What was the first trail you rode in Austin?

[AntonioGG]

3 hours ago, WhoAmI said:

My first bike was a Univega Alpina 5.0 with toe clips.  I think I went to clipless pedals, Onzas specifically, around 94.  The Onzas had different color elastomers you swapped out to increase or decrease the tension.  If you smacked a rock or root, the elastomer could break off, rendering one side of the pedal useless, which did happen more than once.

Hah!  Other memories you stirred up.  I think I went to Ritchey clueless pedals.  They were yellow but I never got used to them.  I went back to toe clips until crank brothers egg beaters came out.

[AntonioGG]

18 hours ago, Bart said:

I'd be fun to get out those old rigids and do a lap at CP with toe straps and wire beads! Not

 

I tried this.  Maybe 10 years ago I bought a 1994 Rockhoper. It was in pristine condition (other than tires and brake pads being dry) with original clean chain grease.  Someone bought it back then maybe rode it once on the street and hung it up.  I replaced the parts and rode it at WC.  It was not enjoyable.

[rockshins]

1 hour ago, AntonioGG said:

I tried this.  Maybe 10 years ago I bought a 1994 Rockhoper. It was in pristine condition (other than tires and brake pads being dry) with original clean chain grease.  Someone bought it back then maybe rode it once on the street and hung it up.  I replaced the parts and rode it at WC.  It was not enjoyable.

My first real MTB bike was a ‘94 rockhopper, lived by City Park and rode it rigid all the time (was a dumb teenager though). Was a big deal when at Christmas I got a Rockshox Indy fork. Made city park life so much better. Cantilever brakes were the weak link. 

[Chongo Loco]

5 hours ago, WhoAmI said:

My first bike was a Univega Alpina 5.0 with toe clips.  I think I went to clipless pedals, Onzas specifically, around 94.  The Onzas had different color elastomers you swapped out to increase or decrease the tension.  If you smacked a rock or root, the elastomer could break off, rendering one side of the pedal useless, which did happen more than once.

Bought my first spd’s with my first full suspension rig, proflex 856. Still got those Shimano 636’s with the red platforms. They’re freakin indestructible.  They’re also pretty heavy so I switched to 747’s a year or so later.  Been using the 636’s on my backup bike or SS since around ‘00.  Easy to hop on it with any shoes for neighborhood runs. 

[Hugh]

On 9/24/2023 at 7:01 AM, WhoAmI said:

And how long ago was that?

What do you remember thinking about it at the time, and what do you think about that trail now?

Do you still ride that trail?

Barton Creek Greenbelt from 360 to Zilker back in 1991. Still ride the trail.

It was less technical.

Also did a race at City Park in December of '91. Some guy named Lance won.

Every Saturday I'd ride some Greenbelt and then do a loop at City Park back then. I was young and single.

[Charlie193]

First trail in town was BCGB main-trail when I moved here in 2010, as I was renting on Spyglass Dr it was pretty much the only place I went for ages.

Coming from somewhere with roots and mud (where riding in mud is fine) I found the rocks tough going to begin with, even though the main-trail isn’t that bad in the scheme of things.

Still ride BCGB but live south now so use different trailheads, and I did eventually figure out there was more to explore there.

[circuitbreaker]

BCGB 1998, brought my sister's giant iguana from home to ride. Had a blast. That bike lasted about 5 rides on the greenbelt. as soon as i got out of school and had a job, I bought my Gary Fisher Sugar. Full Sus ever since.

[mtb_jeremy]

1996 BCGB on a Y-22.  I had moved to Austin for school and it was my first chance to explore on my own.  I remember riding Townlake trail and asking some guys where to get on the greenbelt.  They pointed me to the Barton Springs entrance and I remember them saying, "good you have full suspension, because you will need it".  Took me a while before I finally rode a proper full-suspension bike that would actually smooth out the trail.

