Subaru/BikeTexas
Trail Doctors Diaries
October
2003
Cooper Lake SP / McKinney
Roughs / Tapatio Springs / Ft. Boggy SP
Hello
everybody. We hope you’ve been enjoying
the recently cooled down temperatures—we
certainly have, as working outdoors has become
more pleasant in the fall. As usual, we’ve
been racking up the miles in our trusty Subaru
and have hit over 5,000 miles in less than six
weeks! Here’s a list of what we’ve
been up to in October.
We
started the month at Cooper
Lake State Park up in the northeast part of
the state. The park superintendent Rodney Franklin
had requested that we come to evaluate their system
of equestrian trails and offer suggestions for
repairs and/or re-routes. Although parts of the
11-mile trail system were in decent shape, a majority
of the trails were severely eroded and causing
concerns about user safety and preservation of
the natural resources in the area. We offered
Rodney and his staff our input on what could be
saved vs. what should be closed down and rehabilitated.
Then we did some research about equestrian trail
user groups in the area and tried to drum up local
support to get volunteer crews together to repair
and maintain the trails. We wish them well and
look forward to returning in early 2004 to teach
a trail school for TPWD staff and volunteers.
That
weekend we headed down to Lake Bryan for the BTU
Power Pedal race sponsored by the Brazos
Valley Mountain Bike Association. We continued
to raise money for our Share the Road license
plate campaign, and enjoyed volunteering to help
out with the Kids Kup race. One little guy out
there on training wheels was only 20 months old—he
was so cute!! From Bryan it was on to Beaumont
again for another rail trail meeting with the
Southeast Texas Hike and Bike Coalition. There
were about twice as many participants compared
to last month’s meeting, and it’s
nice to see folks getting more organized and enthused
about bringing safe cycling and walking paths
to the Beaumont area.
During
the weekend of October 10-12, we taught a seminar
and completed a project using armoring techniques
at the Texas Trails Network conference east of
Austin at the McKinney
Roughs Nature Center, a park in the LCRA (Lower
Colorado River Authority) network. Several interesting
and relevant trail topics were covered by numerous
presenters, including water management, volunteer
recruitment, conservation developments, and the
public health aspects of trails.
In
addition to the work performed, there were several
fun activities including a moonlight rafting trip,
nature hike, and live music. Did we mention the
food? Lots of delicious home-cooked fare in huge
portions—we felt like stuffed pigs by the
end of the weekend. Fortunately to offset our
gluttony we got to do a lot of hiking and strenuous
trail work the following week in Boerne, when
we returned to Tapatio Springs to continue marking
a corridor for the new trail we’re designing
along with the San Antonio and Kerrville folks.
The process is slow due to very thick cedar groves
we have to hack through, but it is coming along
and the course should be very interesting and
challenging when the end of the spring TMBRA series
comes around.
The
weekend of October 17-18 brought the Tour
De Fat to town. Sponsored by New Belgium Brewing
Company, the makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale, the
Tour De Fat is billed as “a ballyhoo of
bikes and beer”. Needless to say it was
a very fun weekend at the Rocky
Hill Ranch in Smithville. There were bike
games, beer, food, live music, beer, fun rides,
beer, and a group of bike circus performers from
San Francisco called Cyclecide. There was lots
of beer too, and the proceeds were divided up
between Texas Bicycle Coalition and the Yellow
Bike Project in Austin.
After
recovering from Tour De Fat, we pointed the Subie
north towards Ft.
Boggy State Park and marked some new trail
corridor after the regional parks manager decided
to develop a different part of the park for trails.
Since we were back in Leona on a Thursday night,
of course we hit the general store for the fried
catfish dinner. If possible it was even better
than the last time we ate there. From there we
went down to Double Lake for more racing fun and
advocacy work. This race was the first one ever
held at Double
Lake Recreation Area, and Scott Schaefer,
Keith Porter, and the folks from GHORBA
did an awesome job of putting on a great event.
And the fact that Susan won her class for the
first time there after racing for 7 years made
it even better. We’re definitely looking
forward to the next GHORBA race. Great work folks!!
We
wrapped up the month by meeting with some very
dedicated people in Nacogdoches whom we had met
at the Texas
Trails Network seminar. The city parks manager,
a kinesiology professor at Stephen F. Austin University,
and a local television honcho asked us to come
consult on a new trail development going in there.
We also met with a local bike shop owner and several
guys from the college’s bike racing team,
all of whom are excited about the new trail that
will be built. We look forward to working with
them in the future.
Next
up for the Trail Doctors in the month of November:
a service project with REI in Austin, a presentation
at the STORM meeting in San Antonio, and working
at the Texas Trails Fest at Rocky Hill Ranch.
