B-town

Just a few random shots of a couple lazy days in Bloomington.

Indiana

After 27-straight hours in a '91 Honda Accord with no air conditioning, no cruise control, and a very un-stoked dog, Laura and I have arrived in Indiana. I did get to sit in a wonderfully air conditioned police car for a little while though, so that was nice. Officer Kirlin of the Wyoming Highway Patrol was professional and courteous.

Tacos for Dinner

Have you ever been ripping flat-out down some narrow singletrack and had a near miss that took a millisecond? A couple hundred feet later, after your brain has had the time to process what just happened, you realize how bad it would have been to hit the tree or rock or ditch that you narrowly missed. Well, today I didn't miss. On our second lap, while following Toni and Alex down a mellow but fast variation that I've never ridden, I came around a corner and saw a washed-out piece of trail and realized instantly that I would not make the inside path. I came out of the ensuing full-speed-to-instantly-stopped crash without anything more than scratches, but my front wheel was so bent that it couldn't even make a full rotation without sticking against the side of the fork. It was the second wheel I had crushed in the last two hours. The first one happened in the parking lot and Toni was able to get it back into shape. Between these two crashes, however, the three of us, and Alister, got in some really good riding on a trail that's coming together nicely thanks to lots of hard work by some dedicated builders.

Round and Round

Pump tracks never get old. Plus, a friend's backyard is a good place to experiment with some different styles of shooting. One of these days I'll finally get flash photography figured out.

Dihedrals

Andy and I got in a little bit of granite after work. Nothing to write home about, but it was nice to get back on some cracks.

Flying Dog

OK, I tried to climb today. I really did. But things just didn't line up with partners, and a bunch of friends were doing a "pedaly ride" and my cardio is still pretty weak, so I decided to go up to Bob's Basin and ride with the crew. I got wooped pretty good on the ride up, but I needed it. The ride down Flying Dog was absolutely amazing. One of the best singletracks around. I think I'm gonna have to make this a weekly ride. Good training followed by good fast cornering practice. Today definitely did not suck.

Broad's Fork

Up to Broad's Fork with Andy so he can try Plimsoline (5.12b) for the first time this season. Andy has numerous nemesis routes around the Wasatch, and this is definitely one of them. Today was not to be the day, but he looked really solid and only missed the send because he got an unlucky snag at the crux and only latched the tiny crimp with a couple fingers, but he nearly sent anyway. Next time up, that thing is going down for sure.

Race Weekend

First race weekend of the year, and I had mixed results. I talked Toni and Alex into racing, and they both kicked my ass, taking over five seconds out of my time. I did, however, accomplish my lifetime DH racing goal of beating Craig. So what if he raced both super D and trail-bike yesterday while I ruthlessly wired the course? I was faster and I'm sticking too it (until he hands me my ass at the next race). Alex also "lost" to PJ by beating him by only 28 seconds (the handycap was 30) and now owes PJ a steak dinner. Utah has a two-run format, where you have a chance to better your time. Alex, Toni and myself were all within a couple tenths of our original times on our second laps. Wild how consistent times can be in a sport with so many variables. Everyone had a kickass time, as usual, and I learned that my cornering and jumping are still sub par. On the other hand, I've been missing climbing these last couple weeks, so we're gonna get back to rock for a big. I'll try at least. Thanks to Misty for taking my camera with her while she walked up to check out the bottom corners and getting a few shots.

Moose

I haven't been on Moose since I was riding a Demo 9, and I have it say that it's much better on a light bike. Big Riggs was in town, so we got a nice big crew together to welcome him and ride. And yes, one of us did in fact see a moose.

Off

Somewhere in each season you have to have your first good crash. I mean the one where you sit in the trail for a second after it happened and try to figure out just what the hell did happen. For this year, mine was in just about the easiest stretch of trail in the already easy Draper DH. I got lazy on a very small jump, landed very crooked and very front-tire heavy, and rode it out for about 15 feet before finally going over the bars and into the trees. Re was riding with me today and got to see me getting up, but alas, no witnesses. We did, however, get to see the aftermath of some dude who crashed on an equally small jump and managed to break his fork clean in half. Not sure how that happened, but the best of luck to him on the warranty side of things.

Psychobabble

Back to climbing... Andy and I went for a couple of quick laps after work at the Psychobabble wall. I really like this place. The climbing and the protection keep you on your toes a bit, and the belay is about a pitch of scrambling off the ground, so you get some very un-crag-like exposure when you're topping out a pitch.

More Sled Laps

Toni, Alex, Misty, Cece, John, Me, and random builder dude railing laps on the Bobsled. Things are just a touch wet up top, but only for about two corners, and the rest of the trail is in great shape. Big thanks to everyone who's gone up there with a shovel and helped keep the trail in good shape.

Stuff

Today some friends went to a place and did some things.