**** all of you and your snow-free areas!

The closest we're getting to riding this weekend will be flagging trail lines and potential stunts on my new property...while trudging through snow that is up to your knee in places.

I feel for ya, never. We were in that situation just two weeks ago. Beacon just got good last week and my place isn't rideable yet.

Plus we're supposed to get more snow this weekend....yippeee!

But a trip to Mt. Swansea in Invermere should be in the works in the near future...things are supposed to be drying out there. Will be able to get to use the new truck for it's first day of shuttling.

Well I'm just getting ready to do my first trail ride in about 6 months... thanks to the massive snow dump we got this year... ah well... anyways I'll let you guys know how the ride went later tomorrow... and I'm glad all the snow's gone... gives me time to finally get my bike and test out the new gloves...

Well we didn't flag any trails yesterday and it started snowing last night. I had parked the truck out back yesterday and this is what it looked like this morning. Don't think we'll be doing much riding around here any time soon.

ouch, haha.

truck looks nice!

That all has a way-too-familiar look to it . . . .

Some riding lately, fewer pictures.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...47_3029696.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...9/IMG_0144.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...9/IMG_0068.jpg

Pic #2...new fork?

Nah, the Lyrik from the hardtail went on there, and the hardtail got a new Revelation Dual Air. The Totem Solo Air is going on...something new and bigger, back at 180mm.

I'm no big hucker, but would like to hit up some more lift riding this year. Building up something bigger and slacker on a budget. Enough for now - pics once it's all done. It'll be overkill for my local trails, but oh so nice on lift terrain, shuttle rides, or heading out to some spots out west. Just another arrow in the quiver. :thumb:

Ebay is evil.

From last Friday, down the rock spine at Beacon . . . earlier in the day when I was still whole:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...con_web_CW.jpg
Photo: Carl Warren

first time jumping in i think about 5 years, im not old (14) but was out of it, i wasn't wearing a helmet and almost went head first into a tree, bad idea, so i decided to wear a helmet then i went head first into the same tree, this time i actually hit it. it hurt. Can't wait till me new helmet comes. But it isn't snowing now luckily but it is raining making all the jumps a mess of mud :(

you could, but have to setup right, (no real lip to pop off; you'd just be doing a j-hop to get up and over)and what comes below is really chundery. and the whole thing is STIL and full up loose baseball sized rocks.

easy enough to just pick the front wheel up a bit to cruise on over to the lower rock. most traffic seems to go around instead. i like that fun line better, obviously.

65 miles on the fixed gear today timed it right and got it in the window of no rain that was predicted today. When back at the starting location after the ride:

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...r/100_0712.jpg

I drove through some nasty storms earlier today in Maryland, west virginia, and Pennsylvania. Looks like that might have been the beginning of those storms.

What is it? Dirtbag?

Probably was.

1) Trail - Telegraph Rd - Chino Hills
2) Ride Time - 2:45
3) Distance - 12 to 15 miles
4) Total Elevation Gain - 950ft
5) Weather - Warm - 72F
6) Trail Conditions - Dry; too many small stones to really go fast on the downhills. Some single tracks are growing over. Loose sand in areas (hard when climbing).
7) Summary - Had a good time, it was my first time there. :) Very quiet, and a bit too lonely, but still a fun ride. Almost got mauled by a swarm of bees, scared the hell out of me. A lot of really nice scenery, but only visible in some areas because of tall plantation on the sides of the trails. :/ That was kind of a bummer.

A few friends and I built a mini DH type trail. A bit off camber, and most of its not all that steep (on part is really steep though and full of large roots) I'd say maybe 50-100 feet of elevation change, and we got about .25 or so miles out of it. Good enough for Ohio. Not to get permission from the land owner. . . (but I'd think its all good as I've never seen anyone down there and I'm friend with their daughter).

Rode said trail. It was short but sweet. Lots of parts were skechy (like the 2 foot drop onto the side of a steep slope or a tight 120 or so degree turn followed by a set of tree roots that cause 2 consecutive 9 inch drops) but it was fun. Then later, a friend called and told me one of the DJs at the Local DJ spot had been filled in to make a big table. I rolled the table, jumped it slowly (landing mid way over), then it started to rain so I had to leave.

It wasnt really a true ride (maybe 1-1.5 miles). Still fun, cleared a creek bed/rock garden I havent tried since last season. Wow was it easy compared how I remembered it. Everything was nice and slick from the rain (it almost looks sunny in some shots, but it sure as heck wasnt sunny). More to play around with a new camera angle/zip tie mount.

http://vimeo.com/4052167

Finally got out between rainy days yesterday on the new setup...been raining quite a bit lately. Dang I had fun!

Loving the new setup. I have enough energy to keep my speed up and catch air over the crap that I made the Domain eat up. The lockout is not as easy to use as a Motion Control unit b/c you have to throw it quite a bit further...the Motion control lockouts have a nice rubber coating too. I attribute this to intended design by Fox b/c it keep the lockout from engaging on accident.

Very snappy out of corners. Short-manuals over dips and terrain are more comfortable for some reason with less beef up front. Dang near went over backward on my butt once.

Can't wait to get a longer ride in soon.

Nice, glad to hear you finally found a setup you liked.
Which version of PS are you using?

I rode up to an area of parkland where I normally used to ride yesterday. Except it was burnt out about 2 and a half months ago when a bushfire went through the area. Not completely burnt, just the front of the park.

It was a really eerie feeling. I stayed there for about 5 minutes before turning back and getting the F*** out.

Normally when you ride up there, there's ALWAYS at least 2 parked cars and someone having a picnic, as well as heaps of wildlife jumping around. But yesterday there were no people or animals to be heard. It was dead quiet. I just had this feeling which was like "I shouldn't be here, there's something wrong."

There were no lives or properly lost in this particular fire, just bushland, and the roads and trails I was riding were all open, so it's not as though I was riding closed trails. But something just felt so eerie.

I was going to take some photos, but I was way too creeped out, I think my average speed on my cycle computer jumped from 19km/h to around 27km/h getting out of there.