Morgan O'Hanlon 00:01

You're listening to Better Outside a Texas Parks and Wildlife Production. This season was brought to you by Whole Earth Provision Company. I'm your host, Morgan O'Hanlon.

David Yoskowitz 00:11

And I'm David Yoskowitz, executive director of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Morgan O'Hanlon 00:15

In our last episode, we covered route building a trail clear across the state. This time, we're hitting the pavement on two wheels for the East Texas Showdown, a bike packing race that seeks to highlight the hidden places behind the pine curtain. So stick around, because we'll be right back after this break. Whole Earth Provision Company has been helping Texans roam wild and free since 1970. Whether you're road tripping through the hill country, catching a sunrise at Enchanted Rock or planning a summer park hop, they've got what you need to do it right. Think sun protective shirts, trail tested sandals, packable hats and water bottles that actually keep your drinks cold. Traveling light? They've got carry ons, duffels and gear bags from the names you trust, and if you forgot your shades or backup charger, well, they've got those too. Visit one of their six Texas stores or shop 24/7 at wholeearthprovision.com Hey David.

David Yoskowitz 01:15

Hi, Morgan.

Morgan O'Hanlon 01:16

Have you ever heard of bikepacking?

David Yoskowitz 01:19

Bikepacking? Did I hear that right?

Morgan O'Hanlon 01:22

Yeah, you heard that right. Why don't you give me your best guess of what that might be?

David Yoskowitz 01:27

I imagine it's a combination of backpacking and biking and hitting the road.

Morgan O'Hanlon 01:34

Precisely. So in bikepacking, you pack up anything and everything you might need to set up camp — all your gear, repair, tools, toiletries — and you set out on either maybe a one night trip or maybe even multi-day. Sometimes, this can be in a straight line toward a destination, an out and back, or it can even be in a loop with multiple stops along the way.

David Yoskowitz 01:35

So how do you get all that stuff on the bike? I think I've seen this before, but boy, it's got to be really tough to get all your essentials.

Morgan O'Hanlon 01:42

There are all sorts of custom bags and other ways of fitting things on top of your bike. There's old school panniers that might fit on a rack over your back wheels, custom frame bags, handlebar bags, seat bags, you name it. Somebody has found a way to strap things to their bike. I've even seen like people with fishing poles like sticking up out of their back. You have to eat. So as far as what to pack, weight is definitely gonna be a factor, but space is even more limited on a bike, so that's really crucial. And I definitely found that out with some of the gear I packed, I had to find things that packed down really small, but there's all sorts of ways to borrow gear from various gear libraries or other things in your community. So it's not always a barrier to entry.

David Yoskowitz 02:50

That's great. When I engage in, not bike packing, but backpacking, I try to go as light as I can. It never works out. And then we've gravitated more towards over landing, and I have a rig that I pull behind me. So when you go to that level, then you start to pack on more equipment. And there's more things that can cause trouble when you pack on more equipment too.

Morgan O'Hanlon 03:15

So when you go out and you're trying to do a more ultra light kind of trip, maybe there's a weight prohibition. Is there anything you can't go without?

David Yoskowitz 03:23

Toothbrush?

Morgan O'Hanlon 03:25

That's a fair one. I like clean teeth.

David Yoskowitz 03:27

And, well, depending on where I'm at, a good water filter.

Morgan O'Hanlon 03:32

Also an essential, for sure. I, for one, cannot go without my coffee for more than 24 hours. I need it every morning. In a race like the East Texas Showdown. Fortunately, that's not as much of a problem, because it runs through all sorts of towns in East Texas.

David Yoskowitz 03:48

East Texas is pretty big, Morgan, so which parts did you go through?

Morgan O'Hanlon 03:52

The race starts in a little town called Point Blank, which is right on the banks of Lake Livingston, and then it goes up north toward Tyler and Palestine. But how far exactly the route goes depends on how long of a ride you're doing. There's three different lengths, 160 miles, 275 miles, and 400 miles.

David Yoskowitz 04:10

400 miles. Wow.

Morgan O'Hanlon 04:13

That's right, we're about to see just how crazy some of these guys who do that 400 mile race are. I did the race (the shortest route to be clear) and I got to meet some of those nut jobs. So I'm excited to show you who they are.

David Yoskowitz 04:27

I think I'm ready. Let's go outside.

