All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/storing-bicycle-in-backseat-of-doublecab.263277/#post-6446506

I hate roof racks so I went through the pain of mounting a receiver and using a hitch rack on my old mazda. I have the bed now, but in the cab would be if I want to keep it locked up better than I could in the bed. I'm planning a few things for travels/bike stuff, so could get interesting. That post linked is a 29 HT. If you've got a crew cab you could probably pull it off. I'm concerned if I want to have muddy bike in there where I'll be setting up my sleeping platform.

 

Dont live in DFW anymore but can link you an old route I used to ride with some buddies pretty frequently.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/trail/us/texas/north-shore-trail-murrell-park-to-rockledge-park?u=i
Personally I like starting at Murrell Park on lake grapevine and going east, just more attention demanding than going west from there. Nothing too difficult either and about halfway through there's a turn to cut the route short. Very active trailhead too so worst case you get lost you ask someone. Side note: cell service is not an issue here and pretty much any bike other than a downhill bike will do well for you on these trails.

 

Also there's a route through the hill country, kind of going that way anyway, but I would recommend heading south toward San Antonio and heading up north into that area, the view you get coming up from the south is killer. Do it when you can float the Frio, worth planning around that in my books.

 

Not gonna lie, Seth ('s Bike Hacks) sold me on Spider Mountain. If I'm ever near Austin, you best bet I'm going.

 

I went when it was closed and didn't have my bike. Sad. But I did stop and check it out, looked pretty f'in sweet!

This post had the route I based my trip on.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ttc-☆-official.541185/page-5571#post-23674725

But, I "started" down in SA and went out to Sabinal area, and let me tell you - driving through Sabinal, I felt like I was in the small Texas town, it was awesome! Up into Leakey then toward Spider Mountain, and ended up back in Austin at the end of the day. Probably one of the top 5 highlights of my trip was this little leg/section here.

 

I want to get something little for my riding buddies. What's a good MTB-related gift under $50? Tell me about your unbeatable apparel, maybe a can't-miss multi-tool, or irreplaceable maintenance tool, etc

 

how about the wolftooth masterlink remover.

 

Question for y'all from the BMX world. Is there a master link debate? It was a big stink in BMX, bunch of people saying it was the weakest link and it's best to use the chain tool, others saying that's true, but if you break a master link then you would have broken other links, etc. Just curious if in MTB it's "No, of course you run a master link, wtf is wrong with you?" or there's that same back and forth.

 

this video got me wanting to ride in Austin. Whenever I visit my cousin there I’m definitely going to ride.
https://youtu.be/dUgBFPOk6Sg

 

I don't know about NOVA area, but where I am from (RI) - >25 minutes and you better pack an overnight bag. It's a joke, but it's real. URI graduation - the locals will get a hotel room near the school. It's a 40 minute ride, MAX. My commute is 15 minutes, it's amazing, I spend so much less time driving and have so much more time for enjoying my house, yard, adventures with the dog, etc.

Anyway, I'm off topic. The point is, around here, going 1 hour for trails is a long ride. Down in Austin/rest of Texas, anything less than an hour is wicked close! Regularly going 2-3 hours is a thing. So, that video that says they're in Austin....That can very well be 2-3 hours outside of Austin/SA, and they're still "in Austin", for them. Where as I'm in Providence. After 10 minutes, I am outside of Providence.




But here's what paints the picture:


Austin is f'in HUGE. Boston, a massive city in the northeast, is about 90 square miles. What would be Waltham, Quincy, etc other suburbs of Boston - that's still part of Austin. And in my dinky little suburb of Providence, with nice calm streets and quiet (....2 minutes away from downtown Prov), the population density is 1.5X that of Austin.

Anyway, long of the short, "In" Austin is massive, and even 2 hours outside of Austin is still Austin (unless it's south, then it's San Antonio).

But the hillbilly gong is BS. I've seen them before. Snakes don't have ears. Otherwise, it's pretty flat IN Austin but outside of Austin (both New England outside and Texas outside) gets real fun real quick!

 

I’d be going for something like some bike wash chemicals maybe?( a lot of people don’t wash their bike often enough and properly, bike washing soaps/chemicals could encourage that) Maybe a one of those flannels that are targeted for bikers if your in a cold climate or even part time cold. Just thinking of stuff I’d use but would be unlikely to buy for myself.

 

thats crazy. 5 hours one way to ride bikes for 1 day? i guess its worth it.

Also, jester king brewery just west of austin was a rad place.

 

Being from Texas in the past, not many places you can get any kind of sustained downhill unless your out in big bend west Texas. If I still lived in Dallas I’d definitely be making day trips. Spider mountain has that draw. Also people from Texas don’t blink at 5 hours. One side of DFW to the other at rush hour would be abt 5 hours if not more.

 

He made a trip out of it it sounds like. You can make a straight shot in just over an hour according to google maps.

 

For real, thats how I felt living in LA. Hell, if you lived on the south end, and had a wedding to go to in the Hollywood Hills, it was basically a destination wedding.

 

Prime example of why I’m excited for school in Reno next year. I’ll be looking for people to show me around once I’m out there.

 

i feel that. i was in austin (flew to austin, wedding was in san antonio) for a wedding a year or two ago. the drive from downtown austin to san marcos took an hour. san antonio to austin airport took like 2. driving distances are no joke in texas

was in DFW last year for thanksgiving. luckily i was with someone that lived there and could be drunk the whole time. idk how i would deal with traffic. i pass 2 good riding spots on my 15 minute commute to work. idk what ill do when i move. really taking it for granted right now

 

Good one actually. I usually just hit mine with a hose if it's been a muddy or particularly dusty day. Otherwise, whatever. That's sort of why I don't buy expensive stuff either bikes or cars, other than this truck (which I vaguely regret paying so much for). Because I beat the absolute piss out of everything.

I drove 6500 miles round trip to ride bikes

No, this was back in July my company gave us furlough weeks. Mine ended up back to back in July. My wife is in classes going back to school, so I wanted to get out of her hair. Go to Maine for a day? Sure. But then I decided "F IT" let's take a day trip elsewhere...what about Niagara falls, that's far away and cool, let's go there. But hey, you know what, let's instead go for maybe 2 days and hit Nashville. But we want to move to Texas and planned to go in August to experience Texas summer heat (not going to leave new england where I can't do anything because of the cold for 4 months to go somewhere I can't do anything because of the heat for 4 months....) so how far is Texas from Nashville? A day or so? But hey, I want to keep Niagara falls....but hey, what about lake michigan? let's go to Michigan.

Anyway, it was basically a 6500 mile 10 day roadtrip around the eastern part of the US. Coincidentally....never even entered Tennessee

I should dig into the pictures and do a write up on here actually. It was a cool trip. Just me, the dog, and the open road. It didn't rain until the final night, and then coming back through southern NY into CT, then it was clear through CT and into RI.

DFW....DFW is 9200 square miles. Only slightly larger than the entire state of Massachusetts....

yeah it's pretty flat. Cool but relatively flat.

Traffic isn't that bad, BUT I'm used to Boston area so, nothing is that bad. Next time check out flights into SA. That's where air force training is so bunch of cheap flights.

 

Aw you shouldn't have!

 

Help me out here, what's gear I should have in my fanny pack while biking in Pisgah?