well, it rained here for the past two days making yesterdays ride of one of the most sublime rides of the summer. left the house at around 6:30 and it was about 72 degrees out and sunny. Got the the trailhead and it feels about 5 degrees cooler in the woods by the river. The trails are nicr and damp and super hard pack and tacky after the rain. to my surprise, there are only like seven cars parked at the trailhead. I end up climbing for about three miles, rip some single track back down for a mile and a half, climb another 3 and a half miles and then decend another 2 or so to the fire road. At this point i'm just stoked on the nice weather and the awesome trail conditions. On my ride i sawone group of 6 women who were standing around talking, and one guy adjusting his brakes. Other than that i had the entire trail system to myself. amazing.

now i get to the final stretch of trail. it's a mile or so long of tight twisty and super flowy single track. its an undulating trail that points slightly downhill, runs next to a dirt road, and leads back to the trailhead. it's basically a mile long pump track. With a little skill you can carry good speed through the entire thing. this is were things really get amazing. it was akin to a three foot powder day. I had a ear to ear grin on that trail the entire time, whooping and holler around turns, raging puddles. it was absolutely amazing. i mean i really got high riding it. talk about a huge endorphin buzz! i ended up riding it 3 times and was just elated for the rest of the night.

So that was my ride. i'm not that good at these write ups but i had such a good time i had to share. can't wait to do it again tonight!

:thumb:!!!

That's a great write-up, Ben. Sounds like a magical day.

OK, it's Wednesday I know; but I'm going to return to Sunday for this ride report.

Went to indulge in some lift-assisted goodness at Schweitzer Mtn. Idaho on Sunday with a young friend who happens to be a wrench at the shop I ride for and also happens to ride a Blindside too.

I haven't ridden at Schweitzer since the '05 NORBA Nationals were held there. The resort changed hands in the last year and they have new owners who are showing a bit of initiative to re-grow the summer gravity scene up there.

They don't have a lot of black- or double-black runs yet but what they have shows some hope and promise. Well, our very first time off the chair, I steer us on a wrong turn and we end up on a trail that we found out was a blue run called Bear Grass. We thought it was a bit weird that it wasn't building a lot of fall-line momentum -- just kinda zig-zagging the mountain in flat swichbacks mostly. Well, we spent 15-20 minutes riding the thing out to the bottom, pedalling our **sses off to keep speed. Needless to say, when we hit the bottom, I grabbed a trail map and started pumping the lift crew with more questions.

Found the good runs and Eric and I attacked them with gusto. Schweitzer is steep, rough and rock-rock-rocky - - just the way I like it. They don't have a lot of man-made stunts on these runs but it's more than made up for with gnarly rock piles, rock gardens, rock chutes, rock turns . . . well, you get the idea. One of the trails follows parts of the old Sport course from the NORBA Nationals and has some new added twists to kick it up a notch.

One of the lift crew guys told us how to find the new trail they were cutting in and said we ought to try it. So we did - - turns out it was only just that week roughed in with the machinery and we were only the second and third set of tracks on it. Wasn't as fast as it will be when it's buffed out some but it was fun getting to put wheels to 'virgin' trail. Lift guy at the bottom wondered why we were coming out a trail that was officially closed and we pleaded ignorance and told him the guy at the top told us how to find it. Whew, dodged one there.

Well, since that easy Bear Grass trail was cut over part of what used to be the Pro-Expert course, we next went on a little hunting trip. I finally found a nearly-obliterated connector to the old course and we took of to poach what we could of it (it was officially marked 'closed' on the map). Ahhh, and find it we did. Four years of snow-melt and erosion has exposed tons more rock in the two most infamous sections of the old Pro-Ex course: Altar Boy (rock drop-to-compression) and the Bowling Alley (huge curving slope choked with medicine-ball-sized boulders). Riding it uncovered a strange dichotomy: not as frightening to negotiate with four more years of experience and skillz under my belt; but much more cobby and gnarly than it ever was in the three years the Nationals course ran over it.

Lower parts of it have been dozed under now in the process of bulding new lifts and development; but when the dust settles they REALLY need to figure out how to build those sections into a new course. Anyway, before day's end we sneaked off and hit it one more time with a little speed and boy was that a blast.

All in all it was a fun day. We got in enough runs to make us pooped, got to scope some new trails and got to get re-aquainted with an old friend. Add to that the fact that a lift ticket is only $20 and that the quad chair zips you back to the top in only about 5 minutes and you can bet that we'll be back soon.

Rain, rain, go away...6 times up the hill today.:(

Rocking the dead sailor look at Diablo today.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...y/IMG_0071.jpg
Gotta' work on that speed thing - wasn't quite getting as much onto the tranny as I wanted. The larger banana drop, and a couple other bits that I hadn't hit before. Slowly working up to some other stuff
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...y/IMG_0068.jpg
Good crew; I think we managed 10 or 11 runs. Got to remember to mention going to a couple BF folks who are local. Ahem. Oops.

Got a nice long ride in with the Girlscout today, no pics. Will be getting a bunch of Pisgah miles in tomorrow.......I might remember the camera.

I got out for 2.5hrs getting my butt kicked by a 69y.o. dude. He's a freakin' mAnimal! He was riding at "my pace" for 2.5hrs and didn't look any worse for the wear. He makes my future look bright!

