Charlie193

Just went for a walk over to bmx loop and windy loop- it was all looking pretty dry.

Took a lunch walk to walnut creek and had a quick peek at bmx loop and windy loop.

The ground was generally a little soft, but not as bad as I was expecting. Puddle in the usual spot near the start of bmx. Not ready- but maybe not that far off if it stays hot and dry. Not sure about the rest of the trails.

Sounds like I was expecting more performance from a GPS than is realistic at my budget so I’ll probably ditch that plan and look at better ways to store my phone for mid-ride access.

I changed my rear mech and middle chainring about a year ago. Chain is reasonably new too. The shifters, front mech and cassette are all old but working fine at the moment.

Now I’m deciding between going ahead with 1X or saving for a new bike, which will largely depend on whether I get approval to divert funds for a new bike.

The main appeal with gps is navigation. Similar to RedRider3141 I was hoping it would help with exploring new trails. At the moment I’m also stopping to take my phone out of my camelbak and it gets old fairly quickly. I like the idea of just poking around without being spoon-fed by strava/some other route map and getting lost, but I probably won’t be too popular if I keep coming home late after “getting lost again”. I also usually ride on my own and like the idea of having incident detection- although it looks like it might not work all that well for mtb.

Just keeping the money and saving for a new bike is probably the most sensible plan but its birthday related and I’m still childish enough to want something new to play with.

19 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

I recently sold someone a XT rear mech with clutch, SLX shifter, XT 11-36 cassette for a song. A used setup like that or something NOS on discount online should get you going for cheap. if you want the latest XTR 12 speed or whatever that will cost you. It sounds to me like having "the latest" is the last thing on your mind though.

You’re right- I don’t need the latest and greatest of anything. I had been looking at xt 1X11. I suppose I’ve reached the point where I’m not sure whether to keep throwing new gear on what is now a pretty old bike (2010) or just start saving for an entirely new bike. 

Shamefully enough I'm still riding a 26" 3X9 bike. I've stuck a dropper post, wider bars, shorter stem and a new (to me) rear rim on within the last couple of years. How much of an improvement is changing to 1X? I could either do this, or get something like a Garmin Edge 520 Plus as I get irritated having to constantly stop and dig my phone out when I frequently get lost. If you could only pick one, which would be the biggest improvement? I'm changing my mind as to which one to pick every 20 minutes.

Guess I’m making false accusations aimed at imaginery people- sorry everyone! Didn’t really think of flooding as I’ve seen plenty of water there before but not any flow, and the pile was pretty well centered exactly on the trail.

Anyway, I have family coming to stay for a while today but if I manage to sneak out again in the next few days I’ll see if I can shift some of it.

The trail is blocked under Brodie near Convict Hill. Looks like someone put some effort in.Just wondering if this is:

a. An official trail closure.

b. The work of some repugnant curtain-twitching busy-body shit-faced little weaesel whose only source of joy in life is ruining other people’s fun.

c. Both a and b.

2 hours ago, notyal said:

As long as we are critiquing this kid's art with adult themes, do those rocks look like a flacid cock 'n balls to anyone else? 

Or the person in the background could have just decapitated the dragon from the Neverending Story, or a giant spaniel.

Here’s the picture of the sign at a hiking only trail entrance. Doesn’t seem clear to me.

If the City are going to start enforcing the rules as far as who is using the trails, I’d be curious to know if they intend to be as stringent with dog walkers (personally I don’t care at all if people walk their dogs in this particular park), as I see a bunch of dog walkers anytime I’m there (walking with my kids, of course) and very rarely any mountain bikers.

Signs at hiking only trails aren’t always particularly helpful. I’m having trouble attaching pictures at the moment, but there is a sign to an entrance to a hiking trail on the map that lists prohibited activities as:

No glass, no pets, no motorized vehicles, no alcohol, with another half-arsed no hunting sign stuck on the bottom.

