As 2023 ends, Austin Ridge Riders can feel proud of what we have accomplished as an organization this year. Our members helped clear hundreds of miles of trail after a record-breaking ice storm, moved tons of dirt and rock, and racked up thousands of miles of group rides.

Build

You’re probably aware of how busy our trails are, but you might not know how much effort is required to maintain them and keep them safe and fun for everyone. Punji sticks and widow makers were big problems this year adding to the usual maintenance workload of repairing erosion issues. Thank goodness we have some awesome volunteers supported by dedicated Stewards and Crew Leaders!

Austin Ridge Riders Trail Crew documented 750 volunteer hours spent maintaining City of Austin parks, 300 hours for Travis County parks, and 250 hours for the City of Cedar Park at Brushy Creek. Most of that time was dedicated to Walnut Creek Metro Park; however, we did have our first ever workdays in Mary Moore Searight Metro Park, and assisted with “It’s My Park Day” in the Little Walnut Creek Greenbelt.

The Ice Storm

An unprecedented ice storm in the beginning of the year created challenges in our personal lives and chaos in the woods. All over Central Texas limbs snapped, trees uprooted, and hundreds of miles of single track were rendered unrideable until volunteers were able to clear the blockages.

Our Trail Crew led the way in the community effort to get Walnut Creek, Brushy Creek, and Mary Moore Searight parks rideable again. Over 40 volunteers showed up to the Walnut Creek workday, and we heard many of our members even helped put in work for their own HOA(s) cleaning up their neighborhood greenbelt! What seemed like an impossible task that would take City staff months to complete ended up taking weeks, and we were back on the trail again. This is a big accomplishment for our community and highlights the important role our organization has in maintaining park land and ensuring that everyone can enjoy these trails.

Grip Hoist Training

There were three Grip Hoist training/workdays in 2023 at Walnut Creek led by Charlie Riou and Trail Steward Cullen McMorrow. Grip Hoist is a brand of cable hoisting tools that are used to pull heavy objects with relative ease and ARR has two of them at our disposal. The large forces involved necessitate safety precautions and ARR can provide that training for our Crew, as well as the basics of how to operate the tool.

For this workday, we repaired a boulder dam/crossing that was displaced by flood waters, and added rock armoring to exposed roots of a large tree to prevent further erosion that could damage the tree and the trail below it.

Mary Moore Searight

In 2022 ARR received grant money from Athletic Brewing Company, as well as city approval of our CAPP proposal for Mary Moore Searight Metro Park in southeast Austin. This underutilized resource has a lot of space and some interesting trails to explore. Elevation sneaks up on you here and there are some fun sections of creek bed that you can ride. Two trail workdays in the beginning of the year focused on removing blockages caused by the winter storm and clearing up punji sticks. Regular workdays are being discussed for 2024, as well as another CAPP submission to use machines in certain areas of the park.

Brushy Creek Trail Connector

Our organization worked with Williamson County to obtain permission for a new section of natural surface trail that enables a connection from “The Bowl” to “Double Down” and “Picnic”. When opened, this connector will alleviate traffic on the Brushy Creek Regional trail by providing mountain bikers an off-road alternative between trails.

UPDATE: This section is now open. It has been named “Billy Goat” in honor of the late Rob Paulk who was a member of our community. Williamson County officials gave the final approval on February 21st, 2024. The trail allows a ten mile loop dubbed “The Meg”.

Ride

Sunday Group and Monthly Group Rides

Our regular Sunday morning all-level group ride was enhanced this year with the addition of an alternate venue for the first ride of each month at Brushy Creek, Suburban Ninja, and South Austin Trail Network.

Our monthly ride took us to Rocky Hill Ranch, Pace Bend Park, and Dana Peak; however, potential favorites like Cameron Park and Forrest Creek Ranch were cancelled due to weather. These trails are planned for next year, as well as a trip to Georgetown.

Ride Like a Girl

Ride Like a Girl had a fabulous 2023 season this last year. We hosted 150+ riders, many new, seasoned and everyone in between. This program has a remarkable history and next year with be our 30th anniversary! The success we’ve had couldn’t happen without our amazing team of ride leaders who volunteer their time each Monday. For the upcoming 2024 season we would like to announce a changing of the guard, Lara Bridges is stepping up to be the new Ride Like a Girl director. She brings new enthusiasm, energy and passion to the program and we are all very excited to see what’s in store! Keep an eye out for upcoming weekend rides and even some weeknight night rides during our “off season”. Please contact Lara, Lucie or any of the Austin Ridge Rider board members if you would like to volunteer to be a ride leader or sweep this next season!
-Lucie Hanzlik, Women’s Ride Program Director

Shoutouts

We are grateful to ARR member and Austin Realtor Brooks Lawson for sponsoring lunch at our monthly member appreciation rides! Brooks is always helping lead rides or build trail and has dedicated a ton of time to helping moderate some big local MTB communities online.

