Today's Ride

Had a Free-bee, so I decided to ride the lift @ Stevens today. I really do enjoy climbing, so the lift assist made it feel like a "half-assed" day. Nonetheless, this park has come a long way in 3 yrs. There is now a little bit of everything for everyone. They have some sweet rental bikes, so if you're in the Seattle area and want to check it out, it's an easy day trip.

Sweet video.

JONG time: I'm starting to realize what a downhill bike park is.  I think my ride at the ski bowl the other day, or maybe the last time I went was my first and only ride in a park.  So much effort is taken to remove and create obstacles that flow.

Not sure my own trails will ever be that polished. But at only 2 miles maybe that is a good thing.

Saturday's super blood moon date night ride: 10 miles on the D&L Trail into the setting sun from Slatington to Lehighton with a stop for beers and perogies (sauted in butter and  mmmmmmbacon!!!!) at Red Castle Brew Pub



then back down to slatington under the full moon



I need to work on my moon picture taking slilz as none of the shots do any justice to the awesome moon reflecting off the river and dodging in and out of the trees.

Found these biker chicks in the woods.  Pine Hill, VT.

Rode some lifts for the first time ever yesterday, went to Killington. The crew who built Whistler's bike part is doing some work there and DAMN is it fun. Unfortunately no pics.

But that didn't feel like quite enough workout, so I headed up Moxham last night (this morning?) for another view.

tBatt wrote

Moxham

T... How much of that trail can you ride from trailhead to summit? What parcel (Wild Forest?) is that Moxham in?

Nice photo.

On the way up, I probably rode half and walked half. On the way down, there was one maybe 100 ft stretch that I walked. And one place I scorpioned.

I have no idea what the parcel/zone it's in.

I hiked it for the first time last week with a friend and kept thinking how much fun it would be to ride. But it had to be soon otherwise the leaves would make it a bit too greasy. Last night it was! well, technically, this morning. Shot was at 4:36 am.

Moxham's in Vanderwhacker WF.

Even thought it's a WF unit, I don't know how legal that is to ride.

MikeK wrote

Moxham's in Vanderwhacker WF.

Even thought it's a WF unit, I don't know how legal that is to ride.

Only illegal if you get caught

Based on that picture, doubtful he would... but it's something to be aware of.  It may be perfectly legal?  I really don't know how the DEC decides what is OK and what isn't in the WF units.  Almost everything that I know of is bike friendly... doesn't mean it's friendly or fun to ride, but you won't get a ticket for it.

It's still early fall here in the Saratoga area.  Late afternoon is a beautiful time to ride.

This one is called The Short & Curly's.  Just over 40 miles with about 6600 ft of climbing.  Very little flat... mostly ascending and descending.  At mile 30, you hit the valley floor, having climbed 3600 ft over this descent.  When you realize there is another 3000 ft of climbing to get home, it feels like you just took a swift kick in The Short & Curly's.


Down by the river... This is where the ride gets its name

The leaves really started hitting our trails over the weekend.  It went from scary fast to just plain scary!

I rode my skinny cross bike at West Bay yesterday and I felt like I was riding on ice at times... every camber I was wondering when I was going to slip down the fall line into a gully.

I rode the same trail system the previous Thursday with the same bike and tires and it was absolutely the best riding I've done all year.

I'm hoping it dried up Friday and Saturday and I can get a couple rides in.  Not sure where yet...

Although I haven't done much bike riding this summer I made up for it in spades today. I thought I was going going to a Salsa demo at Buckwallow, our local MTB centre, but it turned that that there was a whole more going on. Like all-you-could-eat burgers, fresh cut fries and salad. There also were bikes there from Santa Cruz, Trek, Intense, Knolly, Norco, Pivot and a few others I can't remember.