Morgan O'Hanlon 04:59

Point Blank Texas is on the shores of Lake Livingston, about a three hour drive from Austin. So the day before the ride, I throw my packed up bike in the back of the car to make it in time for the pre-race meeting at the Bullet Grill. It was another really beautiful drive through the piney woods. But, of course, it's raining, which makes me really nervous for the mud I expect to see tomorrow. When I pull up around six o'clock, the party had already gotten started. The muddy parking lot was packed. Burgers were served, and beer was flowing, although maybe less than you might think, because of the intense physical feat riders here were about to do.

Patrick Farnsworth 05:35

Howdy y'all and welcome to the East Texas Showdown 2025. Rain or shine it don't even matter we're gonna ride our bikes all right. My name is Patrick. I am the event director, and I am a lifelong Texan, and I created this route.

Morgan O'Hanlon 06:00

Besides this race, Patrick is the creator of a bigger project he's calling the Texas Showdown Series, which includes this one, the East Texas Showdown, which happens every spring, the Central Texas Showdown in the fall, and eventually he hopes to add a third race, the West Texas showdown.

Patrick Farnsworth 06:17

Really, I thought I was servicing fellow Texans. I was like, Hey, man, we need a route too. We need a race. And I had no idea that we would be servicing riders from all over the world. And at East Texas this year, we have over 200 riders from 23 different states and four different countries.

Morgan O'Hanlon 06:36

Word really gets around. And the tight knit and growing bikepacking community, the race has been featured in bikepacking.com which is like Esquire for gravel cyclists. Patrick has also managed to make a pretty big name for himself through his podcast, bikes or death, where he interviews some high profile ultra-endurance athletes. And you can tell he's pretty proud to be introducing them to his home state.

Patrick Farnsworth 07:00

You are about to ride through a really beautiful and iconic area of Texas called the East Texas Piney Woods, which is defined by the loblolly pines that you'll see all around us. The other unique thing about East Texas is that it is home to the Sam Houston National Forest and Davy Crockett National Forest, which are unique to Texas because we don't have a lot of public land, and this is one of the largest areas of contiguous public land that we have. So that's really special.

Morgan O'Hanlon 07:33

Because Texas doesn't have as much public land as other bikepacking hubs like Montana, Arizona or even Arkansas, Patrick plans his routes predominantly on back roads, and as many miles of gravel as he can pack in.

Patrick Farnsworth 07:46

When you get outside of the National Forest, you're going to be in rural Texas, where life moves a little bit slower and cows outnumber people, which is exactly how I like it.

Morgan O'Hanlon 08:01

And in the five years he's been doing this, the communities the route goes through have become pretty fond of the cyclists.

Patrick Farnsworth 08:08

The Bullet Grill is like super bought in. They hung up all these banners out here. They got camping in the back. They got showers for y'all. They got porta potties. They are just so supportive.

Morgan O'Hanlon 08:19

And Patrick wants to make sure they'll keep on being welcomed back.

Patrick Farnsworth 08:23

The first rule of all of the Texas Showdown Series events is be kind. Okay. You are in people's community, people's homes. You will be going into small businesses that aren't used to seeing 200 dirty, smelly, muddy riders coming through. The grand part is at 8 a.m. tomorrow. We will have a neutral rollout. We're going to line up by category. So we're going to start with the Showdown, then we'll call for Slowdown, then we'll call for Lowdown. We'll all line up in a group.

Morgan O'Hanlon 08:57

I'm doing the route. Patrick called The Lowdown. This is the shortest of three, but it's still 167 miles. I'm planning to split it up into two days and camp one night in between.

Patrick Farnsworth 09:08

Lowdown campers. Night one, Ratcliffe Lake, mile 76, we will be in the Lakeside Loop. When you get there, check in with Diane and Mark. They're our camp host volunteers. They've been here several years. They are absolutely amazing.

Morgan O'Hanlon 09:25

I'm really looking forward to the hot dogs they serve every year for the Lowdown Campers. That's one of the reasons I love the Lowdown. It's not just a race. It's like an extra long chill ride. You can take it at your own pace, with plenty of stops for coffee snacks and gas station corn dogs along the way. But even with the chill supportive environment, independence is still a core tenet of bike packing in the East Texas Showdown, you can call in a rescue vehicle and quit whenever you want, but if you make it to the finish line, you should be able to take pride in the fact that you've done it yourself.

