will be easy to check by looking at your Strava. There are Strava segments for each of the three routes that will show up if ridden. And if you are able to do all three routes perfectly (it's not that difficult!) you will get two MORE tickets. That's FIVE extra tickets to reward you for taking five minutes to learn the posted routes. Hopefully there will be lots of flagging out there to further assist you as well..

A fox (internet image) joined us for the Drankin' after the Crankin' on Tuesday. They like jambalaya. Who knew? But we were talking about wildlife we had seen throughout the SATN. Nobody mentioned a hog though. Are we the one area in central Texas that does not have them?

Before. Very narrow safe passage. After. The trail into has been moved to the right as well as the trail being widened to allow you to stay further right. Also a little more brush has been added in front of the hole. Folks will have to work to crash into now.

Fun. I can't but why don't you get specific and call it? For example, "Meet at ATX 8 am Saturday and we'll ride the south and north routes. 43 miles."

The Rocky Trail/Chunk Truck is NOT on any route. It will NOT be seen during the SATN Social. The dangerous culvert is right outside the gate that blocks the beat up asphalt road that we normally take when coming from Circle C going to Slaughter Creek Trail. The "bottom of the hill" he was referring to is about the hill down from the corner of Slaughter and 1826. By going further up Slaughter on the south route, you climb even further up the hill that the water tank sits on coming out further uphill on 1826. The storage place will be on your left as you go west on Slaughter until you turn left to climb a little bit more to 1826. You then zoom downhill at 20-25 mph as you pass the gate that we normally have to slowly wind around to get out to 1826. That culvert would be annoying and bad at 5 mph as you turn left from the gate to head downhill. But it will be really, really bad if it's hit going 20+ mph.