[spicewookie]

On 9/25/2023 at 12:34 PM, Chongo Loco said:

A few of us came to camp & race at bluff creek / Warda around 95. A few months later came back with my wife to visit her family and rode BCGB and City Park and maybe the old rifle range by Reimer’s. Loved it all but dabbed tons. Second time ever riding city park was on a visit in 97 riding with a friend from home. we got caught in a storm midway thru a lap. It was the storm that had the tornado that wiped out 183/1431 in cedar park then hit Jarrell.  We had no cellphones and no idea til we got back to our hotel. CP in the rain on a hardtail for 2 techie beginners was nutz!

the rifle range had it's own tech and obstacles......the old man that ran the place was nuttier than a squirrel turd.

[dlstyley]

On 9/24/2023 at 8:41 AM, Bart said:

Came up from Houston in 1991 on my brand new GT "Team Avalanche" and we rode up and down Forest Ridge which I thought was the coolest thing ever and was hooked from there. Had to stay in Houston and ride the Anthills and Memorial Park before moving to Austin in 05. Still miss the FR.

Ha! Must be a migration pattern…. Came here in ‘94 on a rigid GT Avalanche (couldn’t afford the “team” version) and bought this guide book at a local shop.  First trail we hit was Forest Ridge, in toe clips of course.   A little different than Memorial Park.  😳  I quickly saved up some money and bought a used elastomer Manitou fork from a guy at work.  I thought I was in high cotton.

thanks for the memories!  A real kick digging out that old book and reading the descriptions.  Also a bummer we’ve lost some great trails.

 

[Bart]

I remember that booklet! What does it say about Forest Ridge? Something about how dangerous the trail was?😆

 

[circuitbreaker]

do yall know what year they closed Forrest Ridge for the warbler?

(never got to ride there, but live in the area and hike it often)

[mtb_jeremy]

I feel like it was around 2006.  One of my fondest memories was with a Kona Demo event there in the late 90s.  I had the chance to ride a Stinky Deluxe up then down the trail.  At the time, 4" travel full suspension 26" bike felt like I was floating on a cloud as I dropped those ledges.

[WhoAmI]

21 minutes ago, circuitbreaker said:

do yall know what year they closed Forrest Ridge for the warbler?

(never got to ride there, but live in the area and hike it often)

Some history: A developer went bankrupt right as he started developing the land during a real estate bust.  It sat for a while with trails on it, and in the early to mid 90s, the city pitched making it park/preserve land through a city bond.  They stated that current use cases would continue, and when it became public land, they bulldozed a 20' path around it and erected a chainlink fence then restricted biking altogether and restricted hiking during nesting season to permit only groups of three.  They used several endangered species as the argument, but the golden-cheeked warlber became their super hero.

 

They also made an effort to acquire serveal thousand acres of endangered species habitat, whcih including allowing developers to pay a mitigation fee of (IIRC) $2,500 per acre to develop habitat if they also found a substitute parcel to sell to the city.  One of the substitute parcels was DK Ranch, which also had trails on it.  Really, the thing was about enabling development of endangered species habitat.

 

They claimed the bird species (also the black-capped vireo) were "harmed" under the Endangered Species Act, whcih has a very broad definition of harm to include when a bird is flushed.  We, i.e the mountain biking community backed by ARR and Hill Abel, who I think was the president of IMBA at the time, tried to present a study conducted at Ft. Hood of the impact of having mountian bike trails near live and simulated weapons fire that showed no effect on the nesting habots.  They representatives of the city, county, etc., would literally withdraw and try to hide their hands when you attempted to give them a copy of the study.

I'm sure others here have things to add to this, and I look forward to hearing from them.

Edited September 28, 2023 by WhoAmI

[Chongo Loco]

18 minutes ago, mtb_jeremy said:

I feel like it was around 2006.  One of my fondest memories was with a Kona Demo event there in the late 90s.  I had the chance to ride a Stinky Deluxe up then down the trail.  At the time, 4" travel full suspension 26" bike felt like I was floating on a cloud as I dropped those ledges.

A little earlier I think. Moved into the city in 99 and it was maybe 2 years after that at the most I think. We rode the hell out of it the last 6 mos. Fun sketchy night rides with our 10W halogens. 🙄

[mtb_jeremy]

32 minutes ago, Chongo Loco said:

A little earlier I think. Moved into the city in 99 and it was maybe 2 years after that at the most I think. We rode the hell out of it the last 6 mos. Fun sketchy night rides with our 10W halogens. 🙄

Yep, I was wrong, looks like 2001.  