Here is the scene that greeted me:
 

There was a whole rack of bikes made from Unobtanium. Sadly, the Santa Cruz bikes were all in large sizes:


The fat bikes were constructed of the finest Cantaffordium composites:


Everything stopped when the Red Bull truck drove in. Apparently it is a WW 2 vintage German body stuck onto a Ford F150 chassis (EDIT: turns out it is Volvo Sugga, and Red Bull has several of them). Whatever, they put up speakers, played annoying loud music, went riding and did not hand out any free Red Bull. A pox upon them:


My goal was to ride a Salsa Pony Rustler, with 27.5+ tires, and I was not disappointed. This bike rules. It is like the 95 mm waisted ski, fat enough but not too fat. I was impressed with how quick and responsive it was, combined with a plush ride that rolled over everything. The more athletic in the group commented on how well it climbed, and I found that the top-of-the-line lightweight carbon build (including the rims) made it easy to push up the tough stuff. It was definitely the most-ridden bike of the day and everyone returned it wearing an enormous shit-eating grin:


Just to be fair, I sought out a standard 27.5" bike and ended up on a Trek Fuel EX. This baby blue $6K trail slayer would be an awesome choice for most MTBers that want the full squish but don't really need the fatness. Having ridden a few 29ers, I found the 27.5 easier to deal with as a short guy. My impression was somewhat dulled by the flat pedals they put on for me, some cheap slippery plastic things:


Going back to fat-land, I had to try a Bucksaw, Salsa's full suspension fatbike. Until I tried the Pony Rustler, I had thought this would be my next bike. Super fun, but as TD would say, a quiver bike. The more versatile Pony Rustler could be a one-bike quiver for me:


I was joined on this ride by my buddy The Peelstickah, who got to wrench his own pedals onto the carbon Beargrease with a very sexy paint job:


The last bike I tried was the Norco Revolver, a full-on 29er XC race bike. Nice bike but not for me. And not the best bike to try at the end of the day when your ass hurts because you haven't been riding enough. Kind of like demoing the team-issue slalom skis for last run. Fast, though:


I should take a minute to give a big shout-out to the Salsa dudes, who spent a lot of time with every rider, setting up the bike, tuning the shocks, adjusting the saddle height and making sure that you were comfy on the bike. If you go to a Salsa demo, you will be treated well by Minnesotan hipsters:


On top of all that, the sky cleared and we were blessed with a lovely late fall day. There were riders from all sides of planet bike: lycra race weenies to techy fat bike nerds to the guy in sweat pants and running shoes having his mind blown.  Nice way to start and end my own bike riding season!

nice report and some sweet rides! Your pedal comments somewhat surprised me though , that's like not bringing your boots to demo skis

gorgonzola wrote

nice report and some sweet rides! Your pedal comments somewhat surprised me though , that's like not bringing your boots to demo skis

Fair point, but it wouldn't be much of an investment to have some half-decent demo pedals for a demo booth. One would think that the pedal suppliers would want to help in this regard. I did have my bike there so could have used my own pedals, except I was lazy. The Salsa guys set a high bar by having a bin full of nice 45NRTH flat pedals, not to mention at least one of every other clipless pedal known to man. To be fair, the Norco booth had half decent flats but the big booth with the most bikes had pretty sad pedals. On top of that, the dude there blamed my shoes when I pointed out the slippery pedals. Trust me, my bike shoes are very grippy.

I had such a good time skating today I might be on a single plank sometime this winter!

https://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xaf1/t50.2886-16/12143827_1709964669238339_1504899616_n.mp4

Very fun. ML, do you ride a longboard? If I lived in a city I would have one.

Generally cool and wet weather over the past few days, with snow above 4 thousand ft, made for better riding down low.  The sage brush desert surrounding town makes for great shoulder season MTB riding.  There are very few trees in this zone, so bright sunshine makes things feel much warmer.  The spot is called the Sage Hills.  One of a few trail systems in Wenatchee that are accessible from the Western edge of town.  

Tons of different options here.  From wife friendly cruising to fast technical descents, the majority of the tread is smooth efficiently laid out single-track

There was a major fire here this year.  This is right at the edge of town, so the shit got pretty crazy.  To the right (just outside of the frame) are 30 foundations of houses that were lost.  In the distance, a vast area of high desert called the Waterville Plateau.  

First time night ridin'.