2011 Wrap-up

The end of 2011 got really busy for me and this blog took a backseat to real life. The good news is that real life placed me squarely in the center of mountain biking awesomeness in Austin Texas. We bought a home in the Travis Country subdivision, which is ringed and bisected by some of the best mountain biking trails in town. The Barton Creek greenbelt is arguably the best riding in Austin and definitely the most diverse. You can go from fast hard-pack to terrifying limestone ledge downhills and then hit a brutal class 4 climb all within the same mile.

Johnny, Rob and I raced the 24hrs of Rocky Hill this year. Johnny won solo open men with an unbelievable 22 laps in 24 hours - he also scored the fastest solo lap. I managed to squeeze into 7th place with 14 laps and Rob rounded out our group pedaling a fully RIGID single speed for 7 brutal laps. Check out the results here.

In December, I bought Johnny's frame and fork (2011 Giant Anthem X, Fox 32 RL) off him and built it up with 2012 SRAM X.O. I am literally unable to explain how much of a difference a full suspension 29er makes when compared to a front-suspended 26. I'll try:

• riding a couch
• being held securely in your mothers arms
• those roller-coaster harnesses that swing down with pads, that kinda stability
• more fun than should be legal

I've started using Strava (you can see it on the right) to keep track of my runs and rides and give me goals to attain.  It'll let you race against anyone who has traveled the trail before you so it provides a great idea of your skill compared to your peers.   I *THINK* this link will register you with Strava and pre-add me as your buddy.  Makes it easier to find people to follow etc. 

Register with Strava

That's all for now, I'm going to try to keep updates coming but in lieu of that, keep an eye on my Strava rides on the right :)