We started off the month by spending the weekend of the 4th in Salida/BV with Glenn and Rachel. They are always so welcoming and flexible, which is so nice. We were treated to two new rides; Vitamin D and Cottonwood Creek. Vitamin D is now one of my top 5 favorite trails. We also rode Green's Creek off of the Crest, which is always a treat. (Sorry for the lack of pictures ... we were always on the go and didn't have time)
My next stop was Breckenridge for a conference on the Environment and Economics. VERY stimulating. Although I was in class all day I had a chance to ride two of the afternoons and managed to beat the afternoon showers. I ended up on the Peaks trail that runs from Breck to Frisco on one afternoon and Lars took me out on the second (I have no idea where we went, but it was fun). I have a new found appreciation for Breck after that conference and was able to see some of the issues I learned about on my ride with Lars.
Next, Jeff picked me up in Breck and we headed to Winter Park for a long weekend. We had such a great time camping, riding, and soaking in the hot springs. The first day we ventured to Sol Vista for a day of lift access. A couple of Jeff's friends from back in the day when he used to race run the place and have built some amazing trails. We ended up with 20 runs and I felt pretty worked. The runs are pretty short, but include really well built table tops, gap jumps, and sweet corners. Tons of flow. DH offers a pretty quick measurement for improving. It's great to do the same trail a couple of times in row as I will ride more, go faster, or jump higher.
The next day we rode out to Fraiser for come XC. Our goal was to hook up trails that would take us back to Winterpark. We ended up with a long day in the saddle and a lot of road riding. Our map was a couple years old, but we thought it would work. We ended up kind of frustrated. Winterpark calls it self "The Mountain Bike Capital of the USA," but I think Crested Butte or Durango deserve that classification. Nonetheless I was tired and deserved a soak in the hot springs.
We concluded our trip with another day of lift access at Winterpark, which was AMAZING. The runs are longer than Sol Vista and we rode half as many, but it was awesome. Winterpark seems to be designed for the intermediate/semi-advanced rider who will interested and willing to take risks, but wants to feel some success. There was always a little more challenge to be had, but I felt pretty good about what I rode. Toward the end of the day a thunderstorm rolled in and the lifts closed a few times. We ended up on one of the last chairs up and it started to pour. We took a pretty challenging tail down consisting of quite a few rocks and roots which were slippery, but I managed to stay on... until I got to a relatively small wall ride. I remembered thinking that the faster I went the more likely I would stay on the bike and not slip off. So, I let go of my breaks. I ended up higher than I had been all day long and at the very end my tires slipped out and slid down the trail. I wasn't that hurt, but a little shook up. Laughing mostly because I realized one of my fears concerning wall rides.
0 comments:
Post a Comment