Dirt worship weekend

I'm a roadie, but I love riding on dirt. So, I snagged one of these this weekend...


...and headed north to the Bicycle Sport Shop store on Parmer Lane for their MTB skills clinic. I pedaled all over the lawn with 35 other cyclists, playing bicycle limbo (how low can you go while riding your bike?), navigating an obstacle course (cones, logs, rocks, teeter-totters), and racing "slow" (last person to cross the finish line--without getting off your bike or touching the ground--wins). Then we rode behind the store into a park where we got to practice descending and plunge into and ride across a GIANT sand pit. Talk about skills -- that is a great one to master!

Afterward, with a couple that I met at the clinic, I headed over to Walnut Creek, an amazing gem of a park in North Austin. Over 13 miles of looping, twisting trails with sweet drops and descents, and short quick climbs. Lots of shade, a beautiful creek, and plenty of technical spots to practice skills (or walk your bike).

The aftermath:


Very dirty and very sweaty. In the best of ways.

P.S. I'm wearing my RoadID. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to have ID on them at any time.

P.P.S. The bike fun never stops: Bicycle Sport Shop and Alamo Drafthouse are hosting a screening of Bicycle Dreams (featuring the Race Across America event) on Tuesday night. Awesome.

Best deals in Austin

Zilker Park Boat Rentals: $10 for two hours in a kayak or canoe (with coupon). I'm partial to the ocean kayak myself. My friend's lab, CJ, would agree.

Barton Springs Pool: $3 for all-day admission to the fountain of youth (and the best people-watching in Austin).

Jim Jim's Water Ice: $1.50 for a "tiny" size cup.

Black Swan Yoga: $10-15 donation for amazing classes.

Bicycle Sport Shop: $30 for a half-day on a Specialized Stumpjumper 29er mountain bike.

I love the weekend.

Happy 4th, y'all.

Beginnings of Summer

The Texas spring was full of beautiful weather and bountiful bluebonnets. Now, the heat has settled in. Many of the wildflowers are gone, the days stretch on past 9pm, and thunderstorms rumble across the sky and douse the state with warm rain.


I'm living it up like all Texans do, despite the 90% humidity. I spend my weekends riding my bike through the hill country, lounging at Barton Springs Pool, running in local 5ks, eating BBQ, boating on Lake Austin, and kayaking through downtown on Lady Bird Lake. Seems like most things here involve exercise, water, and good eats.

You can take your pick of events every night of the week, but there's something wonderfully charming about those classic Austin sights, like the Congress Avenue bridge, where people gather each evening (on the bridge on or on boats below) to watch 1.5 million bats take flight. I picked a bad evening; apparently it's birthing season for the mama bats. On top of that, when it's very hot the bats won't fly until much later, once it's cooled down... between those two things, the bats barely trickled out. Next time.


The annual Keep Austin Weird 5k attracts some hard core runners (it was over 100 degrees, after all), and some of the best of Austin's weirdos. They closed down the S. 1st street bridge and filled it with local vendors (including one of my favorites: Gardener's Feast tamales), and then set up a rather atypical run course along Cesar Chavez. Mile one featured a "popsicle tree" with otter pops and a limbo game, mile two had a demonstration from Austin Parks Foundation, mile 2.25 had a Deep Eddy vodka & sweet tea station, mile 2.5 had free spoonfuls of Amy's Ice Cream, and mile 2.75 had water balloons and super soakers. Probably the slowest 5k that I've done, but I had a blast.


I miss my Bay Area summer fog, but life's good.