Case 8/32/9

So,

The phone pinged and shook around 8 am with a text from Tim that the ride was still on and we are meeting at 10m at Line Street. I still had my shorts and T-shirt on from last night as... as I got home a touch after 3am.. and hand a bit too many Rum and Cokes. Needless to say I looked out the window and begged for rain.

Then I got up.

So we met up at 10am, and hit the trails. We went right up to the stunt trails and started messing around with stuff. We hit the first stunt and bumped into another rider, whom ended staying with us for the entire ride.

Tim's pals and this new guy.. wow.. some amazing shit.. really. Jaw dropping.. going up rocks that you wouldn't think you could climb up, never mind on a bike. Amazing.

I have to say watching these guys was a blast... very very friendly and easy to get along with as well. They offered tons of pep talk as well as tips and tricks on how to do some of the most trivial stuff a guy like me was doing.. well.. trying to do

Anyhow, the best part of the stunt trail is the fact that there at stunts for every level of rider, everywhere. Only one place that I can recall today had nothing for my level to work on, we stayed there for 10 minutes. I found TONS of stuff to play and practice on... all of it was challenging, even after I made it.. and continued to session them to skill up! Awesome ride today.

Myself, I am very glad that I hit several rollers a good half dozen times each as well as a couple of insane up and overs. Insane is relative to my skill set.. keep that in mind here . I sessioned them while the gang was doing flips and leaping from rock to rock about 80 or 100 feet away.

Tim will throw up some pics later.. I think he has a few good ones as well.

I snapped the pic of the sick as rock he went up.. I'll let him tell the story... and the reason behind the new nickname of 'Fire Starter'.. lol..

Time to eat... and probably pass right out... lol

Where to start……….Oh ya, I am so F’g sore & tired right now. This type of stunt ride really takes a lot out of you!


I am going to ramble on in no particular order. First off Jamie, Eric and Dave( the guy that joined our group) were all killing it. They really did some amazing stuff. Dave hit something I still don’t know how to describe, but it was one of the most bad ass things I have personally seen on a bike. I will try to write something up on his feet of awesome-ness later.

Trev started out a little slow, needed to work on some basics of getting up things. But with some advice from Jamie and some practice he started cooking. If he wasn’t hitting the stunt we were all sessioning he was off hitting something else close by that he felt more comfortable on. Once he got something he would do it about 4 more times to make sure it stuck. Then try hitting it in the reverse direction. He was really pushing his limits out there, and cleaned some things I couldn’t last season. Not to shabby for a guy that’s been riding a whole four months. Way to go Trev! He is already planning how we can work a short loop into the stunt trail on our next ride at Case.

My goal for today was to clean a slew of things that I tried and failed on last year when I rode with these guys. I am very happy to say mission accomplished. I also worked up the nerve to do some things I didn’t think I had in me. The first hair raising thing I did was a really tricky up and down. The up was a bunch of rocks piles together to make a narrow wobbly bridge, you then had to pop a wheelie and ride up a 12” steep, then down a steep roller. The roller was hard because you had to turn while riding down it so you didn’t smack right into a rock in the trail. Eric (Hawaiian shirt guy) went first and failed. It was my turn and I really wanted to make this before Eric. No luck, I couldn’t navigate the last step. The Jamie and Dave went and both made it look easy. Eric and I both tried again and both failed. He went again and failed, and on my 3rd try I got it. It took him 5 tries. So what if the guy can pedal kick from rock to rock. I beat him on this one 

The next stunt that was pretty crazy by my standards is what I am now calling ‘Fire Starter Rock’ after my new nick name ‘Fire Starter’….Good nick name Trev! Anyway, as you will see in the pics I will post later, this stunts is a large rock roller. The side you ride up is very steep and has a really sucky line. I am not sure what got into me but I decided that I was going to try this crazy thing. I got in position looking straight ahead at what looked like a 5 foot high vertical wall that I was going to crash into. On my first attempt my front wheel didn’t even make it to the top lip, if Trev wasn’t spotting me things could have gotten ugly. Thanks for having my back! I tried again and pretty much the same result. Next try I use a much higher gear so I could get more speed on the approach. This time my font wheel made it over the lip but I stalled and had to put my feet down. The next couple of tries I made it all the way up the thing but kept putting my foot down at the top. It was a total mental thing. The next attempt was the one that gave me my new nick name. As I rode up the rock face I didn’t have me pedals level, and my right pedal scraped the rock face the entire way up. Magnesium pedals do a funny thing when they have extended contact with rock. They shoot off streams of sparks and flame. My pedal also left a 4 foot long black scar up the rock face. I was getting pretty spent trying to get this stunt. But I wasn’t leaving until I got it. Trev had the great idea of getting the camera out hoping that the added pressure would give me the last push I needed….and it work. Victory!

