Tonight after work I decided to go for a ride with Rob and Cory. We actually arranged the ride on NSMB on a BB. 4:45pm after work we all met at the parking area to try our hand at The Gate, Blood Donor, Giant Killer, Snakes and Ladders and finally Shotgun. I was the last to arrive so I quickly geared up once I parked my car. Upon exiting my car I saw a few people I recognized (Rob from MR Cycle with a crew (3) ladies). One of the women walked up to me inquiring if it was me that built the new stuff on Snakes and Ladders. I told her that it was and she immediately went on about how much she loves the trail since we have been building on the trail. She was really excited to try the drop the next time she is up there.
It's crazy, it has only been 2 days since we finished the drop and a bunch of people already know about it and are eager to have a spin on the new drop.
It's crazy, it has only been 2 days since we finished the drop and a bunch of people already know about it and are eager to have a spin on the new drop.
So we started on our way up the hill kind of discussing things on the way up. It had been quite some time since I last rode with Cory so it was nice to catch up on things. Once at the clear cut, we geared up and rode down to The Gate. It had been raining really hard the last few days, so all the woodwork had a layer of green slippery slime. The Gate is not a trail that you want to ride if you do not like log rides. The trail has recently seen some improvements by some of the local builders and was in much better shape than expected.
At the bottom of the trail, there is a longer elevated log ride to a teeter totter. At the highest point, I would say that you are 12-15 feet in the air. I had not ridden the trial in more than a year (Feb 03) and had never done the famous teeter totter. Tonight was not my night. Near the end of the log, there is a tree that can clip your bars just before the teeter, well I clipped it and almost took a big dive from 12 feet. Luckily I remained composed, put my foot quickly down and decided to walk away.
So next we made our way over to Blood Donor. A growing favorite on the hill. A tone of new woodwork has made this trial a flowing blast from top to bottom with a few technically challenging stunts. Rob finally did the gap jump at the bottom of Blood Donor (good on ya Rob).
Then Giant Killer. A continued favorite of mine. I aired the gap again at the bottom.
Then it was over to Snakes and Ladders. The trail is really flowing well right now. With the new drop complete (minus the approach), it is really nice to ride what you build yourself. I did the drop (although it is not as big a thing as it may seem) and ripped the rest of the trail. At the 2nd rock face section, I did the outside left line down the rock. It has a ton of exposure on the left but is really a sweet line to come down the rock on. We then all rode down Shotgun and out to the cars.
No major spills and no major mechanicals although Cory did snap a derailure cable and I bent a disk rotor.
Until the next ride......
