Any Mountain Bikers on Here?

[AKmoney]

Thunder Mountain trail just outside Bryce Canyon National Park, near the lovely city of Panguitch, UT. This trail wasn't what I would call "epic" but the scenery is basically unmatched.

 

[AKmoney]

Virgin River Rim trail located near Brian Head, UT. This ride was epic in every sense. My friend Chris, our ride planner/organizer, always underestimates the difficulty. I think the minimum altitude on this ride was something like 8500 feet and we logged nearly 30 miles. Bring an extra lung if you have one.

Huh huh... Hey Beavis, it says "Dike"... huh huh...

 

[AKmoney]

A bit closer to home for me is the desert near Palm Springs. There are some amazing trails out that way. I *love* riding in the desert during the winter.

Spot the rider..

 

[AKmoney]

One last picture... my 4Runner being used (nearly) to its fullest extent barely 2 weeks after I bought it off its first owner. Outstanding MTB adventure trip/shuttle vehicle. There's a fourth bike riding inside in the back. Anyone want to try to find this spot on Google Earth?

 

[hikenbike]

Absolutely beautiful. Looks like a great time. Very jealous.

 

[hikenbike]

Would you sell this.....

...for this?....

2015 Giant Trance 27.5 3

Well, the watch is up for sale (at $1600 for anyone interested) and just ordered the 2015 Giant Trance 27.5 2 a short time ago. Went for the higher end package with Fox all around. Should have it in 3-4 days.

 

[hikenbike]

If I was going to use it, yes. If only occasionally, no.
I'd buy used. Few things more plentiful than used cars and used bikes for sale.

actually, I'd buy a Santa Cruz.

I'd agree in most circumstances but in my case I really wanted the 27.5 tire size after doing my homework and riding a bunch of each of the 3 sizes.

Rarely do I find that size available pre-owned around these parts, much less finding one where the price difference is compelling enough to get it (along with the angst of not knowing how it was treated/ridden) rather than just getting new.

 

[AudiTech]

Yesterday was the last big ride of the season so we had to make it count, we did a HUGE ride at Buffalo Creek. 36 miles of dirt, high altitude, plenty of rock, 4,400+ feet of elevation, while wearing t-shirts in November.

 

[junkyardbiker]

man you fellas have got me itching to rebuild my specialized. Havent rode it in 3 years since i rode the border trails in san diego and the twin fortunas in mission valley.

 

[1engineer]

Everyone's pictures of southwestern trails are great! I wouldn't know how to act on a trail that actually had more that 10 feet of forward visibility and not in perpetual shade like our trails are back east. We have so much greenery, brush, thorns, weeds and trees it's tough to even find a place to get off the trail a few feet lol. Spot the trail! Hint: That's a railroad track next to the river. In this picture there are around 36 miles of trails. See what I mean?

 

[hikenbike]

Beautiful terrain......both in the sw and in WVirginia. I just got a call from my bike shop 20 min ago that my Trance arrived today and it's ready to go! Can't wait to go pick it up! Cold or no cold, I'm riding this weekend.

 

[MONTYMTB]

Beautiful terrain......both in the sw and in WVirginia. I just got a call from my bike shop 20 min ago that my Trance arrived today and it's ready to go! Can't wait to go pick it up! Cold or no cold, I'm riding this weekend.

Be sure to take some pics and give us a ride report.

I sure wish we could do a T4R.ORG group ride somewhere...

 

[MONTYMTB]

I wouldn't know how to act on a trail that actually had more that 10 feet of forward visibility and not in perpetual shade...

Ain't that the truth. I can't think of many trails in the SE where you can see more of the trail than that, but we do have our share of rocks and roots:

Definitely a different experience riding out west.

 

[1engineer]

Ain't that the truth. I can't think of many trails in the SE where you can see more of the trail than that, but we do have our share of rocks and roots:

Definitely a different experience riding out west.

Your picture looks like 95% of our trails lol. Now if it were wet it would take it up to about 99%! Sometimes I get tired of stripping all the way down to my bike shorts (no socks, no shoes or shirt) back at the 4Runner - on an 80 degree day in the summer when it has not rained in a week - because I am too muddy to even get in the truck. I even save some water in my Camelbak to wash off the worst of it. Yep, riding back east is quite different.

 

[AKmoney]

Yesterday was the last big ride of the season so we had to make it count, we did a HUGE ride at Buffalo Creek. 36 miles of dirt, high altitude, plenty of rock, 4,400+ feet of elevation, while wearing t-shirts in November.

Killer looking trails there in CO. What location is that? Might have to try that some day...

