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What Mountain Biking guidebooks say about our trails... |
"Texas & Oklahoma" - A Guide to the Classic Trails, Second
Edition
by Chuck Cypert
X BAR RANCH AT A GLANCE
Length/configuration: Counterclockwise loops, mostly rigorous single-track with some old roads thrown in here
and there, about 12 miles if you do the big loop. There are three and nine mile inner loops as well.
Aerobic difficulty: This place is a pretty good workout; the miles of trail here are fairly tough. This is no beginner trail.
Technical difficulty: The X-Bar starts out with a mile or so of pretty good rock gardens. After that it's not so bad, but you will find some more technical spots with regularity. This is an advanced intermediate trail in a lot of places, not pure beginner but not impossible either.
This place is awesome. The trails will whip you and the people will give you a taste of fine Texas hospitality. The Meador family are such Texas folks, I strongly urge you to obey the rules and take care of the facilities like they were your own. We have been blessed with access to this property, so leave them with a feeling that you love this land as much as they do.
You start right behind the lodge and have a very tough rock garden for nearly a mile. At one point you pass the
white-blazed cutoff for the hiking trail-stay off it. Then you hit the fork to the left for the beginner trail, the Green Loop. From here on it's not so bad, but you have some riding to do before you get back up to the lodge. If you continue on the Red/Blue Loop you'll wander down through the valley, have to cross a couple of gates, and soon you're on the far side of the property. Out by Lookout Junction the Red Loop and Blue Trail split; Blue takes a shortcut that leads you down a road and back onto the trail where Red joins. If you take the Red Loop, you'll wander to the right (east) around the back of the property, mostly on old roads but soon you'll hit some more serious single-track.
The single-track out on this part of the property is rideable, but there will probably be a few spots you'll fail to negotiate and you'll have to dismount and walk. The trail out here is very nice; tricky and tough in spots, but a load of fun. You wind around the trees and soon cross a road. Stay on the single-track and you will presently cross another road, Blue Trail's reunion spot, and then you'll descend into the floor of the valley again. You will have to cross some gates-be sure to close them behind you-and there's another road to cut over. Then you ride by the big white cross, the cross you can see northeast of the lodge lit up at night.
The trail winds around a bunch here, and has some ledges and loose rock interspersed with dirt. And some
climbing-you have to get back up on the hill to the lodge. A lot of the drops are sneaky and most of the terrain is
evil. This is truly an outstanding mountain bike ride, but you need to have some skills and a dependable bike. And some
conditioning, it's a fairly hard trail.
"Mountain Biking Central Texas" The Ragged Edge Riders
by Rick Youman and Becky Youman
X BAR RANCH INTERMEDIATE/DIFFICULT
The terrain is a mix of rock limestone, cedar hillsides, oak motts and mesquite flats. The maximum elevation drop
on the ranch is about 150' so none of the climbs are very long. There are only a few rocky technical sections, but
you have to stay focused the whole ride as you consistently weave through the rocks on the hillsides and creekbed
sections.
Most of the trails are single track with a little double track thrown in. The middle ring single track on the
hillsides is tight, twisty, and pretty rocky. There are some flat, semi-smooth ridgeline sections between the
accents and descents to give you a breather. At the lower elevation of the ranch you enter the mesquite flats that
are smooth and a little sandy. In here the single track opens up and you can pick up some speed. The short double
track offers a good change of pace and you can work the big ring a little but there are no extended high speed
sections. From here you ride back into the fun single track, across the flats, and then climb to the trailhead.
"Mountain Biking Texas"
A Falcon Guide by Christopher Hess
Mostly Singletrack, some doubletrack;
Moderate to strenuous;
Technical difficulty: 3-4 on scale of 5
Notes on the trail: Standing on the back porch of the Live Oak Lodge, you can look out and see for miles, and you'll rejoice at the fact that all you survey, you are about to ride. It's a gorgeous spread-a green and bristly conjoining of near West Texas and the farthest reaches of the Hill Country-and the riding is nothing short of fantastic. The combination of rocky singletrack winding through thick mesquite and juniper on a curvy course at the front end and long, sweeping stretches of doubletrack in an open pasture on the back half offers riders a little bit of everything, including some tough climbs and tricky descents. The trail is marked red, blue, and green for expert, intermediate, and beginner, respectively. All flags are on the right, so you can easily keep moving in the right direction. A junior loop at the front end shortens the course to just a few miles and cutes out the tough stuff. So there's something for everyone. This land has been in the Meador family for five generations, since the turn of the twentieth century, and the great care they have taken with it shows. Considering the dreadful lack of public land available for Texas bikers looking for new places to ride, we're very lucky that folks like this Meadors have cut trail systems (especially ones this good) and opened their acres for our exploration.
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