Friday, May 25, 2007

Draper Pre-Ride #3

Today was a better day for my confidence going down. I felt really solid on Clark's and did ok on the other stuff (meaning I didn't tip over this time!) though I still had to clip out on two of the really tight corners. Hopefully nobody in my class will rip through the golf course section of trail as even after 3 times I still take it slow. There is a new section of trail being built that bypasses the stream crossing at the beginning of the course, taking you over a bridge instead. The connecting segment is nearly complete but not 100% and we had to walk around the Bobcat stopped in the middle of the newly cleared trail.

Many thanks to the crew at Contender for getting my bike in & out for a rear disc brake bleed yesterday. My bike felt much better today than it did on Wednesday!

Today I rode with my friend & neighbor Mike (who has been trying to get me out for a ride with the "dawn patrol" for a while...) who pushed me down Clark's. Speaking of which, one of the best reasons to ride early is the lack of other riders on the trails. We encountered zero, zilch, no other riders which made Clark's that much more enjoyable on the way down.

3 comments:

Forrest said...

Yeah, on those few tight turns I have to clip out and powerslide the bike, sometimes I am successful, sometimes I look like an idiot, dont stress too much on those sections, in the big scheme of things you are not going to win or lose the race in those sections.

Anonymous said...

How much hiking do you have to do?
Could I do it in road shoes?
RB

UtRider said...

No hiking. You may have the skills to ride the two tight switchbacks but if not, it's just a simple unclip and foot plant as you swing around.

I think Fox races exclusively in road shoes. You shouldn't have any issues at all on this course.