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| The 2026 Ride Like a Girl season begins June 1st. L to R: Carol Drake, Misty Moody, Meram Assilo, Teresa Franzke, and Lisa Lennon at Pace Bend Park. Photo by Manny Pandya. |
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| | The weather continues to give us a hard time this year, but we’re glad we got a chance to ride at Lake Bryan and took advantage of one of our planned dates for Circle C. Thanks to those of you who participated, and to our April Trail Crew volunteers!
We have a pretty big update for you, so here is a summary… IMBA Spring Membership Drive is live. Join ARR, or renew your membership this month to be entered to win prizes including a new mountain bike from Yeti. Our Member Appreciation Ride and BBQ is May 23rd at Rocky Hill Ranch. Avery is smoking brisket again. We’ll be emailing members with the invite so keep an eye out for that. The Ride Like A Girl season begins June 1st at Walnut Creek There is a Level 1 Skills Clinic June 13th to 14th at Walnut Creek $150 for members and $250 for non members. Mary Moore Searight Park update - we’re putting the Athletic Brewing grant to work. Our Vice President, Cullen McMorrow, traveled to Boise, Idaho to attend the Professional Trail Builders Association’s Sustainable Trails Conference. Save the date: we will be hosting a Freehub Presents screening for our next movie night at Austin Film Society Cinema on July 29th. A look back at recent ARR activities…
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| | | | Now is a great time join Austin Ridge Riders or renew your membership. As a local chapter of IMBA, we are participating in the Leading with Trails Spring membership drive which gives you an opportunity to be entered to win one of several awesome prize packages. Top packages include a Yeti mountain bike! |
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| Your membership helps us support trails in Austin, but more specifically: it covers the cost of lunch at group rides, insurance, tools, storage, material for builds, rewards for volunteers, marketing materials and signage, the stickers we give out at events and much more. It can even be useful in securing “matching grants”. |
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| Welcome New Members…
Please welcome these individuals who joined ARR in April… Alexander Arango, Winston Arango, Joe Axford, Joshua Eskew, Bobbie James, Greg James, Maureen Ratel, Scott Steves. Thank you for your support! |
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| | Member Appreciation Ride & Lunch |
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| Saturday, May 23, 9 AM | Rocky Hill Ranch |
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| Austin Ridge Riders members are invited to join us at Rocky Hill Ranch for a free group ride and lunch. Avery Arredondo is returning this year with his awesome smoked brisket and sides. ARR will cover your land use fee. Members should watch their email over the next few weeks for their invites. |
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| | | Level 1 Fundamental Skills Clinic |
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| Join Austin Ridge Riders' BICP certified instructors for a two-day Level 1 Skills Clinic! You'll learn about neutral and ready body position, bike and body separation, pedal position, braking, scanning and looking ahead, cornering, controlling speed, gearing and cadence, timing and coordination. $150 for members / $250 for non-members. |
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| | The 2026 Ride Like a Girl Calendar |
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| Our Ride Like a Girl season begins on June 1st at Walnut Creek. Most rides are on Monday evenings; however, we are also adding some Saturday and Sunday events into the mix this year. We’ve also added a Trail Maintenance 101 ride and a few new “Level UP” rides. The schedule is live on our freshly updated RLAG page. |
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| | | Meet Misty Moody, our Women’s Program Director… |
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| Misty Moody is the proud Director of RLAG (Ride Like a Girl), bringing her energy, passion and a deep commitment for community to the Austin women’s mountain biking scene. A Houston native turned Austin transplant, Misty spent 12 seasons skating roller derby before trading in her eight wheels for two when she discovered mountain biking in 2020. |
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| Driven by the thrill of the trail, Misty quickly fell in love with the adrenaline of pushing her limits and stepping outside of her comfort zone - by exploring new terrain, advancing her skills, while conquering fears along the way. She’s always up for a fun -flowy trail, has a love-hate for tech, and a passion for downhill. For her, mountain biking is more than a sport— it’s a space to find growth, friendships and freedom.
Off the bike, Misty’s personality shines through her love of cooking for friends, gardening, her dogs and all things Halloween.
As RLAG Director, Misty is deeply dedicated to building a welcoming, inclusive community for all levels — creating a space where women can show up exactly as they are, feel safe, and discover the freedom and passion that mountain biking offers.
