cody

Sorry for the delay, I finally got a pic last night. I'm 5'11" and fit the Salsa fine, as they run a little larger than other brands (currently on a Large Santa Cruz Hightower that fits me well). Edit: Here is a link to the specs: https://salsacycles.com/bikes/archive/2012_spearfish_3 -- Note the upgrades mentioned above. It will also come with an extra front wheel (Stan's Arch ZTR) as well as some nearly unused ODI lock on grips.

I've been too lazy to sell my old bike so it's probably dropped half its value sitting in my garage for 2 years. 2013 Salsa Spearfish, medium frame (green) 100mm front Rockshox Recon Gold TK fork Sram X7-X9 components, 2x10 80mm rear suspension (Rockshox) 29 inch wheels (quick release) Upgrades: Race Face Turbine Cinch cranks, Cane Creek 40 headset Will throw in an old first-gen Reverb 125 with a bad IFP. Maybe worth servicing? $600 OBO

Kyle's report inspired me to write up my experience, something I haven't done before. I'm the only other Cody at the race (as far as I know), and the one Kyle ran into at Tejas. I had a pessimistic approach to DragonSlayer this year, as my training has been cut short by rain, pain, responsibilities, and laziness. Last year, I completed two laps in 9:11, including a 40 minute pit stop during which I internally debated whether to do a second lap or drive home. I was over the official cutoff by 11 minutes, but Desert Nomad kindly sent me off with a trophy rock despite my late finish. It was a miserable ride with the heat and humidity, cramps, and poorly timed meals. I told my friends I would probably not do it again. I still can't explain why I decided to return. This year, my fitness is not any better. I've put on a few pounds and have not ridden more than 4 hours since Moab in early September. Without much of an endurance base, my plan was to keep it low and slow, eat and drink a lot, and focus on my body's needs: hydration/nutrition and back/palm/foot pain mitigation. My rides lately have ended in acute palm and lower back pain, so I made a conscious effort to assess my comfort every 30 minutes, stopping to eat and stretch. These breaks added up to nearly an hour over the course of my two laps, but really enabled me to keep going. Next time, I need to figure out how to eat while riding. Before the event, I had convinced myself that I would probably ride a single lap and go home due to either pain/cramps or missing the cutoff. I thought maybe, just maybe, if I keep a snail's pace, eat a lot, finish my lap in four hours, and don't feel like I have a sword in my back, I might be able to go for a second lap. I started near the back of the pack at 9:00am, and quickly set into the groove. The staggered start times this year really helped to thin out the field early, resulting in fewer traffic jams and making the event feel smaller. Despite the recent rain, the rocks around Jim Hogg were dryer this year (during the first lap) and the conditions were surprisingly good. The temperature stayed in the mid-40's the entire ride, with constant cloud cover, which made it easy to regulate my body heat and also wear knee pads without suffering. I don't remember any other riders with knee pads, but I have an itchy old keloid scar on my right knee and I don't want another. I wore some baggies, a 3/4 sleeve jersey, and a Buff under my helmet (I'm bald). I had arm warmers on at the start but took them off 30 minutes into lap one. I was able to avoid getting my feet wet at every water crossing, and I don't regret the time spent tip-toeing over rocks for that. I crossed the dam and arrived at Cedar Breaks, pleased to see coolers of HEED and water. I had forgotten about this unique DragonSlayer perk and had 3 liters full of water weighing down my back, which was total overkill. My previous laps have all been in the heat, so my water estimations were very liberal. I still managed to drink 5-6 liters over the day, which ultimately led to many long bio-breaks. I could probably dial back my hydration, but I didn't want to be put out by cramps. Somewhere around Sawyer, I did some hamstring and quad stretches, cat-cow, assessed my pain levels, and realized that two laps was totally within my command if I stayed focused. I continued on alone. Oddly, I didn't ride with anybody for the vast majority of the ride. I think everyone I know was in the 7:00am group, and I didn't run into any of them. I finished my lap at t+4:07, feeling fatigued but unexpectedly pain-free. I told Desert Nomad I was still on the fence about doing a second lap, and he reminded me that I don't have an excuse not to. I ate a couple of donuts (Thanks Donut Taco Palace), drank a cup of coffee, and forged on. My nutrition for the ride was mostly Gu or Hammer gel packets or energy bars every 30 minutes. I have an iron stomach and didn't have any issues with this approach aside from some MASSIVE farts during and after lap two. Lap two was pretty uneventful. I had started to develop some light pain in my palms, but the cold weather kept the inflammation low, so my palm skin wasn't folding over on itself (does that happen to anyone else?). I had some chaffing due to forgetting chamois butter during the first lap (luckily remembered during my pitstop between laps). But overall, I was comfortable and not nearly as painful as last year. I mostly tried to enjoy the ride, which was surprisingly possible even after 6 hours of riding in the cold. It was probably about this time I started to "lose it" a little bit. Somehow I can momentarily totally forget where I am on the course while battling rock gardens. I stopped at Tejas at t+8:08, added a little HEED to my empty hydration bladder, and realized I needed to get lights ready. I had neglected to charge my primary night riding lights before the event, so that morning I had grabbed my Petzyl headlamp and a cheap chinese bar light "just in case" assuming I would just probably only do one lap. When I pulled them out of my bag, I realized my cheap light was missing a bolt on the mount, and of course the Petzyl headlamp is not designed for helmets, so I put it on awkwardly over my eyebrows and went with it. It was during this stop that Kyle rolled up and we chatted for a minute while shuffling our gear. It was nice to have a small bit of social interaction after being in my own head for 8 hours, but my brain was not working and I was getting a little anxious with nightfall setting in, so we kept it short and pushed ahead, riding together for a few miles. At this point, I felt great and I had a lot of energy for final sprint back to Russell. Kyle commented that I had a lot of gas in the tank and he was surprised I was still out there after nearly 9 hours because I was apparently pushing a 2:30/lap pace during this section. It sure helps to have somebody on your tail to make you realize you could be going faster. I continued on, spotted a nice little white flat rock to serve as a trophy, and finished my two laps in 8:56, barely making the cutoff, and perhaps making me the last two-lap finisher? I felt WAY better finishing this year than last year, which I attribute to weather and nutrition. I now have hope that next year, I can actually finish three laps in under 13:30, especially if I actually train a little bit, drop a few pounds, and try to find a good pace rider to follow. It can't be said enough how awesome it is for Desert Nomad and other volunteers and sponsors to put this together. It clearly involves countless hours of trail prep, signage, permits, insurance, communication, setup, teardown, etc, etc. We are very lucky to have such a ludicrously awesome event.

