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Mountain biking 2019

nay

dirt heel pusher
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Back in Gunnison for a long weekend. 6.5 miles for a warmup in Hartman Rocks.

Boy 3 rides Rides Rattlesnake for the first time.

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He was doing pretty well but got bucked a bit getting off line and then lost his confidence. So he got behind the camera.

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We were riding off and on with Boy 2, who is riding for the Western Colorado mtb team. Here they are sessioning The Notch. This is a great line. I’m watching, the boy is in the back.

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Me kinda wussing it first ride.

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Maybe Doctor Park towards CB tomorrow.
 

Josh Matta

Skiing the powder
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Outside of my backyard loop the closest trails to me are actually a tiny little high school trail system with 4 miles of trail including a fairly fun flow trail loop up and down a 300 foot hillside.


hoping the place continues to grow despite being held back by bureaucracy, if you want to skip the beginning this is time stamped at just the downhill.

 

AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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Outside of my backyard loop the closest trails to me are actually a tiny little high school trail system with 4 miles of trail including a fairly fun flow trail loop up and down a 300 foot hillside.


hoping the place continues to grow despite being held back by bureaucracy, if you want to skip the beginning this is time stamped at just the downhill.

Bermie Sanders? :roflmao:
Looks fun!
We beat the incoming storm today by a couple hours (it spit snow on us in the parking lot when we got back.) Rode with @4ster again in a bit of snotty mud and snow. Had mud clumps in my hair. Rode through some cool snow patches that the 2.6 tires handled SO well. I am now a huge fan of them since I've started running them with the correct pressure, and not 5 lbs heavier than I THOUGHT I was running. They are smooooooth.
 

Tom K.

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Big wrinkle in our trip that I won't bore people with, but got in some Moab Morning Goodness the past few days. Yesterday was Slickrock, in both directions. Today was Hymasa and Captain Ahab.

The short-travel Top Fuel absolutely chewed up and spit out the Slickrock Trail, and the Hymasa/Ahab climb, but was a bit overmatched for the Ahab downhill. Just one quick pic to share:

IMG_2945.jpg
 

Josh Matta

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I recon your missing out on at least 180mm of travel...might make the bike more capable on Ahab.
 

Tom K.

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A few pugskiers expressed interest in how the short-travel (115R/120R) Top Fuel fared when it unexpectedly visited Moab. Short answer: Surprisingly well. Almost as short of an answer follows:

The bike did great on Slickrock Trail, Rodeo, Mustang, Whirlygig, and Easy Does it, as well as climbing Hymasa and Captain Ahab.

It was a bit overmatched descending Ahab, and generally in fast, downhill, square-edged chunk.

A set of 2.6 tires (at home in garage!) would have improved things in that regard, but still wouldn't have turned it into a Slash. Duh!

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. It would get my vote for One Bike Quiver, if I had to go that route, and two sets of wheels/tires were allowed.
 
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AmyPJ

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A few pugskiers expressed interest in how the short-travel (115R/120R) Top Fuel fared when it unexpectedly visited Moab. Short answer: Surprisingly well. Almost as short of an answer follows:

The bike did great on Slickrock Trail, Rodeo, Mustang, Whirlygig, and Easy Does it, as well as climbing Hymasa and Captain Ahab.

It was a bit overmatched descending Ahab, and generally in fast, downhill, square-edged chunk.

A set of 2.6 tires (at home in garage!) would have improved things in that regard, but still wouldn't have turned it into a Slash. Duh!

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. It would get my vote for One Bike Quiver, if I had to go that route, and two sets of wheels/tires were allowed.

You MIGHT change your mind once you get on the Fuel :D Oh boy does it up the fun factor! Try it with the 2.6 tires before you swap them. They work well with it. I haven't noticed a drop off in climbing, either.
 

nay

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I rode Doctor Park on Sat. Crested Butte and its surroundings (this trail is up Taylor Canyon accessed from Almont) continue to reshape my thinking about loop rides. Things seem simple enough in my mind reading reviews, but then you realize that these can be 20+ mile loops without shuttle. So we shuttled.

One of my sons’ roommates accessing parking lot climbing (pictured near the top).

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It’s about 35 mins to the top parking area from the base parking by 4WD at a good pace, with about 7-8 miles up the Spring Creek dirt road and then another 3 or so up the Doctor Gulch 4wd FS road. You have to cross Spring Creek to access Doctor Gulch.

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The 4wd road has some pretty steep pitch not pictured here near the top. This Sequoia’s bumper acquired some trail modification.

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Unloading up top you head about a mile through the forest to a clearing where the fun starts.

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The Western Colorado U mtb team runs this about once a week during the season, this was just for fun.

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It’s gonna be a long descent.

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The first couple miles are steep technical descent, leading to several miles of perfect pitch and contour flow. This why you came.

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It just goes on and on, necessitating some strategic breaks, and making you want to just go on forever.

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And then the exit is a series of steep, loose granite, switchbacks full of chunky rock garden down to the road.

And then we had to go back and get the shuttle trucks.

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On paper, the logistics aren’t worth it, but the rewards are sizable. Here’s the MTB Project writeup.

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/42669/doctor-park

Doctor Park is also featured in the 2019 mtb movie Return to Earth.
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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Here’s a POV of Doctor Park. At 6 minutes is the rowdiest part of the upper trail and then at 9-17:30 is the long killer flow. You know it’s good when you have to take a flow break. The last 3 mins are the steep technical dropout.

What a trail. I think all of me was sore the next day and we didn’t have more than 250’ of ascending.

 

Josh Matta

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The local High School has better trails than some entire states. Hardwick high school has extremely underrated trails and if your looking for an hour or two of riding after one of the bigger destinations I can nt imagine a better spot.


Very leafy again, riding in next years loam .
 

MT Skull

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It would blow your mind
The local High School has better trails than some entire states. Hardwick high school has extremely underrated trails and if your looking for an hour or two of riding after one of the bigger destinations I can nt imagine a better spot.


Very leafy again, riding in next years loam .
My stepmonster used to tutor at Hardwick. Ever ride Denny-land in Waitsfield? Some good trails on the outskirts of Montpelier too. Kind of short, but good for laps.
 

Josh Matta

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I havent ......and I have heard that Dennyland(Wu ledges) is actually just stupidly tight, like unfunly tight with tighter than modern handle bar choke points aka worthless. My guess is it barely get ridden anymore due to all the more modern trail popping up. I mean I might go document it, but its might be more like this why these trails suck.
 

Josh Matta

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looks like great dirt
 

Tom K.

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looks like great dirt

Oh yeah! We've had a lucky fall. Tons of rain two weeks ago to wet everything down, then........no precip since then, and none for the next 7 days. Living the good (dirt) life!
 

Josh Matta

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I havent rode @Erik Timmerman trail he maintains for a couple of years, got there and saw the reroute which included this pretty cool roller coaster that he and Mike Thomas built.


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Josh Matta

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From last week, this actually a very awkward jump but has a nice transition, its like combination drop/jump.

I love my local riding area as this stuff just pops ups sometimes from people modifying the trail to be more fun.

 

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