May Recap
What a busy month! I hope y’all had an exceptional May, mine was seriously rowdy. This is a long update, so let’s dive in…
Merch Update - Hats!
The perfect hat to let people know you came to shred, or that you would rather be on your bike. Use it to cover up that awful post-ride helmet hair, or just to look sooo good.
This is a Yupoong 6089 Classic Snapback in heather gray with a green under visor. There are no mesh panels on this hat, which is perfect if you want to avoid sunburns, or to help keep the cedar needles out of your hair when you are building trail (that is assuming you even want to get dirt on this beauty).
The Formula Graphic Tee is still available in Medium and Large. The wheelie sticker has been updated and does not show the rider wearing a CamelBak because it’s 25% more rad that way according to my market research. I am also working on a new tee shirt!
This merch is how I fund this website to bring you the content you see here. I also use this to help build and maintain trail in South Austin trail Network (tools, Tacos, Donuts, etc). Your support is very much appreciated, and I want to thank anyone who has bought a shirt or sticker!
2022 SATN Social
The SATN Social partially took place on June 4th; however, due to the rain, the Make-Up date is on June 11. There is still a ton of food and beer, and none of the prizes have been given out yet. This is going to be a huge event. I will see you on the 11th!
Spider Mountain DH Series – May 7
The final round of the Team Trail Party Spider Mountain Downhill series was a big success! You can view the overall results here. The stage was Sticky Icky unless you were racing in the open categories, in which case the stage was Vipers Den to middle Sidewinder and then Sleep Tight.
Sticky Icky is rated black diamond due to a bit of exposure here and there, as well as two particularly challenging spots featuring a cascading rock ledge staircase that you ride down diagonally. The second one is steep, and each ledge could be a pedal grabber if you are not careful. Sleep Tight is a pro line that is only open for special events and racing and features a huge drop that is visible from the chair lift; however, it is the section approaching the drop that seems to be most daunting. Steep, loose, chunky, and with a sharp left turn that loves to claim riders.
I raced alongside my friend Cullen, and we showed up early enough to get a few practice runs in. The conditions were dry and hot; Strava says it was 85° but with the armor and pads it was miserable at times. I was terrified of the idea of racing Sticky Icky. It’s a trail I typically ride conservatively except for one spot that features a rolling step down that comes shortly after the first fire road crossing and gives you a bit of airtime at speed.
I felt more confident with most of the trail after practice, and although we got to chase Charles Soto on one run, I think Cullen and I both stuck to our own burned in lines for better or worse once the race started. The section I was most nervous about – the final staircase – I have also never crashed on. As tricky as it is, I’ve always managed to come through cleanly. That all changed on my race run. In hindsight, I wonder if I simply got cocky because I distinctly remember thinking halfway down “sick, I got it”. And then I was on the ground, upside down with my bike behind me and helpful spectators shouting a slew of things, but I managed to clearly hear “you dropped something” and I started searching on the ground until I found my wireless microphone.
As I rode off with my handlebars crooked someone yelled “that was an awesome recovery you got up so fast” and I tried to enjoy the compliment, but I was already seething with disappointment in myself. I still don’t really understand what went wrong but it doesn't matter now. After a day or two I realized that I was proud of what I had accomplished. I got over my fear of racing that trail and sent it. Of course, I can be faster and cleaner, but this was a great moment for me and it’s a good baseline for improvement. My friend Cullen wound up having a clean race, and a quick one too. I stoked for him; we were both so damn apprehensive about racing this stage and he came out clean and full of confidence.
For some reason this POV footage starts off – luckily – just as I am passing the start beacon. I wish it included the countdown and launch (that is when I pushed the button anyway). I included a short clip of the staircase from a practice run that shows how it was supposed to go down.
Bentonville – May 15-21
I decided to make this a separate blog post to do it justice. Read all about our epic trip in detail here.
Cat Mountain - Memorial Day
You have probably heard of Cat Mountain before, in the context of “that place that you are too scared to ride”. That is because Cat Mountain is stupid gnarly. My buddy Cullen and I have had an opportunity to dig here recently.
I’ve ridden here once before, and not much of it, so Cullen and I were both stoked to have a chance to ride with our teammate Teresa. We toured Cat Hater, Cat Fight, Black Cat, Cat DH, part of Super Macho, part of Grom, and a very small part of Double Black Cat. I crashed twice and paid the price for not having my knee pads. In my defense, they are broken after Bentonville. Also, in my defense I did rad stuff and totally killed it. I have some footage, but I am going to save it for the next edition of Ride Reels, because sadly the Media Mod on my GoPro was going wild and did not record any audio.
Here is a still frame sequence from a spicy rock roll…
Trail Building and Maintenance
SATN Smooth Crew + E Spank
I adopted E Spank as my trail for the SATN Smooth Crew which has been hard at work making sure South Austin trail Network looks its best for the SATN Social. We even have official T Shirts!
I took care of cleaning up some sightlines, trimming the native grasses back, and adding flour arrows along my portion of the East Route. I have also been hard at work building more berms, as well as a project I have been working on since January. Hopefully that will be wrapped up this summer and then it is on to something new…
E Spank Tree Clearing
In the beginning of the month a few volunteers had an opportunity to clear a massive fallen tree from E Spank trail. It was impressive how quickly the little Ryobi chainsaw took care of it.
Crank N Drank and Groadie Rides
I missed the Crank N Drank ride on the 17th thanks to being in Bentonville, but there was a southie edition of the Wednesday Night Gravel ride that was fun. You can join the Austin MTB Discord if you want to get in on some of these group rides.
Crank N Drank - May 3
Crank N Drank - May 10
Wednesday Night Gravel - May 11
Crank N Drank - May 24
Crank N Drank - May 31
Ride Reels
Before we close this out, I wanted to mention that I will get back to making ride edits soon, plus a new project that I have been trying to get going since January. I got pretty busy with building, racing, and planning Bentonville, but now that summer is here, I should have a bit more time. Cheers, my friends 🤙
