March 1, 2003: Driving from Frisco to St. Jo.

Before going to Frisco, we spent the weekend of February 15-16 at Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville to set up our Texas Bicycle Coalition booth amid all the race festivities. We got permission from race promoter Diane Uhl to park the Subaru right up front by the saloon so we could get a lot of visibility for the new Baja, and we also hung our TBC banner on it so people
could know who we were and why we got the 'special treatment'. Apparently one attendee missed the hint and tried to park her huge gas-guzzling SUV right next to it. Diane asked her to leave by saying, "You can only park on my lawn when you become a title sponsor of this race." Thanks for the support Subaru!

The cloudy weather kept a lot of folks away from the race, but we still had several folks stop by the booth, and we got about 20 people to sign up for our email list. A few of them even took TBC membership cards, so hopefully we got a few new members out of the deal. Maybe turnout will be higher at the next race and we'll "enlist" more members.

On Wednesday Feb. 19, we left home and went to Austin to check in at the office and pick up some supplies for our 2-week stint in the Big D (Dallas for any of you non-Texans on our list). We actually drove a little past Dallas up to Frisco where we stayed with our boss Jeanne Patterson and her husband, Steve. Jeanne and Steve were the nucleus of the Dallas mountain biking scene in the 80's and have many interesting stories to tell about forming the Texas racing series and all of the 'characters' they've met over the years. They were also wonderful hosts, and we truly appreciate their hospitality.

Jeanne did a great job of promoting our first trail-building clinic, and we had about 25 people show up to receive the gospel of sustainable trail design. Many of the participants were members of the Dallas Off Road Bicycling Association (DORBA), and several trail stewards of the local riding spots were there as well. Several people had a good deal of trail building experience under their belts already, and there was a lot of productive discussion about the different techniques presented. Again we say thanks to IMBA for providing the in-depth slide presentation for us to use in our own clinics - we couldn't have done the job nearly as well without it!

That afternoon we went out to the park where Jeanne had received permission for us to build a small new trail system. Ryan and I had gone out there the day before to flag an approximate corridor through the underbrush and it was reminiscent of the clinic we attended in Houston - 40 degrees and raining. Fortunately it stopped raining by Saturday, but we still had some wet conditions to contend with. The afternoon "Layout" session went smashingly well with everyone getting ample time to work with the clinometer and to talk about control points, positive and negative. Sunday we went back to the location and actually worked in the new trail. We had scouts go out ahead and continue flagging the trail while the rest of us were working on the trail. About half way through the morning we hit a snag: there was a seep right through where the trail was going.

Fortunately we came across it in the construction of the trail and were able to find a solution to it immediately. Usually you only find these natural leaky springs when the water table is high, which can cause one to appear months after the trail is built. About 7 or 8 of our crew decided armoring the section would be the best route and they proceeded to armor about 30 feet of trail, carefully selecting each rock to make sure it fit in perfectly.

Monday night, much to our chagrin, it started to sleet and snow. We actually drove through rain, sleet, snow and hail all in about 20 minutes! We learned, while driving on the icy stuff, exactly what the "beauty of all-wheel drive" is! We could make it out of the neighborhood when most people couldn't.

Due to the metroplex being locked in ice for most of the week, we missed our visit to Cedar Hill State Park. We did make it to Isle du Bois State Park on Friday, and spent two and half hours hiking in the snow with the trail steward and a ranger. The trail looks really fun to ride. It's tight, but more open than Johnson Branch, which sits on the north shore of Lake Lewisville. There are some neat rock features as well. Jeff Laquey, the DORBA trail steward hopes to have all 7 miles complete by Easter.

Saturday and Sunday we went to the Breaks at Bar-H near St. Jo, TX. It was time for stop number two on the TMBRA Spring Series. With all the snow melting and the drizzle on Saturday night, the course was really muddy for the experts, but cleaned up nicely for the sport and beginner riders.

Next on our list is a few days off, followed by two weeks in the Kerrville and Comfort areas!