Sometimes, you just need to leave the laptop closed for a weekend, keep the “real camera” in its storage case and just ride. For me, especially this time of year, that rarely happens. There’s hardly ever a weekend where I’m not on the road, or preparing for a trip, or dumping and archiving photos, but it just so happened that everything aligned just right this weekend.

Ty came into town to hang out before heading out on a bikepacking trip outside of Austin. We spent two full days doing nothing but riding mountain bikes (for Ty, that means massive gaps on the ride home), swimming, eating good food and just hanging out. It coincided with my birthday weekend, which was a plus, so there was a party with a lot of my close friends.

All of these things falling in line with each other were super rare and yeah, I still can’t leave home without even a pocket camera (usually an iPhone works pretty ok), so check out a few more photos, with brief captions below.

It was a gorgeous weekend. The trails were crowded, just like the river. Everyone was out, soaking up the sun before the real heat and humidity hits for the next 6 months.

I didn’t take the camera out, unless there was something worth shooting. So many of my rides are heavily documented, so it’s nice to set up one or two quick shots when you know it’s gonna be good.

Kolaches in the shade. Ty and Nutter.

One of the many weird limestone formations that are just off the “trail”, yet are highly shredable.

… and others that are on the trail, but offer up a bit of creativity.

You can’t ride mountain bikes in Austin without getting your feet wet. Luckily, the sun dries them out…