a2psyklnut: Thanks.
Yeah, it was simply amazing, I didn't even stop to take photos of the trails cause I would get a such nice flow going.
dirtbikedude: Seems like I was the only one doing that drop.
Seriously, the downhillers with their Kona Stabs and the freeriders with their Bighits and Stinkys seemed to pick the fastest line and me here with a hardtail doing the drop.
The thing is, right after the curve (which is after the small drop, on which I got some nice air
) there was a really steep part (not drop, but close) and towards the bottom the trail continued OR you could take a sharp 90 to the left, go doing some really steep part aswell and take the trail to the lifts. The crazy thing was, the first time I did the run, I knew about 5 downhillers were behind so I sped up a bit, did the drop, went down the first steep part well, saw the green arrow pointing to the left turn (green arrow indicating the skilifts) and took the sharp left as speed, and the berm was too small, I turned about 70 degrees and got air and WHACK, into the sign. That was one of the worst falls, had I not been wearing a full face I would have come home with a few teeth less.
I was more or less fine after, a few guys stopped to check I was OK.
I was dazed and confused, more than hurt. The worst fall I had was this one and another where I did a drop but the landing (like the rest of the singletrack) was full of big rocks, didn't pick a good enough line and even though all my weight was behind the seat, the front wheel jerked to a stop and OTB I went. The handlebars whacked into my chest and it left a green bruise. The one with the most dangerous potential was the one where there was this XC singletrack and I washed out on a bit of sand and rolled down a good two metres on this really steep hill, I had to be hauled out by fellow riders.
Oh and lets not forget how I squashed my toenail between my pedal and a rock and it started bleeding under the nail. The pedals are amazing, I bashed them against rocks 30+ times and not even scratches.
Trail etiquette was amazing, I went down the black DH trail (seemed like the average bike was Kona Stinky, at the least) and I got my bike out of the way so the faster guys could pass and every single one said a quick thanks, it wasn't what I would have expected ("Damn kid on the HT could really get out of the way"), and when I stopped to rest my fingers people would ask while passing by: "Everything OK?".
Buzzbomb: That's nothing.
The "guide" at the Mondraker stall (you got to test ride bikes) was a really good looking girl, everyone wanted to go for a test ride.
EDIT: 4 more posts meanwhile. What's with me typing so much tonight.
Swiffer: Hey, 26 km with mostly uphill is quite a hard event for a 13 year old on a HT in a fullface helmet and shinguards. =P No, you'd take the lift up TO the start of all the MTB events and from THERE we started the long uphill climbs. =P