You were haning pink ribbons to mark a trail and that kicked your Arse? Jeeez The Sunflower Sate Games must stand for single speed girls.:roflmao2:

F.I.N.S. again (Goodyear, AZ). Singletrack playground! 95 degrees by 8 am.

Forgot the camera...

but here's my weekend.

Saturday Morning - White Ranch - 9.55 miles - 7am - 3hours
Saturday Night/Sunday Morning - Kaiser Permanente "Moonlight Classic" - 10 miles - 10:30pm - 3 hours
Sunday Morning - Urban Assault - 26 mile race - 9am - 1 Hour 45 minutes!

What a great weekend. We drove half this state running around from ride to ride, getttin our packets and bikes and doing the actual rides. But the weekend was great weather, awesome company - and by golly! Our kids 5 year old Kaia, 7 year old Dillon, 7 year old Nathan and 17mo old Devin - all did the 10 mile family ride of the moonlight classic through downtown Denver! Along with Ed's mom who just learned to ride a bike 3 weeks ago!

Now... on to the Courage Classic this weekend!

Live...
Love...

SPIN!

For those of you wanting pics of the Fruita area... this is "Zippity-do-da" a great, rolling single track that links up with a number of other trails. This is in the "18 Road" area of trails, north of town. Had to go out early today as it was approaching the mid to high 90's by 11am today.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2676/...930b5fee02.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/...c4f038efb8.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3425/...36afc4e06b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2458/...fd1c1ae684.jpg

those trails look absoultely amazing. I hope to ride them this fall.

zippidy do dah and joes ridge. and i think you have a smudge on your lens.

Killington Wednesday: sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Hub deep standing water on much of the trails, peanut butter gooey mud on much. Bagged it after three runs.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1.../July09011.jpg

Pine Hill Thursday: a bit drier.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1.../IMG_0009a.jpg

http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/100_1478.jpg

Did a little exploring and found this.

That's cool. Looks to be a bit on the slick side.

Have to love 4/10's with Friday's off. Decided to test/hurt myself on the Air Force Academies Falcon trail. Very people sparse as I had hoped because this is true single track for all but a mile. I had only dabed two switchbacks and made it through cleanly on the really rocky sections. Very pleased with my handling skills and determination in the climbs.

Really nice to be able to ride this trail. Makes it special when you know the pro's in the area use the Falcon trail to do their hard training.

This ends up being a 4 hour ride as I don't drive my bike. I ride my bike to and from. For those in the area I ride from Ute Valley Park, up Centennial, down Orchard Valley and dirt trail down Woodman to the Front Range Trail. Once you make it to Ice Lake you get to decide if you want the Falcon Trail or to stay and hit Palmer Lake and double track all the way. Either route I have to ensure I have enough left in the tank to get back up Orchard Valley on the way home. I wonder if CTS uses this for his hill camps?

One of these days I will decide to lay back on this trail and get some pictures. Happy trails to all.

Hit up Vietnam thursday before the rains came and came and came... trails were mint except for a couple of wet spots in the lowests area. Riding buddy bagged out at last second (some BS thing about work) so no riding pics even though I tried a couple timer shots on the rollers, rest of the time I was having too much fun. Wish I knew the place better so I could get a good flow going...

Small roller timer pic (LOL):
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/041.jpg

View from top:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/042.jpg

Got to like rocks if you ride the powerlines here:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/040.jpg

Bigger roller:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/052.jpg

A few cool berms around here:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/053.jpg

Hit all the smallish jumps. All well built stuff. Kudos to the trail workers:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/054.jpg

Took a couple of sally lines since I was all alone and I'm a sally:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/056.jpg

I suck at skinnies, two bail outs here:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/055.jpg

Rode my hard tail so I had to pick better lines:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/057.jpg

Had a lunch buddy:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._01095/045.jpg

Note to self: get back here soon.

all these awesome trails...

I cann't seem to find any.

I even took my truck out into the woods today and drove all through out the logging roads and stuff.. powered up a few hills and dodged some logs and branches and then descended back down them..... Not a single foot of singletrack to be found !!!!!


I'm trying to get with the local bike clubs, but eh..... I'm always working

Get yourself to Palmer Park, or up the canyon a bit! Way mobettah!

Nice. That's a lot of work into that. New-ish trail or just something you'd not found yet?


Yes. Nam rocks! Only been a few times, but it's got some really, really fun stuff!

http://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=161

http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/



Quit whining.

Did an easy ride today, just to get out but not kill myself before tomorrows much longer ride in Tahoe. Had some fun on some rocks. Got a couple pics on one..

http://www.cleanspokes.com/pictures/gbrock1.jpg

http://www.cleanspokes.com/pictures/gbrock2.jpg

Lol...yeah, I noticed that when I was putting the pictures on here...I kept rubbing my eye thinking I had something in it, then I figured out it was the picture. I must have gotten some sunscreen on it or something. Total bummer though, cuz all the naked riders are behind the smudge...sorry everyone. ;)

Got in a good long day of riding. Pisgah solo this morning and DuPont with the Girlscout in the afternoon.....

Pisgha goodness...
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../PisDup002.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../PisDup003.jpg
Starting 2 miles of fun....
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../PisDup005.jpg

Girlscout stole my HT for a ride....
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../PisDup008.jpg