Austin
Later in the week we drove to Austin and got to cool our heels while our new Subaru received some new clothes – in the form of a full-body Subaru/Texas Bicycle Coalition sticker kit. The decorating process took almost 9 hours, but the new car looks very spiffy now, and Susan is finally getting the hang of driving the stick shift around. Never hurts to learn a new skill, even if it is forced upon one by circumstances!

Unfortunately during the first two weeks of the month Susan had to fight a head cold, which kept her off a bicycle and did nothing to help her train for the upcoming race season. The upshot: I took good care of her. Our schedule wasn’t too busy, so we were able to take some down time to help with the recovery process.

Feb 10-12: Tapatio Springs
Here, we finished flagging the corridor for a new race course. Adam Salladin from Hill Country Bicycle Works came out to work with us and offer some valuable input about where to cross some big rock ridges on the final descent. It’s going to take some substantial retaining walls to make that section rideable, but the topography and parameters within which we had to work made it nly place we could send the trail. It will be interesting to see what the finished product looks like.

Feb 15: Spring TMBRA series, Rocky Hill
In our new Bicycle Sport Shop jerseys, we’re proud to be racing for Sport Shop owner Hill Abell -- and team manager Brent Thompson is a friendly and supportive face to see out at the venues. Due to the aforementioned lack of training and muddy conditions, Susan didn’t place too well, but things can only get better from here. I had a good race, and was pleased with my ranking. Lots of folks came to visit and admire the artwork on the Subaru, and we had a nice, prominent parking place due to the kindness of the Rocky Hill Ranch folks. If only they could have better weather there whenever a race comes around!

Feb 18-20: Davis Mountains State Park
We went for a couple of good long hikes on the hiking trail systems. Davis Mountains features one “bicycle” trail, but it’s actually more of a wide jeep road that’s not in the best shape for cycling (i.e. lots of water bars with serious erosion on the downhill sides). To the park’s credit, they did want to provide a trail to accommodate cyclists; they just don’t have the resources at the moment to expand it beyond the 3+ miles they have, or to create new single-track trails that are more interesting for mountain bikers. The park manager was very receptive to our feedback, and we hope to return this summer to help out some more.

Feb 21: Mas o Menos 100K, Terlingua
We had the good fortune to return to Terlingua for this mountain bike race put on by the good people at Desert Sports. Although turnout wasn’t as high as expected, the race was expertly run and a very positive (and challenging) experience. Our boss, Jeanne Patterson, and her husband, Steve, traveled down from the Dallas area to serve as race officials. Bicycle Sport Shop was well represented, with team members winning the solo male, solo female and tandem classes. Susan finished fourth in the solo female class, with my assistance (I rode along with her to provide support and encouragement). We had fun hanging out with some of our friends from Houston after the race, and went out to the race venue the day after to help with cleanup before heading out of town.

Sul Ross State University, Alpine
On our way back east we stopped by in Alpine to visit with Kevin Urbanczyk and check the progress on his trail at Sul Ross. He’s made some nice additions, and has widened some of the single-track. Some of the trail had been a little too technically challenging for the majority of folks who don’t have Kevin’s stellar bike handling skills.

We also had the pleasure of attending a meeting of the new SRSU cycling club, which Kevin advises. The Club was founded by recent Austin transplant and BSS alumni Jacob Tung. Afterward, we spent a nice evening with Kevin and his wife Amelie, showing them pictures and sharing stories of our travels. Since we last visited them a year ago, Kevin and Amelie have had a baby, Pruitt, who’s a real cutie. We got to do some touristy things in Alpine too; it’s got a surprisingly vibrant arts community for such a small town, and several good restaurants. If you’re out in west Texas, try to swing through and check it out if you can spare the time.

Warda/Austin
After spending a few days at home in Warda, we headed back into Austin for a meeting with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Director Walt Dabney. Walt is a mountain biker himself, and has made a public commitment to improve the TPWD trail systems so that Texas can become a more prominent destination spot for cyclists who want to ride off-road. During our meeting, we gave him a status report on the various projects we’ve developed over the past year, and described our plans for the coming year. He was very excited about our accomplishments, and wished us well in our future endeavors. He also discussed his desire to make our position something more permanent in the future – for instance, an official TPWD state position for a trail crew, instead of a time-limited grant project like it is now. We’ll see what develops and let you know what happens.

Feb. 28: Flat Creek Ranch, Johnson City
We spent the weekend at the Texas Bicycle Coalition Board of Directors retreat. It was nice to meet new board members and visit with our office staff (whom we don’t get to see very often). We presented a short slide show on our program that was well received, then went for a ride with a few retreat participants. As an added bonus, we got to take home much of the surplus food that TBC had bought for the weekend. Thanks to board member and friend Christina Case, who dropped it by our house while we were on duty at another race.

Flat Rock Ranch, Comfort
We wrapped up the month by going to the second race in the TMBRA series. Again the weather was uncooperative, and Susan chose not to race in the morning to save herself and her bike from injuries. (And in our capacity as trail builders who constantly tell others not to ride when it’s muddy, it felt like the right thing to do.) Nationally ranked pro and former Texan Shonny Van Landingham, who now races for Clif Bar’s “Luna Chix” team, was along for the ride. Watching Shonny line up for one of our local races was an honor.

That’s all for now. In March we’ll meet with Davin Cox (one of our first trail school participants) to check out some family property in Marble Falls, where they hope to open a new mountain bike ranch in the future. Then it’s on to Waco for Nationals (where, rumor has it, we might see Shonny again). Talk to you soon!

Signed,
Ryan (writing this time) and Susan
The Subaru BikeTexas Trail Doctors