Moved up to fairbanks, Ak from phoenix, AZ last year, and have been riding around the city and some light trails (well graded dirt path, not actual trail riding) on my commuter and cruiser. Finally got the chance to get out on the trails with a friend, who let me borrow his Talus 29er while I wait for my X-cal to get shipped to me. The trails started out fine, kinda fun, but they turned tedious really fast. I couldn't keep speed worth a darn around some of those corners, and forget shooting through a wide turn with any speed here. Yes, I understand we have snow. Traction wasn't the issue. I couldn't get into a comfortable gear. Never had this problem on south mountain in Phoenix.

Anyone else ride a new environment and have this kind of problem?

Bike your not used to, not setup for you? a case of needing to manage your expectation?

Learned to ride when I was in college at the local lake which had a few oddly well-kept trails. I got to the point where I was really humming through them and thought I was all that is man.

Brought the bike back home to the local trail I had never been to and was served a piece of humble pie like I never knew existed...

Went from flat, flowy single-track with lovely views to where it looked like rocks and roots were having a turf war and suffering heavy casualties. Stuck with it. After the third ride or so I wound up spending more time in the saddle than walking. Crashed all the time. Got lost all the time. Stuck with it more.

Now, while I don't pretend to have NEAR the cardio of the good riders out there, I know that my skill set is at least average. And it's so much more fun than the college trails. I love it.

Change will suck. You'll figure it out. Then the change won't suck anymore.

Ride. The differences in the trails is what makes each one unique. Your fall back position on a new trail should be to practice your basic mountain bike technique. We have a tendency to get lazy when we ride the same trails frequently.
Head up rubber down

Yeah familiar trails,,your even more likely to crash when on your regular trails.

Get YOUR bike and get to work,,

I love AK, and I love Fairbanks. AK is the only place where you go where you can just feel how it could will kill you. =D It is so hard to explain to people. I wondered around there for a bit a few years go, never bike riding, but I would think that Alaska is one of the more interesting places you could mountain bike. I can't imagine it is pristine there, probably hard core, so I wouldn't worry about it. Once you do it for a while, you will be an expert and all other trails won't compare.

your crazzy! I tolerate the rocky rooted up trails as thats all that Oklahoma seemingly has to offer - oh wait, we have sandy ones too- LOL, ---- but i love love getting a shot at some creampuff trail sections whenever posssible
I heard Lake Wilson , up in Kansas , fits the bill--- but they also throw in some serious climbing there (for Kansas) to toughen it up

Lake McMurtry in Stillwater, my friend. At least when I was in college they were exceptionally well taken care of. Blue trail is flowy and 'creampuffy'. Good warmup before red or yellow (or cooldown, depending on what you're after).

Yes, you OKC folk have sand... My god, you have sand. Very surprising my first ride down there. (looking at you, Draper)

well, hello fellow aggie! When i lived in Stillwater, we used to ride at a motocross oriented area called The 500 south of town a little bit - this was 93/94 time frame - i heard they were working on McMurtry, but myself and the rest of the gang that hung out at Coopers bikeshop slogged it out in the rutted up moto trails

i will try McMurtry next time i am there, i keep an annual pass to ride my enduro bike (motorized) at the 500 to this day and i think i just need to pay a small tariff to add McMurtry use to it. But between Thunderbird, Draper and Hefner trails (Hefner is my favorite, but is also the shortest ) i dont venture much out of the metro unless its a vacation to CO or something

sounds like a trip to Turkey Mountain would be worthwhile , plus i hear good things about the NW Arkansas area- Bentonville and thereabouts.

Last trip to Turkey Mountain for me was for a downhill race in 1997 - do they still do that? Geez---19 years

Yes. I went from smooth-ish single track and trails interspersed with technical sections to nonstop rocks and roots. I got a different bike and learned to ride differently.

Trails in Phoenix and Fairbanks could not be more different... add in a loaned bike and I think it is safe to say there will be a learning curve.

The 500. Is that different than Cooperland? I feel like it is. I've been to one or the other (or hell, maybe both) in college, but don't really remember. I was the 'poor friend' but had a garage of around $40,000 in quads/bikes for guys. My best friend was also raced dirtbikes awhile and has some family from back in the day who were in the sport (do the names Daft or Atchison ring any bells?).

I'd definitely recommend McMurtry. I intend on planning a day trip out there with some friends but things keep coming up.

I guy I work with (racer) just gave me a little catalog of NW Arkansas trails and a friend of mine rode one of their Epic trails a couple years ago. Looks like an awesome weekend trip or something. Beautiful place. One of these days...

Downhill race at Turkey? I don't think so, but I'm not a very good source for that. The one "downhill" part did not fare well with last spring's torrential downpours. Damn near a suicide wish now.

Go Pokes!

Oklahoma is surprisingly thick with high level motocross racers. We have 3 or 4 young guys running the supercross series right now -- a lot of talent in that area for such a small state

The 500 is in the same vicinity as Cooperland, but while Cooperland was (it changed owners a couple of times and finally went under in about '06 ) straight up motocross, -- the 500 has miles and miles of backwoods trails (theres a MX track there too but it is rarely maintained - the trails are the biggest attraction )- the 500 is also still open. The Cooper family, - from the bike shop-- help manage and maintain it, but it is on city owned land - Cooperland itself was a pure private venture started by Guy Cooper (same family -- but Guy went on to have enormous success in pro MX in the 80's and 90's and high level international off road riding later in his career

I remember a Dennis Daft, he was a little before my time , but would likely be 50ish in age now

And --- Go Pokes !!





Hell, three quarters of my MX and MTB gear is orange even !