Patrick Farnsworth 09:59

It's solo self-supported. Do it yourself, all right. That's what we're here to do. I want everyone to take a moment with me. I want you to reflect. Think about your friends. Think about your family. Think about your spouse or your significant other, if you have one, if you have kids, think about your to-do list. Think about your boss. Okay, what you're doing this weekend has nothing to do with any of them. What you're doing this weekend is about you. So starting now, this is about the promises that you made to yourself and the goals that you have. So remember those when times get hard and make no mistake, they will get hard. Lock in, because this time right now belongs to you.

Morgan O'Hanlon 11:04

Honestly, this is one of the things I'm most excited for and that I really love about endurance sports. Generally, when you're out doing something intense in the wilderness for hours, sometimes even days, your mind wanders a lot of places. You get sad, you get mad, you're walking on cloud nine and then suddenly in the pits. But once you've gone through that roller coaster and come back from it, you really feel like you the true you.

Patrick Farnsworth 11:28

Y'all hear that? Can y'all hear it? The trees are calling, and they're calling for you. Yeah, legend has it that East Texas Showdown is home to potholes that are bigger than Rhode Island. We got trees so big Paul Bunyan couldn't even cut them down. We got dogs so fast they would chase Davy Crockett all the way back to Tennessee. And don't even get me started about Bigfoot. Y'all know he lives out there, right? I'm not even kidding, there's a sign and everything. So that sounds like a good time to you. Please join me tomorrow morning, at eight o'clock to ride your bike in the East Texas Showdown.

Morgan O'Hanlon 12:17

A lot of people are packed in to camp behind the Bullet Grill, but I decided I'd rather spend one less night out in the rain, so I head back to my hotel in Huntsville for some shut eye. I wake up at five the next morning, so I'll have plenty of time to get back to the restaurant and enjoy my coffee and breakfast tacos. After I've eaten, I rush back to get everything strapped down on my bike and use the bathroom one last time before we roll out. With that, it's time to start. We ride slowly as a pack for the first 15 or so miles as we cross the bridge over Lake Livingston. This is the perfect time to start making some friends. And that's the sound of my bike computer chirping at me. It does that when there's a big climb coming up, I'm going to be hearing it a lot over the next two days. I'm pretty sure there's only seven hills on this entire route.

13:25

That's a joke. Yeah, it's one hill if you really think about it.

John 13:34

It's one big hill that you're traveling up and down all day today.

Morgan O'Hanlon 13:36

Yeah.

John 13:38

Where are you from?

Morgan O'Hanlon 13:39

I'm from Austin.

John 13:39

Oh. Cool. Same here.

Morgan O'Hanlon 13:41

This guy introduces himself as John.

John 13:43

I think we'll see each other on the trail quite often today.

Morgan O'Hanlon 13:46

Now that we've crossed the bridge, I make my first pit stop of the day out of Brookshire Brothers to grab some water. There, I introduce a local to the East Texas Showdown.

Clerk 13:56

So where you guys coming from?

Morgan O'Hanlon 13:57

We are coming ... where did we say last night? Point Blank, and we're actually doing like, a big 160-mile loop. And there's some people who are doing, like, 450. By the time I catch back up to my new friend, John, we've gravel. Hey there! What are we traveling through right now?

John 14:19

I would call it a forest on the dirt road is what we're traveling through right now.

Morgan O'Hanlon 14:25

What do people call this kind of mud?

John 14:28

This is not peanut butter. Maybe sandy?

Morgan O'Hanlon 14:31

What is peanut butter?

John 14:33

Peanut butter mud is that mud that sticks to your tire and then it just keeps on collecting and collecting stopped up until you can't ride your bike anymore.

Morgan O'Hanlon 14:41

Is there like a technique to getting through this kind of bug?

Speaker 2 14:45

Luck? He has a lot to do with that and finding a good line. Get brutal luck. A lot.

14:52

What happens if you don't get lucky,

Speaker 2 14:55

you get muddy, either you fall in or you put that. Down. Hopefully it's just a foot down.

15:01

Has that happened to you on this race? So far,

15:05

I have never fallen over on this race. Unlike other places,

Morgan O'Hanlon 15:12

going through this thick mud is exhausting. I have my bike in the lowest gear possible. It's kind of a balance between keeping your wheels spinning fast enough so that you can cut through the mud, and at least if you're a weenie like me, going slow enough so that you can catch yourself if you slip. I'm going just fast enough to keep my bike upright to get through this.

