A West Texas Winter
As Old Man Winter begins to set a strong hold on my home state of Colorado, I have been needing to adjust to the cold weather again. Growing up in Colorado, snow and winter was always a major part of my life. The past few years however, I have been following the nice temps and weather to continue riding my bike year round. This past January three friends and I traveled to West Texas to see what the riding had to offer. After 12 days and far too much driving we got a great insight into the people, culture, food and mountain biking in West Texas.
Trailforks.com
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 Rolling from Tucson to El Paso via the big white creeper van fully stocked with Honey Stinger waffles, Salted Carmel Gu, whiskey and a full Kuat Rack. |
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| Our first morning in El Paso was crisp, producing some perfect golden light. |
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| Dejay finds the smooth line through the forest of Sotol. |
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| Next time you are in El Paso, pick up the free local GeoBetty map and you'll find this capture of Josh on the back cover. GeoBetty is a great local organization helping to progress the cycling in El Paso. |
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| The street art of downtown El Paso is awesome, leaving plenty of photo opportunities. |
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| The Segundo Barrio section of El Paso is full of culture and amazing murals. |
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| El Paso being the sixth biggest city in Texas has one of the biggest State Parks in the middle of the city. The Franklin Mountains nearly split El Paso in two offering endless miles of trails, right in the city. |
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| The last bit of light beams through as the sun sets behind Mount Cristo Rey, which is just across the boarder from El Paso. |
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| This section of trail is a rare buff trail in El Paso. Even though the Franklin Mountains State Park sits entirely in the city limits, it is still some of the roughest riding I have ever experienced. |
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| A round of beers and cheers after another successful shoot in El Paso. |
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| The El Paso Puzzler is an annual bike race winding its way through Franklin Mountains State Park. The fifty mile race is considered one of the hardest endurance races in Texas. Here Dejay Birtch feels the rough riding a fully rigid single speed. "You know it is a rough descent because my arm warmers won't stay up!" -Birtch |
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| One of the most spectacular sunrises of my life that began with this. |
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| Our first and only sunrise in Fort Davis and it was amazing to say the least. |
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| Even though the trails are limited in Fort Davis State Park the potential is HUGE! |
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| Our crew takes a brief break near an abandoned milk truck. |
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| Erosion is serious business in the desert. Flash flooding can change the landscape in a matter of minutes. Major drainage veins make for fun trail feature opportunities. |
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| After nearly two weeks of photos, videos and book deliveries our last days in Terlingua were hard to get the motivation up. Thankfully our last day was much like our first, very productive! |
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| Our trip to West Texas left nearly our entire group with a nasty cold, leaving you drained of energy. The last sunrise of our trip was very energizing for our moral. |
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| There are some secret trails hidden just on the edge of Terlingua, you just have to go hunting! |
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| Nothing like a cold beer after a never ending slow climb. |
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| The endless ridges of Big Bend State Park just outside of Terlingua, Texas. |
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| Even though it was January the temps called for a sleeveless T. |
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| And that is a wrap on our trip to West Texas! Dejay Birtch rides out into the fading sun of Big Bend State Park. |
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| Our West Texas crew; Chris Reichel, Devon Balet, Dejay Birtch and Josh Smith. |
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Awesome video, guys. And the photography is stunning. Keep up the good work.
I don't doubt what you say, regarding Austin, but people that live in Colorado and New Mexico say similar things about Californians; Texans, not so much. Personally, I moved from Ohio almost a decade ago, landed in ABQ, then moved to Durango, CO. A few years ago I got married, and we moved back to ABQ, because (and I loathe this saying, but it really holds true here) "it is what it is". You come to Albuquerque and accept it for it's character and everything that makes it that way. People that can get by like that, really like it here. The ones that don't, are usually the squeaky wheels that are not very happy. (speaking generally). So I can relate to what you say about Austin for sure. I move somewhere because I enjoy the differences compared to where I came from, ya know?
Either way, I'm just fanning flames and having fun with the topic. I'm not harboring any ill will towards whoever, just want to ride and have a blast...