Over the summer I participated in a short film contest called Dirt Diaries, which takes
place in Whistler Canada.
My entry involved taking my friend Scott mountain biking for the first time in his life.
Having not seen him in well over a decade, I looked Scott up on Instagram only to find
that he was still riding his BMX, just like we did together in highschool.
To make a long story short, I reconnected with Scott, and he was all too willing to
participate in my film.
So that Summer we flew to Canada together to ride downhill in Whistler.
Scott was absolutely blown away, first by the scenery, and then by his new equipment.
He even embraced the part where you climb to earn your descent.
But coming from BMX, riding lift served downhill was the deal sealer.
Most of you already know how the story goes.
By day three, Scott learned to ride his mountain bike rather well.
In fact Scott was boosting all the jumps on Aline so hard that, well, he didn’t even
need to go fast.
My friend mike normally clears these jumps but couldn’t when following Scott.
Scott was hooked on downhill, and at the end of the week he was gutted to be leaving Whistler.
The video we made ended up getting third place at Dirt Dairies, and Scott and I had a boatload
of amazing memories to show for it.
But we both knew that it would be a long time before Scott would get to ride lift served
downhill again, as he makes his home Austin Texas.
While Austin has great food, amenities, and BMX spots, it’s notably devoid of mountains.
Even in the hills west of the city, nobody would ever be dumb enough to build a ski lift.
This is the Texas Eagle, the first chair lift to ever operate in the Lone Star State.
It runs from the valley floor to the summit of spider mountain, a 350 foot hill.
Understandably, haters were writing Spider Mountain’s obituary long before it opened.
Where would all the riders come from and who would travel to Texas Hill Country for a 4
minute descent?
Well, opening weekend happened and people traveled from as far as San Antonio, Dallas,
Oklahoma, and even Louisiana to ride there.
I traveled from North Carolina because I had to see this place.
Scott somehow ended up one hour from a downhill park which is closer than Whistler is to Vancouver.
I had to come out here and celebrate.
The funny part is that it snowed on opening weekend.
The whole selling point of Spider Mountain is lift served downhill in the winter.
While other parks switch to skiing by the end of fall, Spider’s midday temperatures
normally hover around the 60s in February.
Austin is also the full package in terms of destination cities.
There’s a big airport, lots of great food, and even a marshmallow dealership.
But a lot of people still have reservations about Spider’s 350 foot descent.
Let me attempt to give you a frame of reference for how high that is.
This is Berm Creek, my backyard, which has 25’ of vertical.
It’s over in just a couple of seconds, but it’s plenty fun.
Here’s highland bike park in new Hampshire at 700 feet.
This will give you a nice 10 minute run if you take your time and stop between trails,
and it’s more than enough for the likes of Skills with Phil.
This is Mountain Creek bike park in New Jersey, with 1000 feet of vertical.
That’s almost like putting spider mountain on top of highland.
Stepping way up in vertical is Whistler Mountain in British Columbia, which from the peak,
boasts 4900 feet of vertical descent.
But most people don’t go up that high in fact, you may spend a week in Whistler having
never traveled higher than the Fitzsimmons zone, which has 1200 feet of vertical.
That’s where Aline, Crank it up, and all the jump trails are.
So if 1200 feet is more than enough for the most popular section of a world class downhill
park, then 350 feet is enough to have a lot of fun on.
Especially if you live in central Texas.
For lift served downhill, residents of Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas used to to drive 12
hours to Anglefire, which is only open in the summer.
Some also travel to Arkansas, but to those in the know, there’s always been plenty
to ride right here in Texas Hill Country.
Reveille Peak ranch is only 10 minutes from Spider Mountain, and has existed for quite
some time.
With great dirt, rugged terrain, and not too shabby scenery, Reveille Peak is as good an
option as Spider if you don’t mind pedaling for it.
Locals have scratched everything from singletrack to jump lines into the hillside here, and
the land owners just ask for a waiver and 10 bucks to access all of it.
So it was no surprise to me that Hill Country already had a group of locals who could absolutely
shred.
Nobody is more excited than Jeremiah, who has spent years organizing races and trail
building initiatives in the area.
For him, Spider Mountain is a testament to how far Austin’s mountain bike scene has
come, since the first XC lines were cut in hill country.
And Spider mountain brings to the area a lot more than just an easy trip to the top of
a big hill.
On park day you don’t need to eat a light breakfast, bring a water bottle, or wear a
shammy.
You don’t need to check your speed in consideration of other trail users.
You don’t need to conserve energy.
You just do lap after lap until your bike breaks or your hands fall off.
Bike parks exist to satisfy our need for unadulterated exhilaration.
But there’s also the social aspect of bike parks.
A chair lift is a great place for conversation, and when you get to the top everyone seems
to congregate before dropping in.
If you want to bond with your fellow downhill enthusiasts, the best way to do it is to run
a train together—on a trail.
This involves riding in recklessly close proximity while going as fast as you can.
It’s a blast, but requires a high degree of confidence in the riders in front of you.
Although the trail options at Spider are currently limited I never got sick of this hand cut
intermediate route to the bottom.
In fact, as I learned the lines it only got better.
The advanced trails are mostly tech right now, with steep off camber sections following
the path of least resistance down the hill.
And if you’re not careful, some of them will getcha.
Most of these runs were built for enduro races before the lift was in operation.
My friend Eric, from the YouTube channel no front brakes, has climbed this hill countless
times during such events, and has now completed more runs in one day than he has in his entire
life.
Scott and I regaled Eric with tales of our Whistler trip, like Scott’s epic X up to
nosedive on the moonbooter.
While Spider doesn’t yet have a moonbooter of its own, it does have some pretty sweet
jumps at the bottom, followed by a wide swooping flow trail which seems to have been cut to
build additional jumps on.
So at least for now, the Naysayers don’t have a leg to stand on.
Spider had a very successful opening weekend, and as they build more trail, things can only
get better.
If this all works out I could see other warm cities building parks like in their hills.
I’m looking at you Atlanta.
As for Scott, things seem to be working out for him rather well.
Imagine you ride downhill for the first time in your life, and only months later they build
a bike park near your house.
Just from riding the trails around Austin, Scott had already met a lot of people at the
park that weekend, and it seems like now more than ever, he’ll be getting a lot of use
out of his new bike.
Being that I’d travel to Austin just for the food, it’s safe to say I’ll be back
next winter to see how things have progressed.
To all the builders and riders in hill country, I’m really really happy for all of you.
Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.