santiago

Gorgeous looking trails. Thanks for sharing.

RHCP87

Civic holiday over in ontario today, and i'd been eyeing this construction site near my house for a while

so i went over in the evening today, checked it out to make sure it was safe and that all the dozers and things were gone and it was actually pretty decent riding

the giant hills of dirt they leave are great simulations of some more basic trails i've been on, there are trails left by the machines but are still uneven and full of rocks and jumps
you dont get any scenic nature but once at the top you get a nice view of the neighborhood form about 30-40 feet up

also, the dips in elevation they leave are great for practicing climbing
all in all it took about 40 minutes to use the whole thing up so it was better than nothing cause i couldnt get to any real trails today

some camera phone pics:



the climbs were steep and got taller and taller as you moved down so you could start practicing on the right and work left as you got better




i first used these edges for quick descents but they werent tall enough so i started jumpin em




it was not nearly as good as a real trail but for a slow monday it was decent and i recommend it to anyone near a construction site, just make sure everyone is gone and that the site is safe, have fun

mahler5th

Am I supposed to use Quick Reply to post? I'm new here and newbie mountain biker. Bought Specialized Hardrock Sport from local bike shop. I've been riding small streets and paved bike trails around my neighborhood for last few weeks. Today I found an unpaved trail on internet and finally got to ride this evening. My first off road bike experience!
I had less than hour as the sun was going down. I'm in Northwest Suburb of Chicago and there aren't many hills in this region. It would've been too tough with steep hills. The trail is part of Poplar Creek Forest Preserve. 600+ acres of prarie land I read. The trail was gravel and dirt along grass. I met couple of deer family, a rabit and a racoon on my 2-mile ride. Off road biking is awesome! Great feeling going through wooded area then come out in the open field then go over some dead branches. I loved the way the gravel and dead branches made crunchy sound. Too bad I didn't have enough time to finish the trail.
I was on 2nd gear on chainring most of the time. I used 3rd gear on chainring maybe for 2-3 minutes on slight downhill. I used 4,5,6th gears in the rear. I found that dirt and gravel road much harder to pedal through. Unless there's a downhill I had to constantly pedal. I took a shower and took 30-minute nap(couldn't resist) when I finally got home around 8:30pm.
I cannot wait to hit the dirt trail again tomorrow morning.

TroyLeeRacer199

Just got back from a few days up in whistler here are some pictures. Srry for the bad quality I took a frame out of a movie.




Whistler is the best, but I sometimes wish they had bigger jumps on stuff like dirt merchant and A line

dminor 

It is easy to start overshooting trannies on A-line once you get some speed going. Crabapple Hits' jumps let you go just about as big as you want to; did you do that?

Nice angle on the shot of the Dirt Merchant creek gap. You must have been launching from the wood ramp, eh? I wasn't that brave this year. Maybe next . . . .

Thanks for bringing back some good memories.

TroyLeeRacer199

Oh yeah i've had a few flat landings under my belt on a-line thats for sure. Crabapple hits is a fun one for sure. I also love the first half of sidetrack with all the gap drops and hips, except the second half is all muddy and technical so it;s a trade off. The wood jump is fun but it kicks me forward into a bit of a nosedive almost all the time. Can't wait to go back!

popluhv

popluhv

My friend and I installed a whole bunch of wood yesterday (it's the fresh looking part on the log); burmed on-ramp for your turning pleasure!

never

I haven't been taking many (any) pics on our rides this year but we had someone with a decent camera with us last night at our local lift accessed hill...we didn't hit the DH course at all but just played around on the many stunts/jumps/drops.

A nice mellow ride out of the berm...and just to rub it in...my house is across the valley, right above my helmet.


Daggett railing the berm.


Fast little section before you hit the treed area with all of the stunts.


A little drop whose size can be made a lot bigger with speed.


I didn't wear my matching jersey so you could tell us apart.


Drop with a nice view.

never

Went riding in Fernie, BC, last weekend. We hit the trails on Saturday then rode the resort on Sunday. It was a great weekend.

Saturday day ride...we pushed the big bikes up a 2500ft ascent for a few hours and took a newly built trail that lost all of the elevation in about 10-15 minutes. Saturday night was a push up for about an hour then we hit some FR trails as long as the light allowed. Sunday was the resort and it was as it usually is...great. I only have decent pics from the day ride on Saturday...

Push up.


Nice view from 1800m up.


That's what it's all about.


