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Extreme Difficulty Preferred

Joined
Nov 9, 2014
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Location
Spring, TX
Looking for some places to ride/train within a few hours of Houston area, not afraid to travel. I flew over to Big Bear Lake, CA this weekend to participate in the annual Big Bear Run and realized how bad of shape I'm in. I live in Spring and the only place that I really know about it Sam Houston National Forest. The last time I went to go riding there it was closed. I'm looking for something very difficult, preferably with lots of rocks and vertical climbs. Does anyone have any recommendations? Seems like most of the threads I've read and seen were mainly gravel roads and adventure bikes trails. I'm riding a plated CRF450x, not really looking for backroads unless they lead to something dangerous. After beating myself up this weekend, I figured I would look around here to see if there are places I can go to keep up my riding in preparation for next years event. I plaqued in 13 and 14 but didn't even make it half way this year. I missed the 3rd checkpoint by 20 mins which. Thanks in advance!
 
The two that popped to mind first are:
Barnwell Mountain just east of Gilmer
and
Hidden Falls at Marble Falls, which is a lot closer.

There's also Sterling Ranch just outside Willis which is closer yet (I think) but I've heard a few folk say they got bored quickly (though that was a few years ago, dunno about now).

I'm pretty sure there are TWT threads about all three which the Search function would probably turn up, or you could just google 'em.
 
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Hidden falls and CTOR are the ones that jump out to me. Barnwell Mountain also. The city park in Austin could also work.

If you want to practice for technique I'd say Hidden Falls. You can find a couple of the 4x4 climbs and run them over and over. Lots of those can't really be done by a dirt bike, but they can make good practice.


Post up when you decide.. we've got a couple of people here that like a challenge.
 
I have ridden my trials bike at Emma long a few years ago. It sounds like just what your looking for. I would like to get up there more often but I'm in the north Houston area also and between work and family I rarely find time, and going solo is not a good idea. I went during the week a few times and besides a couple guys on bicycles I was the only person there. I didn't venture far. I have been thinking about going back and taking my ktm 500exc and do a little more exploring.
 
emma long doesnt really have anything all that hard unless you get off the main loop and into some of the trials areas but thin line between against the rules or not there. hidden falls has a few off the main trail hard climbs as well as CTOR. all 3 places have lots of rock to play on.
 
Hidden Falls near Marble Falls gets my vote. Plenty of rocks, steep climbs, and technical riding. I rode Barnwell and it didn't seem as rocky or technical to me. Just my opinion.
 
Thanks, guys! I'm going to have to check out Hidden Falls. That would be a fun little weekend trip. I'll post up when I'm going in case anyone wants to tag along otherwise it'll be solo.
 
If you want difficult then I would head further north and hit up Red River. There is a reason they ran the Last Man Standing there. There is easy stuff to ride but if you really want to, there is also terrain that literally the best in the world have trouble with.
 
Hidden falls and CTOR are the ones that jump out to me. Barnwell Mountain also. The city park in Austin could also work.

If you want to practice for technique I'd say Hidden Falls. You can find a couple of the 4x4 climbs and run them over and over. Lots of those can't really be done by a dirt bike, but they can make good practice.


Post up when you decide.. we've got a couple of people here that like a challenge.

Yep that is the list for easy to get on properties to ride technical in Central Texas, I do enjoy Hidden Falls and CTOR

Indeed post up when you are going Jqueen is a good guy to ride with I would not mind heading up and I may be able to shame Sam into coming along.

Red River does have some fantastic climbs and terrain as well, only thing I dont like is red river is two way trails, not really an issue in real technical areas
 
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Emma is my favorite because it's free and closer to me than HF, but yeah HF lets you spread out more.

I have heard that CTOR can be the most difficult but I can't 2nd that. Haven't been there.
 
If you want difficult then I would head further north and hit up Red River. There is a reason they ran the Last Man Standing there. There is easy stuff to ride but if you really want to, there is also terrain that literally the best in the world have trouble with.

I would have to agree with this. There are places there that will make you poot BB's...:dude:
 
The downside to red river is you almost need a guide to find what you're looking for the first couple times. I know dfw warrior knows his way around, and I can poke around in the general area and luck in on some good stuff. I can find Bill's Woods but that's about it.


But I'll ride just about anywhere..
 
The downside to red river is you almost need a guide to find what you're looking for the first couple times. I know dfw warrior knows his way around, and I can poke around in the general area and luck in on some good stuff. I can find Bill's Woods but that's about it.


But I'll ride just about anywhere..

Finding Bill's Woods isn't the hard part....finding your way out of them is.

First time in there I got lost for about 6 hours. It was wet and muddy so pretty difficult riding but really fun. The first 4 hours were AWESOME...last 2 kind of sucked because I ran out water and energy and couldn't find the way out. I was never so happy to find that gate. :)

I went out there probably once a month for 4 or 5 years back when I was riding / racing XC a lot more but then I started riding street bikes a bit more and got out of dirt so it's been a while since I've been there now. I assume it's the same, but I really don't know since I haven't been out there in 5 years or more.

When I was going, it was definitely the best, most diverse, and most challenging XC riding area in Texas that I've ever ridden.
 
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I would have to agree with this. There are places there that will make you poot BB's...:dude:

Like Joshua Tree or Texas Stadium...

No problem if you're Graham Jarvis. :)
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2u45okF7Io"]Graham Jarvis in Texas- GRIMPOSSIBLE - YouTube[/ame]
 
One of my first rides out there with friends(when I was still doing the Harescramble thing) I remember coming down this short but steep downhill into a technical left turn that pretty much made you brake slide then drop about a foot or so into the hard 90 degree turn and power out. No biggy really, then further on that trail we came to a stop for a trail break down in this ravine. While sitting there we hear some riders up above us. We look up about 15 feet and see them drop down into that same turn and we become aware that if you missed that technical turn you could easily drop that 15 feet. :eek2:
 
Probably going to be at RRMT on Sunday.. Don't know that I will be pushing extreme difficulty but if anybody else is going I'd be up for a fast trail or two between beginner rides with my son (if he is there- if he's not, then they will all be fast-ish)
 
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