For Misty, RLAG goes far beyond the ride- It’s a movement to get MORE WOMEN ON BIKES where we support one another, and empower each other to be bold, brave, and unapologetically themselves —on and off the trails. |
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| | | The weather meant that while we didn’t get much riding in last month, we completed a ton of dirt work at Walnut Creek and Brushy Creek!
Brushy improvements included fixes to problem areas on Double Down, tuning up a drop and adding a new berm, all completed by Trail Steward Tommy Kerstetter. Walnut creek improvements included a new berm and step-down roller feature on Mark’s Art, new berms and a log-roller feature on Windy Loop, a major revamp of the berms on Powerline Flow near the concrete trail, and additional work on Tar Branch. Special shout out to Drew and the Specialized Austin Wednesday Wiggle group for joining us after their ride got rained out, and to Kaden for leading a workday!
Thanks to our our April volunteers:
Winston Arango, Alexander Arango, Paul Baggett, Rafal Butryn, Stephanie Carlson, Peter Clauter, Daniel DiDomenico, Drew Echelberger, Manuel Gallegos, Melody Hargreaves, Gabe Hargreaves, Geoff Hargreaves, Rich Hollenbeck, Tommy Kerstetter, Jessica Lebbert, Leo Licea, Victor Manrique, Allison Manrique, Cullen McMorrow, Rommel Mercado, Andrew Neumann, Ryker Neumann, Khaled Noueilaty, Kaden Noueilaty, Walter Perry, Ron Perry, Brian Preston, Charles Riou, Sue Rose, Jeremy Smith, Sebastian Smith, Craig Thomerson, Clifton Wendel, Joe Wieck, Joseph Willman, and Robert Wood. |
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| | | | Athletic Brewing Company Grant Update |
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| In 2022, we were awarded a grant from Athletic Brewing Company to improve the existing trails in Mary Moore Searight. Of course advocacy work can take a long time, but we are excited to share an update….
Read More |
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| | | PTBA Sustainable Trails Conference. April 14-16, 2006, Boise, Idaho. |
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| | Austin Ridge Riders Vice President Cullen McMorrow took a field trip to Boise, Idaho recently to represent our organization at the Professional Trail Builders Association’s Sustainable Trails Conference. |
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| This was a fantastic opportunity to build new connections with other non-profits and to learn about current trends in trail design, adaptive trail design, ArcGIS strategies, building relationships with land managers, building community, and more. |
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| | | | The City of Round Rock is requesting feedback as they update their Citywide Trails Master Plan. Please take a moment to complete their survey and consider providing comments supportive to MTB infrastructure… Multi-Use Concrete ("Urban") trails make a great backbone for a trail system, but Natural Surface Hike & Bike trails, including *bike-optimized optional sections* are an essential part of a complete system. Multi-use Concrete trails should connect to recreational biking facilities, such as Bicycle Playgrounds, Traffic Gardens, Pump & Jump Tracks, MTB / BMX Skills Parks; etc. Multi-Use Concrete trails: Planners should consider separating bike traffic and walking traffic on adjacent parallel trails, similar to Northwest Arkansas Razorback Greenway.
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| | | | We’ll be at Walnut Creek for the rest of May… |
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| | | | | No monthly ride for May. Member Appreciation is May 23rd. Members, look for email invites for the next few weeks. We’ll send a few notifications ;) |
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| To view all of our currently scheduled events, click here. |
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| Reminder: Group rides will be canceled if trails are wet. RSVP to receive email alerts for any changes or cancellations. If you are interested in being a group ride leader, please click here. |
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| | | Our friends at Bike Farm, The Bike Protectors, Texas Dream Bikes have partnered with us to offer local benefits to our yearly members! This is in addition to the benefits provided by IMBA. That’s a lot of value for just $39 per year! $50 coupon for service at Texas Dream Bikes 15% discount on Ride Wrap installation from The Bike Protectors 15% discount in-store for everything except bikes and frames. One-time 15% discount on any full MSRP analog bike or frame. One-time 10% discount on any full-MSRP ebike/eMTB or frame.
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| | | | | | | | Dale DaughertyMarketing and Communications Director Austin Ridge Riders Mountain Bike Club |
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