April 2024 Recap
Five Finger Discount, Best Side Trails, April 14, 2024.
We got the month of April rolling by launching the Central Texas Rider Survey which ultimately received 147 responses; you can read a detailed post about those responses here. The survey is helping us understand everything from favorite riding venues to the best day and time for a movie night. We are able to narrow down a list of merch ideas now, and we were able to confirm that 15 miles is about all the average rider is willing to tolerate for a group ride.
Abel Pardo, ARR Ride Program Director
The survey indicated the majority of our riders consider themselves intermediate or advanced intermediate level, which is probably why our first ever advanced and intermediate level group ride at Mount Lakeway was so well attended! This is something our Ride Program Director Abel Pardo was stoked to launch this season and we have some awesome venues planned for that series.
We also learned that Forrest Creek Ranch is a popular Saturday venue and we will visit there again at the end of this month on the 25th.
We had three Trail Crew workdays at Walnut Creek starting with Grip Hoist training at the main creek crossing, and then two days of dirt and log work on Windy Loop including a removal of a log pile feature to protect the health of a couple of oaks and a re-route of the section. We also hosted our annual Ride Leader and Sweep protocol review for new and existing leaders just to brush up on everything we need to know to help riders have the most fun during group rides.
Finally, Best Side Trails hosted the Five Finger Discount Jam which ended up being an awesome party and ARR is proud to have helped raise over $5000 for the venue, contributing an additional $2000 to match the initial donations. Thank you to the following donors:
Icham Allen, Jacob Angus, Ben Baiamonte, Jamie Brown, Leonard Brown, William Bryant, Jon Catanzano, Timothy Clements, Dale Daugherty, Casey Deriso, Derek Franks, Isaac Hartiens, J.C. Hernandez, Cullen Inmon, Devon Lampman, Hugo Licea, Ariel Marlowe, Ariel Marlowe, Donovan Miller, Louis Palomo, Alexandra Perez, Brian Raudabaugh, Mark Rogers, Jason Rosales, Jacqueline Ruiz, Zek Salazar, Bobby Sandoval, Scott Smith, Alexander Talbert, Spencer Thompson, David Tolley, Nikolai Vozza, Austin Walker, Tina Williams, Benjamin Willkommen, Elizabeth Wolensky
We welcomed the following new members in April: Jimmy Anderson, Kyle Artz, Timothy Gasser, Jorge Gonzalez, Jason Greenwood, Gerardo Hernandez, Xiankun Jin, Ace Martin, William Newing, Sean O’Neal, Alexandria Pinkleton, Ryan Prebola, Tiffany Schumacher, and Phil Setzer!
Additional Updates From ARR Vice President Cullen McMorrow:
ARR Advocacy with Local Governments.
Many MTB clubs around the country face issues of trail closure, while others are seeing unprecedented investment in bike parks and new cross country trails. We're pushing on both sides--managing ongoing maintenance relationships and responding to complaints to help prevent trail closures, as well as proactively being involved in planning discussions.
ARR Vice President Cullen McMorrow works in State government (non-bike-related) and has been using his patience with government to advocate for mountain biking in the Austin area.
Austin Parks Foundation's Parks Summit on May 4, 2024, key points:
Liana Kallivoka, Assistant Director filled in for Director Kimberley McNeeley who announced her upcoming retirement. If any of you is plugged into the Parks upper management world, and knows a Parks manager who mountain bikes and would relocate to Austin, let us know. We're only half joking.
Barry Rivera, Austin Parks Foundation presented on Adopt-a-Park which is primarily for neighborhood parks. If you are active in your neighborhood association, and potentially want to spearhead small bike park related facilities, talk with Cullen. ARR cannot be the lead; Adopt-a-Park still needs to be neighbor-led, but we can discuss possible projects.
PARD's Land Management Program is a new office concerned with fire risk mitigation in various forms of ecological preservation. Although their work does not directly deal with trails, ARR is keeping a close eye on times when they do mention them. Several of their documents and presentations have flagged "social trails" as an environmental problem. We want to make sure that the trail-using community is involved in any trail closure discussions, while emphasizing that we support land managers' ability to promote well-designed trail and close problem ones. AND we want to ensure that this office sees ARR Trail Stewards as allies who help them achieve their goals of improving natural space. Many "social trails" are not bike-related at all; it is common for hikers and dog walkers to make short cut trails at multiple places along creeks.
Park Rangers Program- I talked with a couple of Park Rangers representatives. Recently, a complaint was made to the Rangers about allegedly dangerous/aggressive/rude behavior by riders towards hikers at Walnut Creek Metro Park. ARR responded to the e-mail chain to emphasize our commitment to IMBA Trail Etiquette standards and to educate our community about them. Please help keep other MTB riders in line to prevent or de-escalate any confrontation with a hiker, dog walker, etc. The reputation of all of us is on the line, and losing trail access is a real risk.
ATX Mobility Neighborhood Partnering Program
Part of the Transportation and Public Works department (rather than Parks & Rec), this office accepts applications for projects. Some of the completed projects in the past have involved cycling (like the Bike Polo Court at Metz Park) https://www.austintexas.gov/page/neighborhood-partnering-program-project-summaries If you are a leader in a neighborhood association and are interested in some sort of bike-related pocket park concept (pump track, skills park, bicycle playground, traffic garden, etc.), talk with us.
Violet Crown Trail
ARR has attended meetings with Hill Country Conservancy and local government entities to be a presence and voice for the natural surface trails that intersect with the decomposed granite trail in South Austin.
Cedar Park Parks Master Planning Process
One long-term strategy of having mountain biking integrated into a city is to be included in their citywide parks planning. During the last input session, ARR as well as outstanding activist Jackee Ruiz, made sure there was solid turnout to request biking facilities such as asphalt pump/jump track, skills parks, etc.
Milburn Bike Park, Cedar Park - Upgrade Planning - Although ARR has been minimally involved with Milburn for over 14 years (back in 2010, we funded DIY dirt work), in the last several years we have taken a more active role in guiding the improvements in the park, which have been implemented by contractor KOM Trails LLC. Acting Parks Director Mike DeVito has been a strong ally, seeking out 4B Funding for the improvements.
Suburban Ninja, Cedar Park - Although S.N. was developed informally (on both public and private land), ARR is talking with Cedar Park about what can be done to formalize the trails after the concrete North Fork Brushy Creek Regional Trail is finished. The Peddler, Red Horn and are the locals are great friends of the club. If anyone encounters neighbors, always be polite and maintain those positive relationships. One complaint did get made about “Bobby Brown” being near houses and it’s important not to further any more conflict with that.