 

[slapdappy]

Yesterday was the last big ride of the season. Buffalo Creek.

one of my favorites

 

[AudiTech]

Everyone's pictures of southwestern trails are great! I wouldn't know how to act on a trail that actually had more that 10 feet of forward visibility and not in perpetual shade like our trails are back east. We have so much greenery, brush, thorns, weeds and trees it's tough to even find a place to get off the trail a few feet lol. Spot the trail! Hint: That's a railroad track next to the river. In this picture there are around 36 miles of trails. See what I mean?

I know exactly what you mean. I've lived in Colorado for 2 years now, I relocated from Chicago. Back home there were 2 trail systems worth riding - Palos which was a 45 minute drive each way and the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest in Wisconsin which was an hour and half each way. (Kettle is pretty awesome, worth checking out if your in the Midwest, lots of miles of tight winding flowy one way single track, not much elevation, nothing real technical, extremely well laid out and maintained, a fun ride for sure.) anyways both of those are in forest (forest preserve or state forest) and I remember constantly having to call out because of the blind corners. Craziest thing that happened was at Kettle, I'm tearing through thick forest on single track, and I'm on a fast descent that bends to the right. As I'm going around the bend there's no sight line and all of sudden BOOM! I'm bowling for turkeys. No joke it had to be at least 30 Wild turkeys and I can barreling though at a good 20 mph with no room to stop and nowhere to swerve. I'm startled as I was not expecting that, there's birds feathers everywhere and I'm in a freaking tornado of wings and noise as these things are flapping around flipping there shit lol. I've popped a few chipmunks running across the trails before and have come pretty close to some deer.

Out here you can see more so I've only had close calls with riders who either don't know or don't care that they were surpassed to yield right of way and time where I almost t-boned a wild horse that way eating (drinking?) from a mall slushy snow pile along trail edge.

I have to say though, I really prefer the chunkier more technical riding with rock features and elevation gain. It's funny how the big climbs used to be like 60 seconds if continuous climbing, now it's like 7 miles of climbing.

 

[1engineer]

I know exactly what you mean. I've lived in Colorado for 2 years now, I relocated from Chicago. Back home there were 2 trail systems worth riding - Palos which was a 45 minute drive each way and the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest in Wisconsin which was an hour and half each way. (Kettle is pretty awesome, worth checking out if your in the Midwest, lots of miles of tight winding flowy one way single track, not much elevation, nothing real technical, extremely well laid out and maintained, a fun ride for sure.) anyways both of those are in forest (forest preserve or state forest) and I remember constantly having to call out because of the blind corners. Craziest thing that happened was at Kettle, I'm tearing through thick forest on single track, and I'm on a fast descent that bends to the right. As I'm going around the bend there's no sight line and all of sudden BOOM! I'm bowling for turkeys. No joke it had to be at least 30 Wild turkeys and I can barreling though at a good 20 mph with no room to stop and nowhere to swerve. I'm startled as I was not expecting that, there's birds feathers everywhere and I'm in a freaking tornado of wings and noise as these things are flapping around flipping there shit lol. I've popped a few chipmunks running across the trails before and have come pretty close to some deer.

Out here you can see more so I've only had close calls with riders who either don't know or don't care that they were surpassed to yield right of way and time where I almost t-boned a wild horse that way eating (drinking?) from a mall slushy snow pile along trail edge.

I have to say though, I really prefer the chunkier more technical riding with rock features and elevation gain. It's funny how the big climbs used to be like 60 seconds if continuous climbing, now it's like 7 miles of climbing.

We constantly have to watch out for deer back here. My normal evening loop is about seven miles with 800 ft elevation change. It is not uncommon to see deer, turkeys, copperheads, and lots of squirrels. We have a few bears we see every now and then and even saw a bobcat this season. The most amazing thing though was witnessed during one of my night rides. I was up front and it was right after dusk. I started seeing hundreds of tiny shadows crossing the trail. They were mice! Amazing that while we know they are there you don't realize what happens after dark.

 

[KidVermicious]

One last picture... my 4Runner being used (nearly) to its fullest extent barely 2 weeks after I bought it off its first owner. Outstanding MTB adventure trip/shuttle vehicle. There's a fourth bike riding inside in the back. Anyone want to try to find this spot on Google Earth?

There are so many roads that cross the border along the Strip. I'll guess Canaan Wash?

 

[AKmoney]

There are so many roads that cross the border along the Strip. I'll guess Canaan Wash?

Good guess. Here it is: https://goo.gl/maps/Ye6IM

We just finished up riding the northernmost ~20 or so miles of the Arizona Trail, a totally epic (and lightly ridden) stretch of singletrack.