Au Naturale

Tim had called me a few days earlier to see if I would like to hit The Woodlot for a ride or build or a combination of the two today. Early morning, back around noon......what was I to say to my buddy that I had not seen in months.

So Tim picked me up at 6:30a.m. sharp with a couple Tango Hotel XLDD's in hand:one for me and one for Nikki. We loaded my bike into his VW Transporter and off to The Woodlot it was.

At this time of day we were assured to be the first on the hill. The weather was sweet. There was a tiny bit of thin morning cloud that would burn off in the morning heat, the ground was slightly moist from the rain was had a few days earlier, the bikes were all tuned up and things were all in order.....basically all was well in the universe.

We started our climb up the hill and decided what trails we were going to hit and our route on the way up. We decided that we would simply make our way to the top of Snakes and Ladders, make our way to where we are building and hammer out some sweet flowing single track. As we passed by Quick Hit I had a look at the trail to see if anything needed attention and as it turns out there was a rather large tree down across the trail. It will need to be taken out if the trail is to be ridden anymore.

So up to the top or Snakes and Ladders it was. I was in a bit of a climbing mood. I was able to climb on my Heckler all the way up the logging skidder road to the turn off to Snakes and Ladders.

Once rolling on Snakes, I had a hoot shadowing Tim on the woodwork, jumps and single track. The vibe was alive. At the build area we rolled up to where I had done some work the last time I was there, found the tools and got to work. Tim worked on buffing the end of what I had worked on and I worked on the beginning. Within a short time we had about 40 feet of super buff dialed single track. Then it was time to work on a tricky section that involved bracing, rock work and dirt work. I went further down to work on the next section off trail. The key to making new trail is a mattock and hard work. I used the mattock to remove all the duff and get down to dirt on what is turning out to be an absolutely wicked flowing line.

Tim DIALED his section and I got mine to 90% dialed and then it was time to pack up and head out. With the progress we made today and if we continue at this pace, we 'should' be done in no time at all......at least this initial cut and dial of this line.







We each rode the new line twice and then rode out to the bottom and off to Shotgun. Once again we played our cat and mouse on Shotgun.....soo much fun. At Tim's VW we talked a bit about when we can get back up here to do it all again and then headed back to my place. Absolutely wicked au naturale build and wicked ride.