dminor 

Ya, I saw that in passing; have to look it over more closely (haven't been on much lately). Cool that you snagged that.

I think one of the easiest ways for John to get onto it is to catch it at the bottom off 7th - - either down Inland Empire way from the Rosauers or off Ash & 6th (he's coming from the GU district). Trail angles sidehill right off that little chunk of 7th, does a little short/steep switchback climb, then starts following the bluff up.



I'll ride that with you, John, if you don't beat me to it.

Johnny Law

mechBgon - i am here to stay. im going to school here. And im glad you brought up that trail system! i have been past it quite a few times on my bike just cruising around town.

Doug - I will defiantly ride that with you! i can meet you there anytime you want! Just have mercy on me and my lack of gears!

scrublover

A touch over 30 miles out on the road today. Ugh. Well, it beat the trainer or the treadmill at least.

scrublover

Dirt. Cold enough temps, in the mid-twenties. Any warmer and things would have been too sloppy. A spot with minimal snow coverage. It was delicious.

mechBgon

Frozen mud is good mud! Thanks for the great pics!

mechBgon

I got out for a mellow Bluff ride yesterday with a novice in tow (good road rider, hasn't done XC before). There was some mud, some leftover snow, but overall it was OK. You know it's been a mellow ride when the average heart rate is 116bpm

NYCJohn170

^^^ Nice ride.

Yesterday, there were a few easily avoidable patches of snow. Just wet enough to get that tail slide going on the downhills. Nice slide in a White Pine Forest on the needles but kept it. Almost regret that soon the leaves will come out and I won't have the kick ass visability through the trees like in that vid.

One thing I like about riding the DH is that it's best features come into play when you really need them. When you're screaming down through the single track. The only down side seems to be that I have to lean a little further forward on the Ups.

RobE30

Took my brother out for his second ride today, I think he's hooked! I don't think he likes the mud too much. We rode at a place called Jordan Creek, not real difficult but, has a nice variety of trails with some single track, a few rocky areas and 2 or 3 decent climbs. The only downside was that I wiped out going through a washout (I wasn't going fast enough) and cracked my new helmet.... I'm just happy I had one on and that I have Excedrin!

mechBgon

I overcame a bad case of after-work "blahs" and went for another nighttime XC training ride on the South Hill bluff. Considering the rain we've had, it actually was great... soft and slow, but not a mud pit by any means. I tried shooting some video with my new Contour camera, but it doesn't do well in low light... I think my point-&-shoot Canon digicam is considerably better, other than having to ride one-handed to use it.

mechBgon

Today I went to Riverside State Park in Spokane, and rode the outer loop of the 24-hour course to see how the Spring thaw is coming along. It's still a tough slog right now, but give it 1-2 weeks. I shot video for the shop blog, so here it is if anyone wants to see what Riverside's like right now. The video isn't very good, but it gives you an idea what the conditions are, anyway.

electrik

Chest mount is better, less likely to get ripped off by a branch!

mechBgon

Good point. I do occasionally snag my helmet light on stuff. My camera maker (Contour) doesn't offer a chest mount, so I'd have to be careful. I should also find glass lenses that fit the camera, because the stock plastic lens is already scratching, and it's going to see plenty more dirt down the line.

I'm still experimenting to figure out what step makes my videos look like trash. The originals aren't bad, the output from Dashware data-overlay software isn't bad, so it's either Adobe Premiere Elements (used to splice together the clips and add commentary) or YouTube itself. I'll figure it out by trial & error, I guess.

stevemtbr

[QUOTE=mechBgon;12353048]Today I went to Riverside State Park in Spokane, and rode the outer loop of the 24-hour course to see how the Spring thaw is coming along. It's still a tough slog right now, but give it 1-2 weeks. I shot video for the shop blog, so here it is if anyone wants to see what Riverside's like right now. The video isn't very good, but it gives you an idea what the conditions are, anyway.




Hey Tom thanks for moving those trees for me. The big one down is that by the river across from the rifle club? If so I'll try to get out this week and remove it. Any other downed trees you come across in Riverside let me know. Great video.

Fizzaly

Finally made it up in the foot hills of boise today didn't do much of a ride around 20 miles it was really windy and when I got closer to the snow line it started getting really cold. It was also the first time on the trek hard tail I build last month and overall it did pretty good. Most the trails were pretty dry, though they still had a lot of them closed until they dry out even more. I have a feeling alot of trails will be getting closed this spring as a lot of the sandier trails all ready had huge runoff ditches forming.

dminor 

Rode both DH courses at Beacon yesterday with friends. Wow, there were a lot of people out. First race is only two weeks away so everyone was out in force to practice. Dirt was PERFECT, I was sketchy (almost ate it twice on the road gap), and everyone had fun. Did my first plunges down the Seattle Line and the Butler lines for the season and came through unscathed. Eric wasn't so fortunate on the Butler Line:


As the old saying goes, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt - - then it's hilarious

Seriously, though, he was OK, just a bit banged up. I hung around a while longer and hooked up with a different group for a couple more runs and outdid Eric by eating it hard off the road gap . . . in front of like everyone. I'm a bit stiff and a little sore but should be fine for a bit more silliness next weekend.

bluejack45

Rode a little over 9 miles yesterday and rode a little over 12 miles today while traveling to and from work(6.1 miles or so one way)

mechBgon

Hey Steve! The two big fallen trees I can pinpoint for you are circled in red in the attached photos. One's at the south end of the "burn zone" not far off the Centennial Trail on gravel doubletrack, the other's in the woods closer to the "airstrip" on a small scrap of trail that connects two fire roads. If GPS coordinates would help, I think I can get those... lessee here...

47.72952° N by 117.52938° W

and

47.70398° N by 117.50470° W

That was a challenging ride. I'm looking forward to the snowpack melting off, and the trails firming up.

robncircus

Some nice riding in So Cal last night. We thought this ride would take 2 hours. Wrong! Anyway, little climbing and some awesome descending.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/73418524

Pic from about 1/4 before the descent:

scrublover

A few rare places are beginning to be dry enough around here.









This has great potential.








Maple cream cookies and Hermits cookies FTMFW.

dminor 

For Tempting Malnourished Female Whitetails? Isn't it illegal to bait deer with bar cookies?

scrublover

pffft. man, no cookies needed. the deer there let you get very close before they spook. nah, those were to convince the wife to come along today. she ran while i was riding.

electrik

Here is your soundtrack for the above posting

Those cookies may be safe, but let me warn you that one should never consume magical cookies given to you by a forest fairy. At least not more than one..

scrublover

Another fine day at Blue.

RobE30

My brother and I rode Walking Purchase Red Loop for the first time.... Fantastic trail! LVMB did an awesome job with building the trails. Next time I'll have some pictures

robncircus

Late post but here is our ride data from Thursday:
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/73746420

Climb, descend a bit, climb some more. Had a good time. There is one 30+% section that i have yet to try. It's quite rocky and sketchy. However, I am in the market for pads and hope to get the cajones to try it soon.