My final stunt of the day almost got ugly. There were basically two giant slabs of rock. You rode onto the first one, then had to wheelie drop about 12” to the next slab. Once on this second slab you had a couple of options. Keep riding straight about 10 feet and hit an 8 foot drop, or bear to the left and hit a 30” drop. Did I mention that the two slabs of rock are separated by a 12” to 18” gap that was about 4 to 5 feet deep? I told myself that there was no way I was going to hit this stunt. The first gap drop really had me scared! But after watching the other guys do it I was starting to think I could. I had worked on some wheely drops earlier in the ride and they were feeling good. Eric and Jamie assured me that I didn’t need to do anything special to clear the gap. But the thing was a total mind f#ck. I took one practice run to scope the line, and then on my second attempt I went for it. The gap drop was easy, but my line was way right heading right for the 8 foot drop. I slammed on the brakes, but the rock was slick and my front wheel stopped what seemed like inches from the edge. I am pretty sure that everyone including myself though I was going for a ride. I was pretty shaken up by this, and really wanted another crack at this thing but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. The adrenaline was going good and I lost my nerve. From there we hit about 1.5 miles of really rock single track back to the lot. I was totally spent the whole ride back.

Another crack at the skinny…taken seconds before my patented summersault dismount


Fire Starter Rock


Jamie showing just how steep this rock is…….ya he is just balancing there, then did some sort of crazy 180 bunny hop….did I mention he is almost 50 years old


Victory is mine……8 or 9 tires and one forest fire later




sorry there were not more pictures, I was just having too much fun to take the camera out often

Great shots! glad we managed to get a few at least.

Two things:
#1 - I am itching to get back out there, session some stuff, even just stick to some of the stuff on the trail and add it to a loop out there at Case.
#2 - I am absolutely exhausted. I came home, ate and then I crashed out for a serious power nap session. Soar as hell too... heh.

awesome pictures..I'm surprised you guys don't wear a fullface helmet..yikes!!!!

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

awesome pictures..I'm surprised you guys don't wear a fullface helmet..yikes!!!!

Click to expand...

I do own a full face……the fabled ‘Helmet of Invincibility’ which I am wearing in my new avatar picture. Before the ride Trev and I discussed it, and we decided that the ‘Helmet’ would be too much of an advantage as it gives the wearer mad MTB skilz. It just wouldn’t have been cool to show up the guys showing us around so it stayed in my truck.










And it was just too damn hot & muggy………………… but mostly for the other reasons

Trev said:

Great shots! glad we managed to get a few at least.

Two things:
#1 - I am itching to get back out there, session some stuff, even just stick to some of the stuff on the trail and add it to a loop out there at Case.
#2 - I am absolutely exhausted. I came home, ate and then I crashed out for a serious power nap session. Soar as hell too... heh.

Click to expand...

By 8:00pm I was pretty much out cold. This morning my whole body hurts and I am still tired. I have some nice bruises on the left side of my body from my patented summersault log dismount.

Awesome pics. Timmy is becoming quite the stuntry rider. nice work.

Amazing! I don't have an interest in performing the stuntery but I do enjoy seeing what you guys and your buddies can do! Nice job!

On a lot of levels the "beginner" stuff can be integrated into regular rides often enough... ya know.. the log you get off and walk your bike around.. the climbs where you need that extra little umph to get over a root or rock.. the steep downhill... the rock your either walking around or roll/drop over it... that small section that is normally a hike a bike.. etc..

I don't expect to ever bounce around like those guys did, but it does help to be able to both understand, and do some of the basics.

It may help in raising a confidence level on overall biking skills as well. I know it did me, there was 3 rollers at one area.. all a bit different in size, approach and dificulty level. Session session session... builds confidence and skills for daily riding.

Jumping off an 8' rock, landing on a log with only one wheel, sort of made me look around for a beer stand and a hot dog.. forgot I wasn't at the circus... lol

Of course, that's my perspective on it.. based on my rides... /shrug

Nice report you guys....Tim your growing one helluva set of balls

steveo

Tim is getting too confident... I think it is time for another Lynn Woods ass kicking.

awf170 said:

Tim is getting too confident... I think it is time for another Lynn Woods ass kicking.

Click to expand...

Why do you think I am working on this stuff? It's so Lynn woods is just a little less of an ass kicking next time. BTW my riding partners from yesterday may join us at Lynn Woods, that will be sick!

Trev said:

Jumping off an 8' rock, landing on a log with only one wheel, sort of made me look around for a beer stand and a hot dog.. forgot I wasn't at the circus... lol

Of course, that's my perspective on it.. based on my rides... /shrug

Click to expand...

lol

at time watching Jamie & 'new guy' Dave was like a cir-de-sole performance. I am still trying to put into words that monster rock Dave got up onto then wheelie dropped. Totally f'g awsome!

Yea great stuff, can't wait to ride with those guys again.. nothing but inspiring.

cool ride pics and report - theres nothing more fun than riding with folks that are on a level beyond that are cool and encouraging like that!