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WhoAmI

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WhoAmI Enthusiast

WhoAmI

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Taking into consideration the limitation in elevation we have here in central TX, what would your ideal trail entail if money was no object, i.e you could buy whatever dirt, wood, equipment, labor (skilled or otherwise,) etc. to make it happen?

  • Tight and twisty like sooooo many trails we have here?  You know the ones....you get a decent bit of speed going downhill and then have to make a 180 degree turn to go back up hil and repeat the suck ass flow?  Also, this kind of trail leads to the technical aspect due to erosion caused by poor design?  
  • Pump and jump-y stuff?
  • Flowy, wide, and smooth singeltrack?
  • Endless dirt jumps and berms?
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RedRider3141 Rising Star

RedRider3141

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1 hour ago, WhoAmI said:
  • Flowy, wide, and smooth singletrack?

Two of my favorites from the area I learned to MTB at:

 

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CBaron Collaborator

CBaron

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This question feels like the same type of "what would be your dream car if money was no object"?  I simply don't enjoy playing in those kind of (mind) spaces, its just not real.  So my reply is going to be based in reality (of which, my 'dream answer' would lie around there too).  I absolutly love the BCBC type of trail riding.  I love tight techy narrow off-camber single track that makes you stay focused.  The stuff that you have to thread together 2-3-4 moves in a row so that you can keep progressing down the trail.  In this same category, I have to give Thumper the nod also.  When the weather is really nice, the trail bed is perfectly tacky, and the canopy is clear...I luv, love, LOVE, riding Thumper.  There I said it!!....  LOL

It'w worth noting though, when I go to Bentonville and ride some of the fun, machine-built, fast and flowing stuff (ex: deep into Little Sugar)...I find myself getting to the bottom to pause and laugh out loud at how much fun those sections of trail can be.  Simply put, good single track is good signle track.

Cheers,
CJB

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Chongo Loco Collaborator

Chongo Loco

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I absolutely can’t stand the trend towards 3’ wide machine built trails.  Berms in flat curves and random huge dirt piles are for BMX tracks to me. Singletrack that’s single or I think the term I heard is scratch and run trails are my favorites.  Some of my favorite trails in not so much bigger elevation were in the SE. Tsali and several in Pisgah in WNC, Racoon Mtn in Chattanooga, Oak Mtn in Birmingham, Clear Springs in central MS, etc. Locally probably flat creek crossing was the best example of narrow and techie but not too much of the hairpin switching like brushy or BCGB. AJ and the crew on ninja rejecting people wanting to add berms and machine stuff, that’s why I ride there over WC and WC is 15 min by bike from my house. 
 

Now I love BCGB and brushy, but I’d ride flat creek over them if given the choice every time. 

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Barry Rising Star

Barry

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19 minutes ago, Chongo Loco said:

absolutely can’t stand the trend towards 3’ wide machine built trails.

Fun fact... when the trails at...

19 minutes ago, Chongo Loco said:

Racoon Mtn in Chattanooga

...were first built, they were basically 3' wide machine built trails. No, not as bad as some, but next time check out how massive some of the bench cuts and trail corridors are. 

Although even at the time I thought the trails were a good example of such work. And then over the years the corridors grown back in, and then like magic, we have singletrack. 

I'm pretty okay with professional machine built trails these days. You can't have that much fun at Turkey Mountain and be mad about it.

Edited by Barry
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Chongo Loco Collaborator

Chongo Loco

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I think the TVA may have done in the initial build at Raccoon as general hiking trails but the MTB club there has gotten bigger and more capable and added to it. Been years since I knew anyone local. There’s supposed to be some great stuff in town now. Can’t remember the name of the trails up by Ocoee I rode with them back in the 90’s. All the old litespeed bike names, unicoi was another. 

Edited by Chongo Loco
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ATXZJ Mentor

ATXZJ

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Wife and I rode racoon in 2017 and liked it quite a bit. Was around Thanksgiving so the leaves could be treacherous at speed.

Main topic:

I'd love to build a longer/higher version of spider sans the lift. I don't think CTX riders understand what a disadvantage riding only local trails put them at. Sure, my abilities to ride tech improved a ton in Austin but I was behind the curve when it came to high speed flow, berms and jumping. Having places like spider to session helps a lot IMHO and we could use more of it.

#1 thing I'd do is make the parking/trailheads at the top and have an easy shuttle road to ferry people back n forth if they choose. Le massif in Quebec had the trailheads at the top so you just ride straight down from the parking lot and got after it. So good!

Mix machine, tech, and some features all together. No need to have only one type of terrain provided there's enough dirt in available ctx.

For the rest, there's plenty of switchback,ledge,ledge ,ledge , switchback climbs with 15ft of downhill out there already. No need to create more 

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Barry Rising Star

Barry

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6 hours ago, ATXZJ said:

Sure, my abilities to ride tech improved a ton in Austin but I was behind the curve when it came to high speed flow, berms and jumping.

