DH Biking

blacknife · #1 06-15-2010, 06:41 PM

5 years ago or so i worked in jasper all sumer, brought my 100$ walmart special hardball with me and rode it till it was dead. 3 years ago now i was working lots with no bills and got a good bike. It has not seen a mountain yet just little hills around town

hopefully ill change that this year.

trinac · #2 06-18-2010, 12:57 AM

Looks like next trip is this upcoming weekend (25th) to Golden again if anyone is interested in rippin. Well I am not sure I rip, but I do get both tires off of the ground! whoop! Going for some more air this time round!!

So, let me know if any of you want to meet us out there! Its a pretty good hill with runs for all skill levels. They also have a sushi restaurant right on the hill!!! yah! For non biker tag-a-longs, there's usually a farmers market up there on the Saturday, hiking, and a grizzly bear refuge, horseback riding etc.

We'll be at a campground somewhere, I think we are taking the motorhome this time. So, there's the camping option, hotelling, or motelling. We have stayed at the Selkirk Inn (or something like that), its pretty cheap, $89 a night plus tax.

Anyways.. off to Gypsy at Red for some delicious food and wine. If you know of this restaurant, I know how jealous you are right now!!!

fishytime · #3 06-18-2010, 01:37 AM

wow Trina.....you totally didnt strike me as the "danger Girly"type!

trinac · #4 06-18-2010, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishytime

wow Trina.....you totally didnt strike me as the "danger Girly"type!

I know! I am like a superhero! Boring Trina by weekday... super downhill biking extremist by weekend!! Chasing down one deer at a time, Doug... I do what I can you know... haha jk

Delphinus · #5 07-05-2010, 06:00 AM

Finally did some of the DH trails at Moose Mountain today. In case anyone's interested .. here's my trail report on the three runs I did (only had half a day to play).

Race of Spades - a nice long ride although one long uphill hike-a-bike section. If you're pushing a DH bike be ready to suck some wind. Structures are all of a "death is a plausible outcome" nature, however they are all bypassable. Trees are very narrow in and elbows and handlebars will likely bang into a few at speed. Great little trail, can't wait to do it again. Full body armor may not really be required depending on your skill level. The trail ends in Tom Snow which takes you back to the Station Flats parking lot and this is a typical XC/day hiking kind of trail. I did have a pretty epic wipeout right on Tom Snow, picked a bad line, flipped over the handlebars. Were I not wearing the armor I'd have hurt myself up pretty bad as I landed on a few rocks. But otherwise you shouldn't need the full body armor.

Tdub - a correctified name with homage to the original name, "T.W." for "That Whore." I was a little shocked at the name itself, and yeah, once you're on it, it's clear why it got that name. What a nasty trail. If you like the feeling of panic attacks and abject terror, this might be your trail. This would be a double-black, easily, at places like Whistler. I had no business being on this trail, and have no intentions to return anytime soon. I ended up walking quite a bit of it. It is unbelievably steep and loose and rocky in sections. In the middle it splits, if you go right you end up riding the ravine and I'm told it's all structures, not sure if bypassable or not, and rocks, lots and lots of rocks. If you stay left, it is a nice technical single track but still many drops and bumps. Rode by a 220lb black bear at the bottom of the trail. He was standing on his hind legs with one paw on a tree and watched me ride over the wooden table top (my one structure of the day, heh). He looked very casual in a "hey, how you doing" kind of way. Wish I could have snapped a picture of it because it was such a classic pose, but I didn't, BECAUSE THERE WAS A @#$()*!!!! BEAR 10 FEET AWAY FROM US!

Brakeless - a beauty of a singletrack that is over all too soon. Easily doable on a XC bike. At the bottom you have to pedal back to the parking lot along the highway. If I thought downhill biking could cause terror, it has nothing on highway riding. Road bikers are the real insane ones. Mountain biking - yeah, it can be scary but it's you, and your skill level, and the mountain. And the mountain doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is. On the other hand, every time someone passes, road bikers put an enormous amount of faith in complete strangers, those who would not even feel a thing as they drove over top of you, and are probably fiddling with an iPod, or makeup, or texting someone, or shouting at their kids or who knows. Yeah .. think I'll stick to mountain biking.