15:34

How's it going? I know that feeling

Morgan O'Hanlon 15:42

this is how I spend at least half of day one. The route alternates between pavement and gravel every 10 or so miles, and the smooth asphalt is a relief every time I see it. By the time I get to camp, my legs feel like jelly. I set up my tent in a hurry so that I can go straight to sleep after I eat a hot dog or three.

Speaker 3 16:03

Hey, I forgot. Were we supposed to check in? No, oh, okay, well, I don't know. Not with us. Anyways, you have to eat at least three hot dogs before you're I can do that.

16:17

Oh, man, I got my number

Speaker 4 16:19

once he wants the which one would you like? Oh,

Morgan O'Hanlon 16:24

can I take two? Oh, there's more than enough. I have over 48 I haven't even opened yet. Wonderful. Thank you so much. And there's ketchup and mustard there if you want it lovely. Thank you guys. I sit down with my food and pick up on some conversations. There's some people talking about the kindness at the locals,

Speaker 2 16:43

very nice, or whatever her name was at the counter was like, really super sweet.

Speaker 5 16:49

Love having you boys here. Have a blessed day.

Morgan O'Hanlon 16:54

And of course, everyone's talking about that crazy mud

Speaker 5 16:58

like today would have been brilliant, if it hadn't been absolutely

David Yoskowitz 17:03

going so slow, I

Morgan O'Hanlon 17:05

sit down and ask one of these guys about the ride so far,

Speaker 2 17:09

Morgan. Morgan, next week on Dave West. I asked

Morgan O'Hanlon 17:14

him to put on a mic to tell me more.

David Yoskowitz 17:16

My name is David West, or people call me Dave West,

17:19

and what do we do today?

David Yoskowitz 17:22

Oh, we rode half of the lowdown for the East Texas showdown. What were conditions like? Oh, gosh, awesome. Poor bike packer, wet, rainy, sunny, slimy. I mean, we literally got covered in mud. I mean, we were like, riding, and there's like, these massive ruts, and we hit them and fell over, got covered in mud. I feel fantastic, yeah, because it's like part community, part finding yourself, part writing in nature, part pushing yourself. It's amazing. It's and the elements of being in nature is just part of that. And you expect to get rained on. You expect it to be challenging. So you want it to be

Morgan O'Hanlon 18:07

that the campfire gets dimmer and the night starts to wind down. Hey everybody,

David Yoskowitz 18:11

good night.

Speaker 1 18:12

We're all headed out. We'll see y'all back at the bullet grill. Great job today. Adios, Patrick. Adios, amigos. Let's do it again tomorrow. Okay,

Speaker 6 18:23

heck yeah, man, hell yeah. Y'all good night. Adios,

Morgan O'Hanlon 18:27

I head back to my tent to get some sleep before another long day. Honestly, the Piney Woods can be kind of creepy at times, but I feel safe and comforted sleeping in this big group of friendly cyclists when I wake up, the smell of coffee practically packs up camp for me. Hi.

Speaker 3 18:48

Good morning. Coffee. Wonderful. Thank you guys. Sure,

Morgan O'Hanlon 18:53

day two is actually a few miles longer, but it has more pavement than gravel, so I'm expecting a relatively easy day. Those hopes are dashed pretty quickly, some rain comes through. My wheels slip into a ditch on a gravel road, and I fall over with my bike. Then the heat comes, but I keep moving because I'm ready to be done. That turns out to be a mistake. I forget to record for most of the day, and by about 3pm I realized I'm totally zapped, so I pull over for a long break at a gas station. It's time for three different beverages, some chips, pickles and a pop tart, before I let myself keep going. Just after that pit stop, I remember to finally hop back on the mic. It's day two, and I've got about 17 miles left to go in the East Texas showdown, I'm surrounded by beautiful loblolly pine trees and lush and green farmland with cows and horses, and I'm what cyclists like to call bonked, which is when you've just completely you. Gas to yourself out feels on empty, and I took a little break there at a gas station about two miles back, drank a soda, I had some electrolytes, some food, and hoping that'll pull me through to the end here, excited for it to be over, but I'm having a great time. The last few miles are hilly, but they pass by in a blur. My mind is dead set on finishing. As I near the bullet grill, I hear Patrick speaking through the bull horn before I can see him,

Speaker 1 20:44

yeah, I'll be on your podcast. Please welcome back. Thank you.

