For the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of time riding mountain bikes around the Columbia River Gorge between Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood. I’ve been riding mountain bikes long enough to know that area could easily be one of the best places to ride a mountain bike in the United States. Every place is different; the trails closest to where you live will always be your home trails. I’m in Austin, Texas for the time being and I’m looking for my new home trails.
This area reminds me a lot of Southern California in the early 1980’s before urban sprawl completely ruined the place. There are strip malls, mega-marts, freeways and traffic jams, but there are still ranches around and a little bit of those “wide open spaces” you hear so much about. So enough of the analysis, let’s see what Texas has to offer and singletrack loving mountain biker.
A place pretty close to were I live is Georgetown Lake. After the hottest and driest summer on record, the lakes, rivers and creeks around here have taken a beating. Georgetown Lake is no exception. I’ve never been here before, but the water level here looks pretty low to me
There is a trail around the perimeter of the lake called the Good Water Trail. I headed out on from the Cedar Breaks trailhead
There are a few stands of trees, mostly hardy cedars and live oaks, I reckon. Not 100% sure what kind of foliage this is; only been here an hour or so
One thing for sure; there are a lot of rocks around here. Texas may not have any mountains, but they have a solid supply of rocks
I’ve lived at 10,000′ in the Rockies and spent years in the Cascades; I think this may be the rockiest trail I’ve ever ridden
One thing about Texas; it’s dry, hot and pretty much flat
Always happy to be on the bike and on the trail; where the trail happens to be depends where you’re at.