WhoAmI

City Park was my first trail, too! I was about a year out of the military (1992), playing soccer, and in great shape when I came home to visit my family. My brother was going mountain biking with friends, and I said that it sounded like fun. They scrounged up an old Mongoose Iboc for me, and I put on a pair of sweats and some sneakers for my first mountain bike ride. City Park was running clockwise then, and they took off down the first three ledges. I followed them like I knew what I was doing, came into the right hand turn at the bottom of the last ledge, and failed to make the turn, grabbing fistfuls of brakes, going over the bars helmetless, and landing on a poor juniper sapling that broke my fall. From those first 20 seconds, I was in love with the sport!

When I was in the military, one of the Marines in my unit would huff and puff, coughing, during the three mile run part of our PFT. As soon as he crossed the finish line, he would whip a cigarette and lighter out of his sock and light it up, breathing normal again. Weirdest thing...

Copper Harbor, MI Houghton, M I

I was digging through my photos for the Critter Sightings thread and came across photos I had forgotten about long ago. I then started looking for the oldest picture I have of me riding a bike, like near the start of when I took up mountain biking as an adult, not a picture of me on my Schwinn Stingray as a kid. So, I want to see your first picture of you riding a mountain bike for the first time or shortly thereafter. If you started as a kid, let's see it! If you started in your 50s, post it up! Tell me a little about that experience! I found this one of me from November of 1997 when my brother and I met at the IMBA Summit in Nantahala, NC, to learn about trail building and build some trail on Flint Ridge. We rode that weekend at Tsali, and the temps were in the high 20s. There were frozen puddles on the trail!!! We rode with a local reporter, Tony Castleberry (I don't know how I remember that name!), and he took pictures of us riding. My bike was a Voodoo Wango from BSS on Toomey Road. I think my pedals were Onzas, though I might have started riding SPDs by then. I rode a mountain bike for the first time in 1988 or 89 but didn't start riding until April of 1992, so I'm trying to find earlier pictures of me!

I took that picture on Jim's Trails, the private land that Trek Bicycle has some trails on in Waterloo. And, no, I tried not to stand around long enough without bug spray on to get any pictures of the swarms of mosquitoes in WI! Related to that, I just remembered that my assistant and I would strap a gap powered fogger on the back of our ATV and ride the forest roads where the trails were as well as the prairies to treat for mosquitoes. It was very effective but obviously not environmentally friendly!

Burns Lake, British Columbia Fruita, CO

Some of the fauna I've seen while building and biking trails. Spider Mountain Florida Everglades Tamarack Resort, ID Waterloo, WI Jingle Bell Ride, Austin, TX, 2005

I agree. I don't want to smell any unnatural scents like perfumes of colognes or hear anything but my bike, conversations, and nature. Don't play music over speaker. Put some damn earbuds in!!!

Funny story. I was the primary steward designing and building the trail between Overlook and Jim Hogg Parks when the Army Corps of Engineers asked me to scout a way up from below the dam for contractors to put in a paved path. I flagged the corridor with flagging tape tied to the trees and delineated a switchback-style turn on the slope midway up and a less steep turn at the top. Apparently, the construction company misread my flags, skipped the turn, and went straight uphill. :-/ I'm sure it's a fun challenge for some and a vexing curse for others.

In case I run into someone who has a flat on the trail. I don't want to give them my CO2. 🙂

Wait. Are we meeting at 9, or does the ride start at 9? nm. I misread your post, John!

Well, I don't see a /s but still am not sure you're serious. Back in the day before tubeless, the guys in my group and I would eventually end up patching a tube trail side, sometimes more than once. I remember @Shinerider finally replacing a tube with something like six patches on it. It's definitely a thing. As far as what I carry with me, I'm old, old school and a former Marine; I carry a lot b/c I don't want to walk out or have to rely on anyone. Pack w/ 3 liter bladder Master link Spoke wrench Glasses cleaning solution & cloth (being blind in one eye, I never ride w/o my polycarbonate lensed glasses) Pressure gauge Multi-tool w/ chain breaker Spare tube CO2 cannisters (usually 2) Tire levers Patch kit Bacon strips & insertion tool Hand pump Shock pump Nutrition Tubeless valve Valve stem removal tool Wallet Phone

Dawn! You should come visit us on a Tuesday one of these days!

Sessioning is good. However, I've heard this: Session something three to five times. If you do not succeed, move on and try it again later. Why? You could be training your muscles to fail that feature. I don't know if this is true, but I've done it before on a few features I was struggling with and succeeded on the next visit or the one after that.

I've had some non-suffering road rides that kicked ass. They help keep my belly in check. 🤥

Plus, Texas lacks enough public land to support the number of people wanting to use our parks and greenspaces.

With so may flags on and in the trees there now, I wanted to dig into land ownership. Cedar Park owns a lot of the creek front property and some lots next to the subdivision, and it looks like a developer from Riverside, CA, owns two large tracts there. Presidio Parmer owns a few acres, too. Toro Grande's extension will likely cross a few property boundaries.

I use Switch brand glasses that use magnets to hold lenses to the frame. I switch between amber & dark tint.

That's the problem when trails are too dense and you pass within sight of the same trail you'll be in two minutes later. People love to short cut for some reason.

The Legends are looking forward to your return!

I love my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for a few features: Upload a route from Ride With GPS and use turn-by-turn directions My SO can follow my rides Notifications if I want The screen layout is very customizable 15 hour run time

So, this trail is on the way to Houston?

He stated Bull creek, which is legal trail...nothing that needs a private message. If he is referring to off the map stuff, then his reply should be a PM.

Can you pinpoint where this un-rideable trail is? I've been riding the Bull Creek greenbelt and surrounding trails since 1992 and would love to see some new-to-me trail!

Yikes.