Morgan O'Hanlon 20:48

I'm gas. That's fun. I order a nice, big burger at the bullet grill and watch more racers come through before I call it a night. You Oh, I can't wait to get back into a nice, warm bed, but I'm feeling really accomplished. I just did that, and now that I'm done cursing Patrick for the mud and the hills, I'm feeling pretty grateful for the experience. When we come back from the break, I'll talk to Patrick about how he makes his routes in the future of the showdown series. Let's just hope my Cha thing is healed by then, from Big Bend to Barcelona, Whole Earth provision company, outfits, free spirits and side Questers alike, in superb quality goods, find them in store or online at whole earthprovision.com you com,

Speaker 7 21:44

nearby lakes have invasive species like Giant Salvinia and zebra mussels, which can hurt native ecosystems, even when microscopic. They can spread by hitching a ride on your boat so clean Drain and Dry before traveling from lake to lake, visit tpwd.texas.gov/stop, invasives.

Morgan O'Hanlon 22:09

So I had a great time doing the ride this year. What were some of the highlights for you?

Speaker 1 22:15

Oh, wow, that's so funny. I never think about it from a personal level, to be honest with you. You know, as an event director, I'm always like, How can I be here for the community? How can I be here to support the riders? How can I make sure that their experience is wonderful, if not muddy and wet and maybe cold and tired and hungry, but, you know, also good, but at this stage, like we're in year five, and one of the coolest things about the East Texas showdown is that a large percentage of the people that come are returning. I mean, I think we had up to like 40% of the people in the field this year who had already been previously. And so it's just becoming more of a family gathering where we meet once a year in East Texas and get to ride bikes and share stories and camaraderie. And that's always a highlight. You know, another thing that really stood out to me this year was how the little communities around the East Texas showdown are just continuing to get more and more bought in. And we saw that as an example at like mile 55 in Apple springs at the Berkshire brothers, where I had no idea this was going to happen, all the staff there had custom shirts made for the event. They had a welcome sign outside that said, welcome cyclist. They had VIP parking for cyclists and a bike wash and all this stuff, which was just so incredible to see, like them on their own, take the initiative. What can we do to make the rider experience better? And I think they freaking nailed it. Yeah,

Morgan O'Hanlon 23:53

you know that bike wash station really, really came in handy. This year. I had rocks and mud everywhere. There were, like, pebbles in my drive train and in between my rotors. So that was really handy,

Speaker 1 24:06

yeah. And it's so smart of them it's rained four out of the five years they on their own, were like, oh, what they could use the most is a bike wash, you know? And they just did it. And that's so clutch. And of course, you get your bike wash right before, because that's right before another section of kind of muddy areas. So your bike's gonna get muddy again right after that, but Elise is clean for a little while. Yeah,

Morgan O'Hanlon 24:27

I've heard there's, I don't know if you would call it this, but a curse of rain upon the East Texas showdown, where it always rains an inch or two the day before the day of. Is that right?

Speaker 1 24:38

Oh my gosh, yes. Four out of the five years it's rained on day one, sometimes the day before, never the second day, but always on day one.

Morgan O'Hanlon 24:47

How do you think that rain and the mud adds to the experience?

Speaker 1 24:51

What I think is interesting is how the racers and riders respond to those conditions. Yeah. It really impresses me how so many people are just like, yep, bring on the mud. This is going to be fun. Let's just pretend we're kids riding our bikes in the mud. And, you know, they just have that mind shift. So it certainly like scares some people off. But each year it's growing and growing and more people come back. So

Morgan O'Hanlon 25:20

a lot of our listeners have no idea what bike packing is or ultra cycling is. So can you kind of tell us a little bit about what bike packing is? How does the East Texas showdown and the showdown series as a whole fit into that ecosystem?