Had a pretty good revelation though. I do both XC and DH riding, it occurs to me that although you wouldn't think it, since it's downhill and usually you're using gravity to assist you, DH is easily way harder than XC. There were times I was so exhausted I had to get off the bike and sit at the side of the trail and wait to catch my breath. XC is all about the endorphins, DH is all about the adrenaline. Both are hugely rewarding IMO, as long as you don't get delusions of grandeur and stay within your skill level anyhow.

trinac · #6 07-05-2010, 09:01 PM

Sounds like you had quite the day!!

Thats awesome, and funny about the bear. I once thought a bear was coming for me, but it was the shadow of the gondola... haha I apparently have a healthy imagination, or need some medication.

I've just been to Kicking Horse the last two weekends. Nearly the whole mountain is open now. Going again this upcoming weekend, the weather is looking more favourable for the weekend... so THEY say. Weather forecasters...

haha. Hardly anyone has been out there this year. I'd say the next couple weekends would be great to take advantage of the whole mountain. Let me know if anyone is also going to head out there!

My favourite runs at KH right now are Superberm, Buffalo Jump, Hop A Long, and Showdown. Magic Carpet Ride is open now too... but it needs a bit of work. Showdown is probably the toughest of all of those for me, tight and steep berms, but I did the woodwork at the beginning this weekend! A lot of people skip it because on approach it appears the edge is a cliff. I had a couple spills this weekend as well, it was a bit muddy and I was going a bit faster than I should have on a rocky technical bit.

And finally figuring out how to do drops properly, rather than just pedaling and hoping for the best haha

Delphinus · #7 07-05-2010, 10:26 PM

The structures at Moose Mountain are all very ... um .. well, like I said, death is a plausible outcome if you make any errors on them. You definitely need to hone your skills in other places, all of these are fine if you can do them, but there's just no tolerance for errors for a blue rider like myself. I can do tables and the odd wooden structure, smallish drops if the landing gives me enough margin. My problem is if I try something, I need a few seconds of ... I'm not sure what to call it - "gloating" is not quite right, but a sort of "Oh wow! Holy moly! I lived! That was fun!" moment, but you get maybe 200ms at the speed you need to do these at before you're onto the next terrain challenge thrown at you.

I'm feeling it pretty bad today.

I'd love to join you at KH some day but I can't compete with you kidless folks and your oodles and oodles of free time on your hands.

It's half day adventures for me these days. KH is just too danged far away.

muck · #8 07-05-2010, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

If I thought downhill biking could cause terror, it has nothing on highway riding. Road bikers are the real insane ones. Mountain biking - yeah, it can be scary but it's you, and your skill level, and the mountain. And the mountain doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is. On the other hand, every time someone passes, road bikers put an enormous amount of faith in complete strangers, those who would not even feel a thing as they drove over top of you, and are probably fiddling with an iPod, or makeup, or texting someone, or shouting at their kids or who knows. Yeah .. think I'll stick to mountain biking.

Sounds like you had a good weekend Tony. Im one of those crazies...
I manged to get out last night on my skinny tires for a good 40+km ride of Frogger around Edmonton after the rain.

Delphinus · #9 07-05-2010, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muck

Sounds like you had a good weekend Tony. Im one of those crazies...
I manged to get out last night on my skinny tires for a good 40+km ride of Frogger around Edmonton after the rain.

I was thinking of you as I rode the highway. Seriously dude, that is just nuts hearing morons approach at >100kph with their tires touching the rumble strips and I'm all "at what point do I just dive into the ditch so I can stay alive?" for each and every one of them. And it's at best 400-500m from trail's end back to where I had parked for that shuttle run. I can't imagine >40km of sharing the road like that. I'm sticking with mountain biking!!!