Robert's Mountain Biking Blog

This morning I made it out to the Rocky Hill Ranch (http://www.boomersrockyhill.com) which is situated a few miles north of Smithville Texas. This is a favorite spot for mountain bikers. I had ridden there once about 5 years ago but did not actually ride any of the more serious trails. Today I planned to test them out in preparation for the 2006 Texas Chainring Massacre bike race next month. Even with a map in hand, I managed to miss the turn for the trail and was making my way up the service road which is off limits to bikes (see pic). :) Duh!
I finally back tracked and got on the trail. My new Trek was handling nicely although riding with front suspension does take some getting used to. It's like riding with a large sponge between you and the front wheel. I'm still learning how to ride efficiently with it. The trail for the race is a 9 mile loop through windy, steep trails and gullies. Most of the riding is also through a thick forest of pine trees which is nice but the mats of pine needles can be very slippery when making sharp turns. I was trekking along nicely but by mile 3.5-4.0 I was getting exhausted. By then I was pushing my bike up hills because I simply didn't have the energy to pedal up them anymore. At mile 4.5 (the halfway mark and furthest point from the start) I had my first wipe out. I was going down an incline and wasn't paying attention to the tree root jutting out of the ground. My front wheel hit it and before I knew it I was thrown forward. I lay there in a cloud of dust and sat up blinking in the sunlight. It happened so fast it took me a while to process that I had just wiped out. I think I landed on my shoulder but didn't notice it at the time. Luckily, my camera wasn't damaged. I picked up my (new) bike and noticed that the chain had fallen off. The rear derailleur was bent. Not good. If I couldn't get my chain back on that meant a 4.5 mile hike back to the starting point whilst hauling my bike. Luckily, the chain went back on fairly easily after I bent the derailleur back a bit. It wasn't perfect but it worked! I eventually reached one of the more difficult parts of the trail called "The Wall" (see pic). I managed to bike down it alright. When I got to the bottom, I started to push my bike up the steep hill. Just as I got to the top, I lost my footing and fell hard on my side. Perhaps this is where I hurt my shoulder. I don't know. You know it's funny, I don't mind wiping out or falling down so much. It's just the thought of someone seeing it happen to me that bothers me the most. It's funny how were are so self conscious about things like that. It's like "Eh, I broke my femur but thank God no one saw me do it!"
So, I'm in the home stretch cruisin down this trail getting close the end and then all of a sudden "boom!" I wipe out again. This time it was because of little bumps in the trail that did it plus I might have hit the front brakes a little hard. This wipe out was the best because it literally threw me 10-15 feet from my bike. I got a nice little raspberry on my right elbow from this one.
I finished the course in about 2 hours mainly because I took my time to stop, rest and take pictures. All in all, it was a great ride and full of outdoor scenery and trail challenges. Can't wait to go back. After I got back to Austin the bike shop fixed my rear derailleur in no time. Woohoo!

My gear

Entrance to Rocky Hill Ranch

Funny art

Nice view from the trail

On the service road where I didn't belong! :)

Cool spiderweb

Pine trees

The trail-1

The trail-2

Taking a break

An unfortunate biker

The Black Trac (Cool!)

The Grind-1

The Grind-2

The Wall-1 ("If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you
have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?")

The Wall-2

I survived!!

Woohoo, I got my new bike today! I'm really stoked. It was the last one in stock. It's a Trek 4300 mountain bike. It rides smooth and I love the front fork suspension and the rapid fire gear shifters. It really is a different ride from my old, heavier Schwinn. I plan to test it out tomorrow at the Rocky Hill Ranch MTB trail. If all goes well, I'll be participating in the 2006 Texas Chainring Massacre race being hosted there next month. So, tomorrow is a chance for me to get familiar with the trail. It's supposed to be a 9 mile loop. I think my new Trek is definitely going to make a difference. Oh, and I won a free Power Bar from a Trek scratch off. It has definitely been my lucky day!

Here are my bike specs:

Spec Name	Trek 4300
Frame	Alpha SL aluminum
Fork	RST Gila T6, 80mm-travel
Rims/Wheels	Bontrager Camino
Hubs	F: Aluminum R: Shimano RM60
Tires	Bontrager ACX, 26 x 2.2
Crankset	SR XCC-150
Chainwheel	42/34/24
Front Derailleur	Shimano
Rear Derailleur	Shimano Alivio
Rear Cogs	SRAM PG 830, 8-speed: 11-32
Shifters	Shimano EF50 EZ-Fire
Handlebars	Bontrager Crowbar Sport
Stem	Bontrager Sport
Brake Levers	Shimano
Brakes	Tektro Alloy linear pull
Pedals	Platform
Saddle	Bontrager Select Basic
Seat Post	Bontrager Sport

Yesterday after leaving the gym, I jumped on my bike and noticed my rear brakes were out of commission. The brake wire was loose and hanging. I thought that maybe the wire snapped somewhere. After riding to the bus stop I took a closer look and realized that the wire came unhooked from this brackets that keep tension in it. It was a simple matter of hooking the wire back into place. Whew! I'm glad that was simple. Secondly, my handle bars had become loose. I started wondering if somebody was intentionally sabotaging my bike. But, I reckon it was from the hard riding at the Green Belt. All I simply had to do was tighten down the nut on the handle bar neck. No biggie. Now the bike rides like normal. Yippee. :)

This weekend I didn't make it to a bike trail. Instead, today I just biked about 3.5 miles around my neighborhood. I found it almost as challenging as a bike trail with its many hills and especially with biking during the heat of the day (around 5 pm). The black asphalt doesn't help much either. I took a couple of breaks under some shade trees. I enjoy seeing the people in the neighborhoods living their everyday lives just like me.

Today I went back the Barton Creek Green Belt to access it from the Scottish Woods Trail. Last time (on June 25th) I started from the Twin Falls Access point. The Scottish Woods access point starts out very steep and rocky. It's about 0.4-0.5 of a mile down to the bottom where it finally levels off. Biking down this incline proved difficult and exhausting. Actually, I'm really surprised that I did not wipe out at any point. A couple of times I stopped and hesitiated at some of the large steps that exist on this incline. The trick seems to keep your momentum and to constantly keep and eye out for the best path through the trail. It was very jarring and both the bike and I took a beating. The bottom of the incline reaches a fork. The incline faces south so at the fork I went westward on the trail that I had ridden on the 25th and continued on it for about 1.2 miles. The trail here quickly becomes narrow with dense vegetation on either side. It's really not suitable for biking but rather for hiking. I turned around and decided to bike eastward. After reaching the fork again I continued on for about a mile. My new Camelbak (1.5 L) hydration pack worked like a charm. However the first few sips from it are hot. The cooler water sits below the warmer water and takes a little while to suck up. But, it's sure worth the wait. I'm convinced that the Camelbak really helped me keep my strength up on the rough riding. After a mile or so, I turned around knowing that I'd have to tackle the incline going back up. After passing the fork I biked up to the incline. It's way too steep to ride up on a bike (in my opinion). So, I walked my bike up. While walking up the incline a cool, gentle rain started. It was a nice way to cool off after the ride. I didn't even mind that I was having to haul my bike up that steep incline.

The incline

Narrow paths

A pic of the water at the Greenbelt

A large tree that fell on the trail

My bike next to the fallen tree