Speaker 1 25:37

Yeah, so I mean, the easiest way to describe bike packing is think about backpacking, where you carry all your food, your water, your tent, all the gear that you need, and you go off on a trail. We do that, but we put all of our food and our water and our gear on our bikes. And these events are so low self supported, so each rider is responsible for every aspect of themselves, from planning to training to bringing the right equipment to navigating. It's not a team effort. You know, you go out there and you do it yourself, and you get to test yourself against the conditions and the environment. And some people are testing themselves against other racers and other people are out there just to ride their bike and have a good time to speak to. Like where East Texas showdown fits in. You know, I designed East Texas showdown and the Texas showdown series to be somewhat of like a gateway bike packing event. It really like blurs the lines between a bike packing or ultra cycling race and like a community group ride, right? So we have three different ride options. Two of them are competitive, where you can go fast if you want to. But we have the low down, which is just a community group ride. You know? We don't track times. We encourage you to slow down and smell the flowers and pet the dogs. And we have a designated community camp where riders can hang out, have some drinks, eat some food, and share some stories in the ecosystem of bike pack racing. My events are on the shorter end of it, so the low down is 162 miles, and then you can jump up to the slowdown, which is 273 miles, and then the showdown is 394 miles. These sound like big miles, and they are big miles, but in the landscape of bike pack racing, they're relatively on the shorter end of it. One of the cool things I think about the event is we have seen people progress every single year, and then after doing the showdown, they go out and do things like the tour divide or Silk Road mountain bike race, or maybe your listeners aren't familiar with these, but there are races that are 1000s of miles. So tour divide is almost 2800 miles from the Canada border all the way down to the Mexican border, and it covers all kinds of terrain, over mountains and roads and all kinds of stuff. So there's a wide range of options whenever you get into bike packing, whenever it comes to like difficulty and distances. And

Morgan O'Hanlon 28:13

I know there's a bunch of these races, I mean, all over the world and then, especially in states like Arkansas, California, Arizona, but how unique is a race like this in Texas?

Speaker 1 28:23

Pretty darn unique, and it's why I created the Texas showdown series. You know, I also host a podcast. I host the bikes for death podcast, and talk to a lot of athletes and just riders from all over the world. And so I'm really in tune to what's going on in bike packing, and I was just watching, like, Texas kind of get left behind. You know, there's races popping up all over the world, and it really is blowing up. It has been for a number of years, and I think it's only going to continue to get bigger. And so I created the Texas showdown series as a way to really service the needs of local Texans, and give us an opportunity to go do the same thing and at the same time highlighting different regions of Texas. So we have the East Texas showdown, which is in the East Texas Piney Woods, which is a really unique and interesting area of the world. And then we have central Texas showdown that takes place in the Texas Hill Country. And obviously that's really iconic Texas scenery. And kind of what people envision, I think when people not from Texas think about Texas, they kind of are picturing the hill country. And then we're introducing this year, hopefully, the West Texas showdown, which will be in the Big Bend region. Yeah,

Morgan O'Hanlon 29:38

one thing I really, really appreciate about your races is how accessible they are, especially some of those shorter distances. I know, the Central Texas showdown has now like a 60 something or an 80 Mile race. That's really great, because some of my friends are not huge, huge cyclers, but they can do something like that over a couple days.

Speaker 1 29:59

Yes, you know, I consider myself very much an average cyclist, especially like in the landscape of bike packing and bike pack racing, which is why I created these routes, quote, unquote, on the shorter end, because those are more in the distances that I feel like are more obtainable to me. Those of us

Morgan O'Hanlon 30:16

who know about the East Texas showdown have been looking forward to the West Texas showdown for a couple years now, I think it's been in production. Yeah, but what all goes into building one of these routes? Why does it take so long as

Speaker 1 30:31

it pertains to West Texas showdown in particular, originally, I was hoping to include the state and national park, and I was kind of like hell bent on it, maybe a little bit stubborn, and tried every way imaginable, contacting people that I knew, who knew somebody, who knew somebody, and trying to, like, get in a good word with the National Park. But as for now, the National Park is pretty much off limits for this style of event, and maybe that'll change in the future. So that was one of the hurdles, was just my own stubbornness with really wanting it to be also in the National Park. The other thing about West Texas, like I mentioned, is just the logistical challenges that are associated with how remote it is. The stakes are just so much higher out there Interlingua, Texas, where the race will start and finish, only has 138 residents, so looking for places for people to like camp and eat and go to the bathroom, and thinking about like emergency responders and how do we get to riders if something goes poorly, we are really encouraging people To sign up for that one that are very skilled, very seasoned, and really know how to handle themselves in the harshest desert environments, you know. And Big Bend is just near and dear to my heart, like I've been going there my entire life. It's my favorite place in the world, and I believe that area deserves our respect.