The descent was steep, rooty and very twisty...it was great fun on the big bikes.

mtnbiker66

Sweet pics. Did you get my PM?

never

Yeah, I got it...it's crazy at work right now so I'm trying to see what I can work out. I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out.

madjh8

Rallie rides on north Spain. The bike is the famous xclusive scandium (famous because it´s the cheapest scandium frame, 90 euros and weight is 1280 gr)

Taerom

pics from my ride today at some awesome trails I don't ride at nearly enough. I love this place...

Trailhead


"observation tower"


view of the trail from atop the tower


I love this place


the trail goes up and down the sides of this little valley, very fun


a little babbling brook, I wanted to wait here all day and listen to it. So peaceful...


snack time


they were a little tart, but still good

Shmef

Me and my biking Bud, at the Grand Forest on Bainbridge Island... not too hard, fun little 6 mile dealio... pretty light stuff... fun though..

ztime

wow,u guys are so cool

dminor 

OK - - this is a cross-post; but so few people go to the Racing subforum that I thought I'd put these picts here as a ride report. After all, the weekend was so much fun, it was as much ride as race.

Super-D Sunday at Mt. Spokane. What a fun way to end the season. Nothing super-technical on this trail - - just a nice, flowy bunch of singletrack that went (mostly) down. About three short climbs to keep us heavy-bike guys honest and test our legs and lungs. It was so much fun that I got in a as many practice runs Saturday as I could with a late start.

I managed first in the 50+ Expert and my friends Arnold Mukai and Terry Dickey took second and third. Good times!

The whole course was silty powder - -good thing we had 1:00 intervals for the start; the dust really hung in the deep woods sections.





Me and my trusty Gran Mal in the background . . . dunno why I had that sour expression; I was havin' fun all day!



Podium: Arnold, me and Terry. The old farts rule!



All photos courtesy Lacey McKenna.

BFG

Dminor you are such a pinner.

More than three times my age and ten times as fast. Top stuff.

mtnbiker66

Great pics guys. You rock D!

never

Sweet D...way to go!

It looks crazy powdery in that second pic!

never

Did some shuttling today on Moose Mountain...no pictures but it was a ton of fun! I'll see if I can get pictures from anyone else.

stevemtbr

Last weeks chilly morning ride before all the rain moved in. The bad news is on the local mountains they're building some homes in a gated community and it looks like my favorite view/lookout is up for grabs. The first pic is looking above Tum Tum and Long Lake (outside of Spokane) with the second showing the "possible building site" sign. Then yours truley with the self portrait.

I have had no problems riding in this area (yet) but it would really suck to loose these trails and the great long climbs. We also have a huge amount of state land around here and DNR wants to off load "ALL" of it. So in the comming years there could be up to 600 new homes in my area. It's very depressing and maybe in another post I'll give you all the details.

dminor 

Nice picts! Looks like you were right above my house (you were on the western knob of Saddle Mountain, eh?)

Actually, you were having 'no problems' because mountain bikes are quiet; but - - that's all private property where you are riding, except that little 80-acre plot of State land way up on top. That parcel is a poster-child for the type of land that is prime for the DNR land-swap: isolated, small parcels with little-to-no timber value left and poor access. I know enough fellow landowners up there to where I still pretty much have run of those hills but you don't. Where you were posing belongs to a recently-deceased friend of mine and his four grown boys don't take any kinder to trespassers than he did.

stevemtbr

All I can say is I have been riding up there just as they put the gated community in and I stay on that side of the mountains. So far the few people I've run into have been friendly and drivers just smile and wave. From the looks of trails/dirt roads it is used by a good number of ATV's and horses. I've lived in Suncrest six years and my general rule for riding in area's like this is if there are no "No trespassing" signs and the trail has seen some good use I'll give it a go. And yes I'm a very quiet and courteous Mt. Biker.

But if I need and could get permission to ride up to the top of the three mountains that would be great. As far as my credentials I'm 43 and have been in the Air Force for 24 years. Have been Mt biking since 1980 and have ridden all over the world. I respect the land greatly and have done quite a lot of clean up on the state lands. If they say no I'll understand.

On a side note have you been going the DNR land swap meetings? I've been to two an just curious on what you think of it. Thanks.

Steve

xcracer13

Went to palo duro canyon by amarillo this weekend for a race heres some pics. this place felt like some epic ride out in the middle of no where it was awsome



off the start

some views