After picking Kris up at the airport we immediately headed for South Mountain State Park to meet Mike to ride the Desert Classic Trail. I learned a couple of things on today's ride:
1. When it's been a month or two since Kris has ridden dirt it's a good idea NOT to let him lead for the first mile of his first mountain bike ride of the year. He was so excited that he went big on the first opportunity for air and immediately crashed so he could get even closer to the dirt he'd been dreaming about for so long!
2. When you can count the number of times you've ridden your bike in the last 7 weeks on one hand it's probably not the best idea to ride with a guy who lives in Arizona and has been riding regularly all winter. Oh, and when a guy who has no trouble riding down the National Trail cleanly tells you that a trail isn't very technical be aware that the definition of "technical" means something completely different to him than it does to you!
Luckily for us Mike turned out to be one of the nicest guys I've had the pleasure of riding with and showed us the relatively new Helipad Trail, one of the coolest, albeit slightly technical (it must not have been too bad as I managed to get up without dabbing but it definitely had a few sections that grabbed my attention), desert climbs I've ridden down here. He's planning to create a website similar to the Clark's TT so riders can compare times. I wouldn't be surprised to see his name at the top of the results!
Here's Mike making Helipad look easy. I can't wait to see his time on the singlespeed!
The view from the top, looking down on Desert Classic:
And looking south from the end of the trail, a real gravel helipad:
1 comment:
Looks fun! Mark, please encourage Kris to curb his enthusiasm just a little.
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