I have a buddy who runs the shop at one of the Bicycle Sports Shops (now Trek evidently) in Austin, and he told me the same thing. Well, he told me I needed a better bike and to be less of a shit rider if I wanted to get the Nukeproofs I asked him about, and then told me the Chesters would be a good place to start. They should be here today and depending on what time they get here I might mount them up and ride. Shoes will be next.
We've got 7.5 acres of woods across the street from our house and I've been building some trails through them since last fall. I've only managed to carve out ~.75 of a mile so far, but there is enough elevation change for me to get a decent workout if I make the little loop a few times. I'll try to post some pics at some point, but the lot sits next to the highest point around and drains quite a bit of water through it when we get substantial rains. So it's got a few deep ravines that run all the way through it that I plan on making "runs" out of that will cut off the main loop trail that I'm building now. I'm trying to take out as few trees as possible so most of the work has been done with loppers and a chainsaw so far, but I really enjoy doing that kind of stuff.
@TwiceHorn