This is what I do on Thursdays (Mountain Bike Content, and Mountain Bike Thread)

[sunvalleylaw]

Mountain Biking. This is my main summer activity. It is my guys' group, . . . my tribe. Where I go to hoot an holler. Spud came with my last week as you know if you read the weekend thread.

I rode this tonight, with these same guys. (Sun Summit South shop ride out of Hailey, ID). This vid was 3 years ago before it burned in the fires of late 2007 that we had up here. But it is back open and riding great!!!! There is a big climb before you get to this point. This vid is from the top. I am the guy in the blue jersey at the top before we ride. (not the blue jersey you see later on, I am behind the camera once we are rolling.)

WARNING: There could be a couple f-words dropped in the first couple minutes of the vid in case you might be offended. Please turn down the sound until we start riding if you are, cause I would like you to see this.





This is so much fun, and these guys are like my brothers. After this ride was over, we had a campfire, roasted brats, drank beers under the stars, and laughed. It was so much fun. Within a week, a lightning strike a bit west of this point caught the whole thing on fire. (See here: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=3922 )
I am glad we were able to be back out there again.

Here is a pic of me, enjoying the Thursday night experience.
http://crankandcarve.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=91788054

Who else loves to mountain bike and can share some pics, vids or stories of what they ride, with whom, etc.?

 

[NWBasser]

Oh yeah!

Hey Steve, I love mountain biking too!

Haven't done SV yet, but I just got back from the Canadian Rockies and have ridden Park City, UT, Bend, OR, Whistler, Boulder City, NV, Lake Tahoe and San Diego, CA, and of course all over Washington. In 2004 I did a guided trip around and through the Canadian Rockies which was a total blast.

I'd love to get over there to ride the Sun Valley trails. Our local mt. bike club usually does a trip over there every year, but I haven't made that one yet.

I have Titus Switchblade that sees most of the action and an old Voodoo hardtail for light-duty use.

My son is six years old and just got him started into mt. biking and he loves it too. Our family did a number of fun rides in Banff Nat. Park during our vacation up there recently.

I'll have to watch your video when I get home from work. I really dig those helmet cam vids.

 

[Tig]

Ah, now we're talkin'! I love XC riding more than almost anything else. Sad to hear about the fire at that trail. I sometimes take my Dad (he's 77) out on some of the easier trails across the state. He says our times together riding are the highlights of his visits.

I miss riding the longer epic trails that require a good drive to get to. That was what made racing fun... The exposre to all the good trails in the state. We have several local trails that are super tight and roller coaster-ish for fun.

Here are a few vid's I found of Jack Brooks Park trails down near Galveston. We built a 6 mile loop in the trees and rollers where a WWII fort once was. Some of the TTF's are shown. The trails are above average in tecnical challenge thanks to the roots, so the woman in the first video must be pretty good.



More TTF's. (the park requires them to be low, or have a friggin' hand rail if they are high :mad )


A longer vid of the up-down-up-down natural trail sections... Bar ends love to snag trees here, its so tight.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Cool Tig! We don't really have many man made features around here. A couple bridges and fish ladders here and there but that is about it. I have a couple beams and some little features made out of old construction wood laying around in a vacant portion of our yard, low enough that you can fall off without getting hurt. But I have to confess, I am not into big air or riding very high off the ground. Steep is ok though.

NWB, (or anyone else for that matter) by all means come out either with your group or otherwise. I can hook you up with lots of good rides. This place has really, really nice single track all over the place. It is definitely cross country oriented, generally involves some climbing (often an hour to an hour and a half up, then down, or other rides are more of a mix), and like I said, is more regular dirt trail than feature oriented. I have enjoyed Moab and also had fun in Bend on a few rides. I am from Western WA, and used to ride Capitol Forest, Tahuya, up by Crystal, Elbe Hills, and a few other spots back in the day. The riding here is superior to WA in my mind by far, and at leat equivalent to but different to Bend and Moab.

My bike, pictured in action above at the link, is a Gary Fisher Sugar 29er. I love it! Spud road a Voodoo when he came over a couple weeks ago. There are a coupe Titus frames around in the group too!

 

[Spudman]

Some Thursdays start out easy like this one.

Then after grinding away on the trail, a short break at the top of a climb is usually in the cards...

...but no matter what, they all usually end up like this. :beer: :thumbsup

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Sheesh Spud, we need a pic or two with you in it!! That one with you in the green shirt just doesn't show your good side. (the gentleman in the green shirt is a nice guy who tours the country riding and hooked up with us for the night. It is not Spud.).


Here is one more vid of one of the local trails close to town. I ride this one at lunch sometimes.


I am not in this one. This is a late season, October type ride based on how dry everything is. Shot about a year after the fires.



Here is Spud when he came over to ride a year or two back, on a ride I can see from my house in Hailey. One of the town rides in Hailey.

 

[Spudman]

Sheesh Spud, we need a pic or two with you in it!!

Bring your friggen camera then...and try to keep up too. :yum :rollover

 

[Eric]

This is kind of interesting to me. I tried mountain biking for a few years, but have since given up and sold my bike. I just couldn't get the hang of constantly jumping over rocks and fallen trees while going on sizable hills (either uphill or downhill). However, the video you showed looks a lot more reasonable than some of the trails around here, which have TONS of rocks, roots, and logs blocking the path.

I guess my point is that I'm kind of surprised to see the video and how not-impossible the trails look. It's easier to understand it as an enjoyable hobby when I see your videos.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

The first vids I posted are pretty steep downhill, and the trail was a bit loose and rocky, after a pretty tough uphill. But usually, you are not dealing with getting over too many logs or having to go over large rocks. I have gone on a lot of those rides too, and I usually stop and lift my bike over logs that are large enough to hit my chain ring. We have some roots too, but not as many as in Washington, or the area Tig was showing. Very nice biking!

 

[Spudman]

This is kind of interesting to me. I tried mountain biking for a few years, but have since given up and sold my bike. I just couldn't get the hang of constantly jumping over rocks and fallen trees while going on sizable hills (either uphill or downhill).

The best technical riders I've ridden with were from Pennsylvania. They really get the handling down for just the reasons you mentioned...plus they were pretty buff too from all that front end handlebar work. I learned a lot from riding with them.

 

[Tig]

It is rare to see how super steep trails are from a video or photo, hence the often used "STIL" acronym (steeper than it looks).

Check out the last few seconds of this race video at the Waco course. It is a really cool twisting descent that you can fly full speed, no brakes down.

This takes you there directly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyiJhYgqKfQ#t=3m38s

I found an old video of my favorite race venue in Central Texas, where the climbs are real enough to host a NORBA National a few times, Tapatio Springs. The section at 1:45 is so steep, I've actually thrown up while on the bike there, mid race! uke:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyiJhYgqKfQ#t=3m38s