Wanting to ride today, is City Park good to go?

Wow, thanks for sharing. That's inexcusable. I've volunteered with ARR to help with drainage improvements at Walnut Creek a few times and it was really eye opening how small grade changes can make a huge impact on trail sustainability.

Yeah... seems that in most places, shipping the bike to a bike shop instead of trying to take it on the plane makes the most sense.... Fly in, bus to bike shop, pick up bike, ride to hotel/trails.

What are some good riding destinations near commercial airports? I keep hearing good things about https://www.bikeflights.com/ for handling bike transport, but where are the best places to go? I would like to avoid renting a car, so an airport with trails within riding distance is preferred. From poking around on MTBProject, it seems that very few big cities have trail networks actually in the city. Are we especially lucky in Austin in that regard? Looks like Bellingham, WA and Asheville, NC both have regional airports with two-leg service from Austin. Santa Cruz, CA might be an option considering a bus from San Jose airport. Any other recommended trips?

Seems believable to me... why do you think they would lie about it to a random stranger? I live near trails and ride from my garage. I've totally turned around when the trails were wetter than I predicted (rare). Honestly y'all seem way too upset about this. If the trails are too muddy to ride, they cake into your chainstays, causing you to have to stop riding anyway. It's often actually worse to ride in Austin when the trails are bone dry because the dirt and rocks get loose and blown out. This extreme anger against wet trail riding probably originates from dirt roadies that face planted after hitting a rut once and caused them to go vendetta against anybody riding a sloppy bike. The attitude is pervasive enough that when the trails are in perfect shape 3-4 days after a rain, everybody still stays home because they think the trails are too wet. I went on a 3 hour ride on Friday night in the greenbelt. Hero dirt. Maybe saw one other mountain bike. Honestly I haven't seen a single rut in the greenbelt in a while. Not defending riding in mud, just calling out the overly judgmental attitude that seems to actually detract mountain biking.

Should be primo, unless it got rain more recently than the greenbelt, which is hero dirt right now.

I like how much more organized it is than Mojo, but I agree it might be too much. I would be in favor of consolidating a few of them. For example: Ride Calls, Trail Conditions, and Trail Work could be combined into just "Local Trails." All the Austin Ridge Riders subforums could be combined into one. Bikes for sale and Bike components could be combined (but keep non-bike stuff separate). Announcements and Site Feedback could probably be combined too.