A couple of weeks ago, I visited my brother in Dallas to celebrate our birthdays, which are only a few days apart. On the agenda was grabbing his mountain bikes and hitting the local trails.
We checked the website for the Dallas Off Road Biking Association, whose members constantly update trail conditions. (http://www.dorba.org/). Sure enough, after about a week of rain, the trail we wanted to go to got a "cautious" rating, with a user posting that it is currently muddy.
We get there ourselves, suit up, and hit the trail. It's pristine, well-maintained undulating trails with a perfect canopy above it, letting a few shafts of light in. At certain points, the trail leads out into a prairie of high grass.
We called it quits when we got to the part that earned its "cautious" rating: trails so muddy that we had to brace ourselves on nearby trees. The mud was so sever that it gathered in clumps where the tire is near the frame.
Inspired and impressed by this encursion, I decided to fork-over $450 in filty lucre for this:
Note the disc-brakes and adjustable front suspension. After discussing with my friend who is a black-belt rider, he tells me there's plenty of room for upgrades on this machine.
The trails in Louisiana are sparse. So far, all we have is a poorly-kept trail near the spillway that seeks to crush your soul. There is an excellent trail in Baton Rouge as well as another in Tunic WMA. Finally, the northshore is making new ones, including one that was a former railroad ("rail-to-trail).
This is a superb hobby that can get you in shape with a low impact. Make sure your seat is high enough, because I hurt my knee a little after a few miles of "lowriding."
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