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2001-04-13/flippin-the-birds/

[Chongo Loco]

Biggest con job ever pulled on the outdoor community. They lobbied every group from MTB to horse with save it for “us” to help get the bill passed, then fucked them all and padlocked the place and claimed it as their own. 

[Bart]

I always thought of the fun twisty switchback run we could've made with that elevation, other than the chunky downhill that was already there. I mean it's gotta be one of the highest points in or around Austin.

[Hugh]

On 9/25/2023 at 12:34 PM, Chongo Loco said:

A few of us came to camp & race at bluff creek / Warda around 95. A few months later came back with my wife to visit her family and rode BCGB and City Park and maybe the old rifle range by Reimer’s. Loved it all but dabbed tons. Second time ever riding city park was on a visit in 97 riding with a friend from home. we got caught in a storm midway thru a lap. It was the storm that had the tornado that wiped out 183/1431 in cedar park then hit Jarrell.  We had no cellphones and no idea til we got back to our hotel. CP in the rain on a hardtail for 2 techie beginners was nutz!

I remember that storm well.  Wife calls me on the phone to let me know she sees a tornado.  Phone goes dead.  I was doing ~100 on Parmer to get home, scared that my house and family got wiped out.  I figured cops would cut me slack but I did not get pulled over.

We were lucky.  10 blocks away, not so much.  I went over there to help.  I'm in construction and the cops took it to mean that I could survey buildings and let them know if it was safe to enter.  Next thing I know, I have a police escort to Randalls because they thought people were trapped inside.

As a part of Texas A&M's Engineering Extension Service, that had guys nicknamed tunnel rats who would worm themselves through rubble looking for people.  I had to direct them where to go.  Turns out nobody was trapped inside Randalls.  What I learned is if you're in a grocery store during a tornado, head to the frozen food section.  Those freezers are so stout they can hold up a collapsed roof.  

In 2001, those same tunnel rats ended up in NYC.

 

[AntonioGG]

15 hours ago, dlstyley said:

Ha! Must be a migration pattern…. Came here in ‘94 on a rigid GT Avalanche (couldn’t afford the “team” version) and bought this guide book at a local shop.  First trail we hit was Forest Ridge, in toe clips of course.   A little different than Memorial Park.  😳  I quickly saved up some money and bought a used elastomer Manitou fork from a guy at work.  I thought I was in high cotton.

thanks for the memories!  A real kick digging out that old book and reading the descriptions.  Also a bummer we’ve lost some great trails.

 

I had that booklet!  Picked it up at BSS on Toomey Rd.

 

[Chongo Loco]

5 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

I had that booklet!  Picked it up at BSS on Toomey Rd.

 

Me too. Except mine has a green outer page instead of yellow. Ran across it a year or so ago. 

[Taco Man]

16 hours ago, dlstyley said:

Ha! Must be a migration pattern…. Came here in ‘94 on a rigid GT Avalanche (couldn’t afford the “team” version) and bought this guide book at a local shop.  First trail we hit was Forest Ridge, in toe clips of course.   A little different than Memorial Park.  😳  I quickly saved up some money and bought a used elastomer Manitou fork from a guy at work.  I thought I was in high cotton.

thanks for the memories!  A real kick digging out that old book and reading the descriptions.  Also a bummer we’ve lost some great trails.

 

Pretty sure I have that somewhere as well.

[dlstyley]

14 hours ago, Bart said:

I remember that booklet! What does it say about Forest Ridge? Something about how dangerous the trail was?😆

 

I pretty sure it had me at “one rider has been helicoptered out of here to a hospital”…

[Hugh]

One thing I remember about Forest Ridge: the first time I came down the big hill, I narrowly missed a pretty big drop.

Based on the Forest Ridge write up, I way underestimated my skills because I consider myself average but I always enjoyed Forest Ridge.

[Taco Man]

Only rode it once before I moved to Dallas, came back and it was locked up tight.

3 minutes ago, Hugh said:

One thing I remember about Forest Ridge: the first time I came down the big hill, I narrowly missed a pretty big drop.

Based on the Forest Ridge write up, I way underestimated my skills because I consider myself average but I always enjoyed Forest Ridge.