Morgan O'Hanlon 32:02

So I think I did the East Texas showdown on like a regular gravel bike setup. I think my tires were 45 millimeters wide. What kind of bike would be good to do the West Texas showdown on? Yeah,

Speaker 1 32:16

so leave your gravel bike at home for West Texas period. In the statement, it's not a place for gravel bikes. It's mountain bike territory. It's everything from single track to riding in dried arroyos, really nice double track gravel roads and paved roads. Like it's a little bit of everything, but that landscape is remote and it is rugged and it is unforgiving. I was just out there doing some route scouting and prepping for the West Texas showdown a couple weeks ago, and I brought my hard tail mountain bike front suspension with 2.6 inch tires, and to me, that is the perfect bike to be riding out there now you could get away with narrower tires and no suspension. You know, some people like to make it even harder, and that's definitely

Morgan O'Hanlon 33:06

an option. And is there anything super technical on that route?

Speaker 1 33:09

Yeah, very much. So there's some sections that are going to be hike a bike down, you know, think black diamond ski trails or Black Diamond mountain bike trails. You know, however you associate that term Black Diamond with but for people who haven't been out to Big Ben Ranch State Park, they don't even have paved roads through the state park out there, right? Like, it is very rugged. All of the campsites are primitive and their trails are equally rugged. Like, that's one of the appeals. But the trails are not like, super well groomed and maintained, so even, like an easy trail, can throw challenges at you that you might not expect. You know, maybe there's a rock slide and now there's a big thing, or it's just full on, no matter where you're at, riding in the state park, like you need to have your head on a swivel, be paying attention and really, like looking out for yourself. Do you

Morgan O'Hanlon 34:00

have anything else up your sleeves? What's next for the showdown series? Or is it going to remain like a triple crown experience?

Speaker 1 34:07

Absolutely nothing, at least for now, the Texas showdown Triple Crown, that's what we're calling it. That will be the complete race series. Certainly there is an opportunity to do like a North Texas and a south Texas. I know people inquire about that frequently, and it's definitely on my mind. But as one dude, this will push my available bandwidth. Yeah, putting on three events a year is huge. I'm also a believer in slow growth, which it speaks to, like, why I've taken time to release routes. You know, you don't want to like, blast three routes and be like, just go have fun. Let's cross our fingers and hope it works well, like it's important that I grow slowly. I learn from every event. I learn every year, and then we introduce, as it makes sense to speak to that, like I intentionally left West Texas for last because I felt like, again. We needed to earn the right and prove that I slash, we were capable of hosting a good and safe, fun event. I was like, okay, that's going to be like, the crown jewel, right? So for now, that'll be it. I've got some other events and stuff that we're planning to do, but as far as the race series goes for now, that's going to be it for now.

Morgan O'Hanlon 35:20

And I really do love hearing about all these new races that are popping up across the state. I think they're just really great environments for introducing people to new sports. I think it's a lot less scary to do something in a group than it would be to do something completely on your own, totally self planned. So do you have any advice for people who aspire to become race directors, or maybe they have an idea they've been sitting on for a super long time that they want to bring into fruition.

Speaker 1 35:47

Just do it. I know that's oversimplified, but what I have found is that the field is ripe and ready to harvest. I've been absolutely blown away by the interest and the attendance in these events, and it really showcases that there is a need and a demand for these types of events in Texas. And Texas is huge. There's room for everybody. So my advice is do it. But like, try to do it well, try to find something that resonates with you on a personal level. Like, for me, it wouldn't make sense for me to create like a 2000 mile route, because I'm not a 2000 mile route racer, like these route distances and these routes feel like they're mine. When I approach the events, it's like, what event would I want to go to? What would be like, the vibe? What would be the distances? What would the train be like? So I just pictured what I would want, and then I created it. And so I think having that, like, personal connection to your event helps you understand your clientele better and just attaches you to it in a more, like, sticky way. But I think there's lots of opportunities out there. I'd love to see Texas continue to grow in outdoor recreation. I think, as a blanket statement, I think Texas has a huge opportunity, and I don't think we take advantage of it as much as we could, but there's a lot of opportunity there, and I'm happy to play a small part of it. Yeah,

Morgan O'Hanlon 37:17

when you guys launched in 2021 and I'm sure as you were gearing up for that launch, the timing was kind of perfect, because of all that interest the post COVID and the during COVID interest and cycling, and gravel cycling in particular. Do you still feel like that sphere is getting larger, and there's growing interest in that?