Absolutely. "Tech" means something different these days. It's doesn't mean the ground covered with rocks and roots, with tricky lines to negotiate. Now it means having the speed and ability to hit the upcoming 8 foot long tabletop, after just nailing the 7 foot long tabletop behind you. And yes, ATX folks (who didn't grow up steeped in BMX) are likely behind the flow-curve from areas with a lot of newer trails. 

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ATXZJ Mentor

ATXZJ

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19 hours ago, Barry said:

Absolutely. "Tech" means something different these days. It's doesn't mean the ground covered with rocks and roots, with tricky lines to negotiate.

Yep^

CTX did reduce my fear of techy features quite a bit. I have friends in the west that struggle at the DH park when it comes to steep tech, where I am still getting comfortable hitting bigger jumps that they are just sending. To me, tech is now hitting all those rocks & roots pinned. It's a pretty wild departure.

Climbing up tech might as well be trials riding and I'm over it. My fictional trail system will have non of that 🤣

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AustinBike Mentor

AustinBike

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On 9/12/2023 at 8:26 AM, ATXZJ said:

I'd love to build a longer/higher version of spider sans the lift.

I have not ridden Spider yet, will eventually get there, but it is not my thing. What really grinds me about that place is the attitude that it is the best riding in TX and the number of people that seem to only ride there. They complain about all the other trail options that we have and whenever someone is coming to town they tell them that is the first place they need to ride.

It's like the people who go to a steakhouse and order the single shrimp dish on the menu. I get it, maybe you are a pescatarian but don't go dumping on the wide selection of steaks on the menu because you want the fish. 

We live in an area with a wide number of trails, but our trails are part of the topology of central TX. Instead of bemoaning the fact that there is only one Spider Mt. and we need more lift-serviced locations. 

We are what we are and the earth decided that long before any of us are here. I've biked all around the world, not just around the US and I can tell you that the best trail in the world, is, in fact, the one you are riding at the moment. Last night it was the burn-out husk of Suburban Ninja which ended up being a a ride through the rain at the end. But it didn't matter. I had a great time. Because it was the trail I was riding at the moment.

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WhoAmI Enthusiast

WhoAmI

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35 minutes ago, AustinBike said:

We are what we are and the earth decided that long before any of us are here. I've biked all around the world, not just around the US and I can tell you that the best trail in the world, is, in fact, the one you are riding at the moment. 

Except the question, John, asks your ideal trail, not the best trail. 🤠

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ATXZJ Mentor

ATXZJ

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5 hours ago, AustinBike said:

 

We live in an area with a wide number of trails, but our trails are part of the topology of central TX. Instead of bemoaning the fact that there is only one Spider Mt. and we need more lift-serviced locations. 

 

That was kind of my point. More options are good. IMHO, all groups have the outliers with clique attitudes. Roadies, single speed mountain bikers, XC lycra brigade, enduro bros, strava bois, freeriders, park rats and so on. Biking has nothing on tennis and golf when it comes to cliques. My wife has made multiple trips to spider and never complained about the riders or staff. In fact most were very helpful. She's small and struggles to get her park bike on the lift in time. Employees and riders offer to help when they see her in line and are totally chill about it. I think spider is more of a novelty where people want to see ski lifts in TX and always put it on the list. 

Was thinking about this discussion the other day while running errands in east El Paso.  If money were no option, and I were allowed some serious flexibility I'd get the wyler up and running (did you know that TPWD owns a tramway on franklin mountain) and build miles of year round lift serviced MTB trails. Would be a good draw to the borderlands, and we couldn't possibly f*ck it up any worse than ski apache has.  Next closest place to get some DH would be 5-6hrs away in Greer AZ or a little further in AF.

But, none of this is in CTX. 

 

 

 

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ATXZJ Mentor

ATXZJ

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1 hour ago, Barry said:

I normally politely shrug at pleading for more lift service parks...

But hot damn a lift from the southern peak of Franklin MTS would offer about 2.5-3K' of elevation loss and put trails on otherwise empty terrain.

Exactly. There's really nothing up there but some hiking/MTB trails strewn all over the place. Have the B36 crash and tin mine hike at the top of our list when the temps gets back in the 80s.  

Edited by ATXZJ
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CBaron Collaborator

CBaron

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On 11/22/2023 at 11:42 AM, Cafeend said:

Thanks!  Good read. Ive been watching from a far and was curious how this kid pulled this off. Pretty cool

Me and a friend lead a (young) men's Bible study at my house on Monday nights.  We often have 20-30 guys attending and this summer Rhett came over a few times.  We chatted MTB'ing but I didn't fully understand the scope of what he was actually doing.  Seems to be a solid kid.

Cheers,
CJB

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