Thank you to our Ride Leaders…

· Advanced: Shawn Bohrer, Scott Lelieur

· Intermediate: Renee Mocha, Jeff Bridges, Scott Card. Katina Bohrer, Matt Trinh, Alex Tomlinson

· Beginner: Lara Bridges, Kyle Rickman, Kristin Speyer, Jaime Salazar, Mike Shapard, Sara Bridges

Thanks to Abel Pardo, Ride Program Director and Lucie Hanzlik, Women’s Program Director

Grow

The Austin Ridge Rider’s is a 501(c)(3) on a mission to develop trails by promoting trail stewardship in cooperation with local land managers, improve mountain bike awareness and access, and bring people together to build a strong off-road cycling community.

Two Cranksgiving Events!

Our 2022 Cranksgiving event at Reimers Ranch was postponed until earlier this year, and then for the first time since 2018 we were able to have our 2023 Cranksgiving on the scheduled day in November at Pace Bend Park. Both events were well attended and offered tons of prizes thanks to our awesome sponsors. It’s not just about the ride though, we also accomplish much needed trail maintenance, and it is always wonderful to see so many members stop at the workstations to pitch in. Most of the work was focused on fixing erosion issues, but Pace Bend trail work also included a fun step-down feature that is progressive, and close enough to the parking lot to play around on after your ride.

Film Screenings

One of the new ways we are bringing the community together is with free movie screening nights like the two we did this year at Oskar Blues brewery. The Engine Inside was a powerful film about how the bicycle has impacted communities around the world as an engine for transportation and self-transformation. Nothing’s for Free took us inside the sacrifice of the pioneers who formed freeride and slopestyle riding and wound up shaping the entire industry. We are sad that Oskar Blues closed the Austin taproom; however, we intended to find other suitable venues so we can continue to have these events.

Speaking of films, ARR was honored to be a part of the filming of “Sister Cities” with USA today. This two-part documentary explores the similarities between Austin Texas, and Xishuangbanna, China. Although geographically separated by a great distance, we share a vibrant culture that embraces the outdoors. Watch Part 1 and Part 2.

Take a Kid Mountain Biking with Trek

After the weather forced us to postpone our own Take a Kid Mountain Biking date until Spring, we were stoked to be invited by our friends at Trek and Trek Ride Club Austin to help with theirs. Our ride leaders were able to help guide participants around Walnut Creek Metro Park and introduce the future of our sport to the trails we call home. You can look at the event gallery here.

Bolm Park Meeting

Vision planning is a long process which just started for Bolm District Park in East Austin. The first step was a virtual meeting between city planners and community members to discuss what we would like to see happen with this property. Many of our members were in attendance along with board members Cullen McMorrow and Dale Daugherty. The feedback overwhelmingly favored bike infrastructure along the lines of The Railyard bike park in Rogers, Arkansas. Residents were quick to point out that the Southern Walnut Creek Trail provides excellent connectivity. ARR will continue to encourage community members to participate in planning discussions about Bolm Park.

Opening Walnut Creek Extension

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the Northern Walnut Creek Trail on March 4th was well attended, and we were there to celebrate this occasion and represent our stewardship at Walnut Creek Metro Park. The city completed a 1.3-mile addition bringing the total to four miles. This is just a small part of Austin’s growing urban trail network which opens up new routing by linking areas of single track together and provides wet weather options for those days when we can’t ride trail.

Suburban Ninja Fire

The drought this year was terrible and dry conditions fueled a fast-moving wildfire at Suburban Ninja that consumed a fair amount of trail. We are glad to hear the trails will recover and were happy to donate funds to help with the recovery effort. Thank you to AJ Camp and all the volunteers who make Suburban Ninja one sweet trail network.

New Board Members and Trail Stewards

ARR Thanks Cheyenne Dolin and Lucie Hanzlik for their service on the ARR Board of Directors and welcomes Lara Bridges, Dale Daugherty, and Clint Newman. Lara will be taking over for Lucie as Women’s Ride Program Director (Ride Like a Girl), and Dale and Clint will both be handling the Marketing and Communications role. Dale is also our new trail steward at Mary Moore Searight, and we also welcome Alex Tomlinson as the trail steward for Pace Bend Park.

2023 Recap