I think most people would assume cycling was allowed on that trail based on the sign. 

I’ll try to attach a picture later.

4 hours ago, RidingAgain said:

Nothing that I saw on the map tells us what trails mountain bikes can use in SW Austin. The closest reference is "...mixed use...".

Am I missing something?

Looks like the orange lines show hiking only trails- it’s quite a long way down the legend.

Not sure how accurate the boundaries on google maps and Travis CAD maps are, but that little piece of trail shows up on google maps and looks like it is (just barely) on the self storage place's property. Not sure who the complaining landowner is, but it sounds more like something a home owner would do rather than a company- so does anyone know if the person putting up no trespassing signs/brush obstacles actually owns that land, or is just pretending to because it's close to their place?

5 hours ago, cxagent said:

I have wanted to down them in the mud puddles they made 😉

 

Might be worth considering as a deterrent instead of signage. It would provide a strong incentive not to ride muddy trails, if it rained everything you’d need would be right there, and there would be no repeat offenders.

On 1/8/2019 at 2:44 PM, AngryPirate said:

I took it as Chardog saying to anyone (you aside), to stay off the trails when they are this wet, since it seems apparent someone has been riding on them.

The first thing I noticed that you said was that you 'walked' the trails, to which I applaud you and thanks, since my lazy ass wouldn't have done it and waited for someone else to scope it out 😉 .

I wasn’t being entirely selfless, as I was thinking about getting out there later in the week. I mainly wanted to make sure I wasn’t being added to the trail maintenance crew’s list of people to be drowned in the creek.

17 minutes ago, Chardog said:

Please stay off when trails look like that.  If tires are leaving Mark's they are damaging the trail

Not sure if this is general advice, or specific to my post. Just wanted to be clear- I wasn’t riding today, I just thought I’d check the conditions on foot, then share them as people seemed interested in conditions over on the R&I thread.

Just went for a quick walk to bmx loop and windy loop at lunch. Arrived at some fairly wet spots pretty quickly on both, although bmx loop hadn’t seemed too bad until the puddle. Didn’t have time to look anywhere else.

I think I’m happiest with flats because I’m more familiar with them. I switched to clipless recently when I found my old Nike Poohbahs, after a brief previous switch to clipless, quite a while ago. It’s been fine on trails I know, but I’ve recently tried some new-to-me trails on clipless, then on flats, and I’m much happier on flats if I don’t know what’s round the next corner. The only answer is that we should all go back to toe clips.

Someone has pulled up a little clump of rocks, if you’re heading down SP Slalom Run and take a left before the creek, after the little root step just after the turn. Couldn’t see any that had obviously been uprooted to put them back. Don’t remember them being particularly terrifying either.

I’ve had a 125mm PNW Cascade with external routing for about a year, and around 300 miles. It’s been great so far, no issues at all and it was easy to install.

10 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

Wait...I'm not the only 26er?

I've still got 26" wheels, hopefully not for life, but definitely until I get approval to throw a good chunk of our budget at a new bike, so it may well end up being for life.

Just went to WC for a stroll at lunch. Only made it to bmx loop and windy loop. The parts of those trails I saw were reasonably firm for the most part, but with a couple of muddy patches here and there.

The short climb up from the creek on windy loop had a little water flowing down it, and was pretty muddy at the top. 

Not sure about the other trails- ran out of time.

I don’t have one, but they are listed in bicycle sport shop’s rental fleet- $45 for a half day, if you’re looking for a test ride.

Thanks for the advice everyone, and thanks to Teamsloan for the ztr flow rim! Finally managed to get out on the bike today for the first time since getting a functioning rear wheel again. All is well, other than my loss of fitness.

6 minutes ago, notyal said:

I never realized that Lake Austin is the city's only source of drinking water. Confession: I've peed in your drinking water.

The city also has an intake on Lake Travis, it’s ok though, I’ve peed in there too.