Rode Friday April 10, 2009 at Government Canyon State Natural Area near Helotes, Texas.   Rode 4.95 miles then popped my rear tube, then walked 1 mile back to my car.

My overall impression of the park is mixed, I have never ridden through so much rock, the constant barrage of sharp rocks and a slow leak did my back tube in.    Riding up-hill through the rocks is tough, not much fun at all.  Bashing down hill through the rocks was fun, but caused me to lay sweetness down for the first time since starting to ride again.  I have a strong instinct towards saving myself over my bike, so I escaped unscathed.

I will go back to Government Canyon because  there is lots of beautiful country to see and I am a gluton for punishment.  Plus 3 days removed from the ride, it doesn’t seem so bad.  I just don’t enjoy riding in so much rock.  Living in the Texas Hill Country that is pretty much going to be a common problem.  The only other trails I have ridden in Texas are at McAllister Park in San Antonio, they have a number of rocky sections, but there is a lot of smoother dirt single track.

One of the smoother section of trail at Government Canyon

I started the ride heading north on Joe Johnston Route.  This trail is rocky double-track with a steady gentle ascent.  It was a good trail for warming up the legs.  About 0.8 miles up I turned right onto Wildcat Canyon.  I was ready for some single track and some good climbs.  The first .2 miles of this trail was excellent, some fast smoother trails and a few woop-de-dos in the middle of one nice dip in the trail.   Then the trail gets very rocky and the ascent becomes more intense with some 1-2 ft rock steps.  If you pick the right line most intermediate riders could handle this trail.   I was able to ride up more then 80% of the trail, then my age and general bad shape caught up to me and I had to walk my bike over some of the steeper sections.

Wildcat Canyon Trail

About 1.2 miles on this trail and I noticed my back tire was getting very low.  I left my pump in a friends backpack so I was very concerned about making it back to my car.  I decided to walk my bike the rest of the way up to avoid all the pressure on the tire caused by climbing.  I figured I could ride it back down.  I hit a fork in the trail and decided to take Sendero Balcones back to the parking area.

Sendero Balcones Trail

I figured I had climed so much that it would have to be mostly down-hill.  I was having too much fun riding down many long sections of rock steps then I popped the rear tube completely.  I made it 4.95 miles before the blowout, then I had to walk 1 mile back to my car.

GPS Track of ride at Government Canyon State Nature Area

Arggggh

For the past 5 days I have been riding at McAllister Park during my lunch breaks.  In 30-40 minutes I can get in a 3-5 mile ride on nice single track and double track dirt trails.  The trails offer some moderate climbs and descents and lots of winding narrow paths through Live Oak forests.

Today I found a program for my HTC Mogul Windows Mobile phone, GPS Cycle Computer, which uses the phone internal GPS to track my position, speed, elevation, and ride time.  This picture is from Google Earth with the KML file of todays ride; 4.13 miles in 35 minutes.

You can see this on an interactive map by clicking this link to Google Maps.

Over the past week I have ridden about 37 miles in the park.  My favorite trail is the “Red” trail with all the unmarked trails that branch off it.  Most are through the shade of the Oak Trees, and there is a large ravine with some short but steep descents.  This is a good area to help me regain my old technical riding skills without the danger of tumbling down 400 feet of mountain if I crash.