Speaker 1 37:34

We certainly saw a dip after COVID. I mean, all outdoor sports did. But the question was at that time, what percentage of the people that caught interest during COVID are going to stick with it afterwards? I live in Bryant College Station Texas, and this year at East Texas showdown, we had 14 people sign up from my hometown, which was shocking to me, like I did not know that we had 14 adventure cyclists in my hometown. I had no idea. So just using my own little ecosystem as a like litmus test, I'm seeing growth, especially in this category of racing, of adventure cycling and ultra distance cycling and bike pack racing. I really think that the wave is just growing like I think it's got a long way to go, and I think we're on the up and up for sure.

Morgan O'Hanlon 38:32

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David Yoskowitz 39:16

So how was your adventure out in East Texas?

Morgan O'Hanlon 39:18

Let me answer your question with another question, what's the longest bike ride you've ever been on?

David Yoskowitz 39:26

So the longest bike ride I've ever been on is probably about 70 miles in one day,

Morgan O'Hanlon 39:31

and what hurt the most when you were done with that,

David Yoskowitz 39:37

you probably take a guess. The backside hurt the most?

Morgan O'Hanlon 39:41

Yeah, I can really, I was actually pretty surprised by how much my quads did not hurt. But all I can say is that when somebody tells you you should use chafe cream, you should listen to them. Yes,

David Yoskowitz 39:53

absolutely, I agree with that. Well, besides that, how was the race?

Morgan O'Hanlon 39:58

It was pretty fantastic. Fantastic. I love this event because every year I get to meet new people. Everyone is very friendly, and it really brings a great group of people together in this community that's tied together by bikes and maybe a little bit of pain. Do you have any races or outdoor events that stand out in your memory?

David Yoskowitz 40:15

Well, you know, I did quite a few longer triathlons back in the day, and those were grueling but very satisfying at the end. I've also done really long Lake swims, and so in the moment, you know you're struggling through them, but they also feel good when you finish.

Morgan O'Hanlon 40:33

Were there any of those in Texas? Yes, tell me about it. One that stands out.

David Yoskowitz 40:41

One stands out? Well, I think there was a half Iron Man outside of Lubbock called buffalo lakes, and it was just summertime. It's a dry heat, but it's summer and it's still warm, and you wouldn't believe this the best thing on the half marathon portion to get flat warm coke. It's the greatest thing ever. It's just pure sugar going down when you have no energy reserves left. But it was a great experience, and those are hard to forget.

Morgan O'Hanlon 41:12

I'm sure you probably also saw a side of Lubbock that maybe you weren't anticipating. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. There are a lot of special races like this that happen inside our state parks. There

David Yoskowitz 41:24

are, there's a number of these opportunities that happen around the state in our state parks where they open them up for ultra races. Right now, they're primarily on foot, but there's also some biking opportunities that are shorter in some cases. Can you give

Morgan O'Hanlon 41:41

me a few examples of some of these races that happen inside our state parks? Yeah,

David Yoskowitz 41:45

Brazos Bend is a good example of one. That's an ultra marathon. There's different distances that you can achieve over a weekend time period. We've also had some of these races out. It's a Big Bend Ranch State

Morgan O'Hanlon 41:57

Park. And what's the process like? Where do you even begin to start if you want to host one of these races inside one of our state parks?

David Yoskowitz 42:04

Yeah, if you were somebody that was thinking about organizing one of those races, the first thing that you would do is reach out to the superintendent of the state park that you're thinking of to see if it's even feasible. Tell me what you like about these events. I like these events because it gets people outside, whether your activity is biking, walking, hiking, running. It's a great opportunity to enjoy our state parks or other parks and spend a day with friends and family or by yourself. You

Morgan O'Hanlon 42:40

I better outside a Texas Parks and Wildlife production is brought to you by WHOLE EARTH provision company. This episode was written and recorded by me Morgan O'Hanlon, story edited by Wes Ferguson and aislin Gaddis for free range productions, sound design and audio engineering by Austin Sisler at Eastside studios in Austin, Texas. Our theme song was written and recorded by Walker Lukens and grant Epley. Artwork for the show is by Aaron Zachary. To learn more about the Texas showdown series or to sign up for an upcoming race, check out texasshowdown series.com if you like this podcast. You might also like Patrick's. You can hear it at bikes or death.com or anywhere else you get your podcasts. And if you like the story, you should check out Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine at TPW magazine.com that's Texas polecat waco magazine.com and you can support us by subscribing to the magazine for only $2 a month. All this information, along with transcripts, photos, links and so much more, is available in our show notes. You can find them at better outside.com and of course, you can find better outside wherever you get Your podcasts until next time, we'll catch you outside.