Mountain Biking 2020

[nay]

Transfer to stage 2 is a couple mile grinder - this is brutal when it’s hot as there’s no breeze in here.

The stage is called White Knuckle and it’s a rager down a ATV torn up FS road called Firebox. You have to swing between high and low lines at speeds exceeding 30 mph to ride this competitively.

This sharp corner signals the steeper drop into the heart of the stage.

 

[nay]

Transfer to stage 3, Mike’s Night Out, which starts out with a lot of pedaling across the ridge and then is a screamer gulch drop through narrow sage singletrack and a very loose chute at the very end.

First the transfer...

The start...

The final chute section, too loose in here to use heavy brakes.

 

[nay]

A mostly flat transfer to stage 4, World’s Greatest and Elmers. There is a lot of desert chalk and moon dust in here as the descent continues, and the brake bumps are dug into potholes and ruts that you just have to rip through.

The moon dust is real.

Sweet relief before race day.

And back to the top to get the shuttle vehicles.

 

[nay]

Race day - drop 3 miles from camp to the start, check in, turn around and ride 12 miles up to stage 1, and drop.

Check out my mask and race shirt coordination.

And...I was fast, for me, but not for this race. The 13-14 boys age group winner would have almost won this race last year and beat a bunch of the pro class. Winner was by 19/100th of a second, a racer from Colorado State. I was a total hack by comparison, but then is a 4 mile downhill leg in 11 minutes slow?

I live getting these readouts - I beat 2 racers and 3 DNF.

Next up: two day race in Steamboat with 9 legs. I am in way over my head, but I got a lot faster over this weekend. So freaking cool.

 

[AmyPJ]

Wow @nay, that's impressive and is no ride through the park, for sure! 12 miles of climbing??

 

[Doug Briggs]

It certainly has been dusty. But we did get some rain Sunday night and Monday.

From my Sunday ride. The (in)famous West Ridge starting with Galena Ditch. Just over 2K vertical over 16 miles. The vast majority of the vertical (1.4K) is continuous and right after the CT/CD junction with the NFotS (shown below).

Galena Gulch to Colorado Trail - West Ridge Mountain Bike Trail, Keystone, Colorado

Excellent singletrack riding with a balance of contoured flume riding, climbing and sweet descents! Near Keystone, Colorado.

www.mtbproject.com

The old dredge boat at the Dredge TH.

A deer on Rock Island Road. The Galena Ditch crosses this nasty bit of road.

The junction of the CT and CD (Colorado Trail and Continental Divide Trail) at the North Fork of the Swan.

Guyot and Baldy.

Some strangers helped my scenic shot by riding through it.

An 8 am start was almost early enough to beat the masses that show up later in the day. As before at this TH, there were almost no cars when we arrived and overflow on the road when we were done. People are getting out more than in other years.

 

[nay]

Wow @nay, that's impressive and is no ride through the park, for sure! 12 miles of climbing??

Yep. 26 miles and about 14 total are climbing. 12 to get to Stage 1.

Here’s a fun video recap. Amazingly, I am not featured. A lot of stoke to actually “race” something like this. 4:15 total time start to finish for my group. Axel (my son) was 8 mins faster than me, and he is pretty damn fast, which scored him 127 out of 145.

 

[4ster]

Feeling very summerlike lately...

 

[nay]

Back on the bike with my youngest son. I’m definitely a lot faster after last weekend. He was feeling faster in his new full helmet - Giro Switchblade with the chin guard off. Still a bit hot for that much helmet for not a pure downhill ride.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Managed to do something right today. Felt pretty decent going uphill, not great going down, just trying to stay in balance and keep my hands alive for a 15 minute downhill.

 

[Decreed_It]

Haven't been on the forums in a while, in fact since we threw in the towel on Telluride - called it 1 hr before flight time on Friday, March 13th. I believe the following day CO shut it down. Since then, been on the Peloton a ton and it sure has improved my road and mountain biking. Here's a few shots of a Pisgah trip over Father's Day weekend. It's somewhat of a MTB Mecca, even folks will come from out west to ride here . You meet folks from all over the world.

Day 1 we hit a big loop out in Mills River, NC - not Pisgah proper but good stuff. Day 2 - Dupont State Forest which is also superb, and also not Pisgah proper - excellent nonetheless. Trail pics are from Dupont was too busy either sucking wind or trying not to die on descents Day 1 . This was the aftermath tho:

A favorite spot in Dupont:

Nice view for back east . . . Blue Ridge. Not Smokies - they're in TN

Well it ain't skiing but the stoke is pretty close.

Popular selfie spot

The whip - don't see many of these out here.

 

[Tom K.]

The whip - don't see many of these out here.

View attachment 106498

Turner FTW!

Sultan? 5-Spot?

 

[Decreed_It]

Turner FTW!

Sultan? 5-Spot?

Flux 3.0 - 27.5 - rock shox Pike RCT3 140mm up front, Cane Creek DBInline rear (120mm), dropper post . This was a post season demo buy at a killer discount. 2x10 XT group, Thomson, race face, great build all around. Last thing, might put carbon wheels on it but honestly, these Stan's are fine, I don't know if I could even tell.

Sadly looks like Turner is out of the MTB business altogether, so if this frame ever breaks on me, that'll be the end of it.

 

[Ron]

Next up: two day race in Steamboat with 9 legs. I am in way over my head, but I got a lot faster over this weekend. So freaking cool.

when is there DH race at the Boat? If you come up, please let me know.

 

[AmyPJ]

Humor in today’s ride was when we were coming down some swoopy switchbacks when I suddenly felt like something was biting my shoulder blade. God forbid I stop because I hate stopping, so I tried to grab my shirt and yank it with one hand to no avail. I finally stopped and did karate chop moves with some animated language. Got home and sure enough, something decided I was a tasty bite for lunch!

 

[Philpug]

Humor in today’s ride was when we were coming down some swoopy switchbacks when I suddenly felt like something was biting my shoulder blade. God forbid I stop because I hate stopping, so I tried to grab my shirt and yank it with one hand to no avail. I finally stopped and did karate chop moves with some animated language. Got home and sure enough, something decided I was a tasty bite for lunch!

So...what was it?

 

[BS Slarver]

Mountain to meadow trail yesterday in sub 50minutes for a personal best.
For those who have skied here, you leave the resort parking lot and climb almost to the top of ram charger before descending the luge run to town center

 

[AmyPJ]

So...what was it?

No idea. Horse fly maybe?

 

[nay]

when is there DH race at the Boat? If you come up, please let me know.

Revolution Enduro Aug 8/9. Will def let you know, we are signed up for the race.

steamboat-colorado-enduro-2020 | Revolution Enduro

Race 2 of Revolution Enduro takes place in Steamboat Springs Colorado. This is a two day race August 8 and 9, 2020.

revolutionenduro.com

 

[nay]

The youngest ripping today. Getting him off the brakes and moving dynamically is unleashing the beast.

I’m riding too, apparently. Got love the race faces.