Ryan Taylor has been working hard to get a bike park opened up in WNC for some time now and it will be happening this summer. Last year he held a pretty successful race up there. I won the pro class and it was one of my finer accomplishments. I should have won it consider who wasn’t there but you still have to race fast and get down the mountain faster than everyone else. So I consider it my biggest accomplishment to date. I’m actually kind of scared to do it again this year. It is much harder to be expected to win and do, rather than sneaking up on everyone’s radar.

Last year’s race

Geritt at Sea Otter…

Lastnight 8 hearty souls set off on an adventure into the unknown. Where would we go? Could we ride it? How far can you trust your mtn. goat skills? How much mud can you handle?

Some of us really enjoyed it. It wasn’t for everyone.

This was a total pirate XC/DH shuttle in Windrock down Trail 7, to Trail 3, to Rail Trail, to Trail 39. To cap things off we took a run down Startin S*!t to Snkaerock, to Road Gap. Hitting the road gap with a camelbak, XC lid, and no armor was awesome.

Last evening Loo and I rode the new Walden Ridge trail. With all the work that Brian Poston did yesterday I’d say we are close to 3 miles out and 3 back. The ride in is mostly all climbing and in sections its tough. Its steep, but its also tech. Its a balancing act literally. You have to carry enough speed, but not too much to loose your line. You have to mash through rock sections that you might find easier to walk through. I found myself getting excited that I was cleaning climbing sections like they were DH sections. This trail requires a different commitment than the other trails in our area. You have to pump and find a flow that doesn’t come easy. But when you commit and find it, it is rewarding. This is what I got in to mountain biking for. I guess that I have gotten bored with Haw, Norris, Concord, and IC King. Don’t get me wrong, I like to ride those places and they serve a tremendous purpose and are very rewarding in there own right. But they are for the masses and I have never liked to always do what the masses have. I remember when we used to ride Saddle, Lone, Walden, BSF and even Windrock. Those were our weekend rides which we looked forward to all week. I sort of lost sight of all those awesome places so close to home. Its good to find them again.

I’d like to see if anyone can clean the whole climb in. I’d say it is doable, but by someone way more skilled and stronger than me. I’d like to see it for sure.

Well, trail work on the new Walden Ridge trail has been continuing. This past Sunday Ben, Mark, Brian Hhann, Jeff, Chris, Zak, and Josh Turner all showed up for a super productive day of trail building. We completed another mile of trail. That totals the completed length to 2.2 miles. I hope to get out there this afternoon for a ride. The trail is going to be tough to ride and not dab. I will be the first to admit, that if I’m not going downhill my skills on a bike are weak. I just try to carry as much speed as possible and blast through tech sections. That can’t always work on this trail. I am going to have to work on slower speed tech.

On Saturday there was a pretty good session out at Windrock. Since I had such a good DH race training session on Wednesday last week, I used Saturday to goof off and work on reinforcing my technique. I plan on another Wednesday blow out training effort.

Wyatt has been so good in the mornings. He is so happy and very talkative. He has started to vocalize in a manner that isn’t cooing nor crying. It sounds like a loud yell. Its pretty funny.

I took Monday off and tonight I am planning an out and back at Walden.
Tomorrow is Windrock.
Thursday I am planning some DJing with Corey.
Friday Meghann, Wyatt and I are planning a trip to Roan Mtn State Park. I hope to meet up with some guys from Boone to do some great singletrack in NC.
Sunday evening I will probably get a small route in at Haw.

Had some incredible runs at WR last night with Loo, Ben, and Matt.

The new Walden Ridge…