Quick HIt Ressurected.......Sort of.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Dean and I had planned on meeting at the Woodlot at around 5pmish to go up and do some work on Quick Hit. It was the first trail Dean built, but recently it had been logged and the trail was totally covered and un-ridable. Dean had cleared some stuff earlier but not the entire trail.

As I said, it was a beautiful day so I left work a little early. Well, a lot early. ;-) I got there around 2:15 and headed up. I went in at the top of Quick Hit and rode it slowly to see what we have to do. There is a lot of work to be done. None can be done, with the exception of some woodwork and clearing, until it rains. The dirt up there is too dry for any dirtwork. When I got there I decided to start doing some clearing on the lower part of the trail. It turned out to be a bit of a chore but it has to be done.

Dean arrived at around 5:15. Many hands make light work and aside from a few big trees across the trail, we got it all cleared up. One more evening with a chainsaw, and she'll be ridable.

When we were done we decided to push up to Tsuga and ride it, Snakes and Ladders and Shotgun. I normally hate Tsuga, but last tonight I enjoyed it a little more than usual. I even rode the first rock face for the first time. Don't know what took me so long. It was easy.

We blasted down to Snakes. We flew down to the wooden berm and stopped for a second. It is so dry up there right now, I couldn't ride closely behind Dean. The dust he was kicking up was brutal and blinding me. We hit the new jump section and I have to say, we do some fine work. Big jump, to lip, to berm, to gap, to roller, to berm, to gap, to berm, to berm. Very fast. Very nice. We stopped and gabbed about how sweet it was and thought about heading up to do it again. We just kept going however and blasted to the bottom. I love Snakes.

Shotgun was the usual hoot. The upper part of it is so dialed right now. Such a fun ride. They have been working on gettng the bottom dialed up as well and it's running pretty wicked right now.

Down to the parking lot and headed for home. Another good productive night at the Woodlot.

Team Pagan. Ohhhhhhh, scary.

It's May. It's daylight savings time. That can only mean one thing. After work rides at the Woodlot.

Dean and I hit it today. We hooked up at around 5pm and decided that we would head all the way up to try to find a new trail we had heard about. It was a mellow push up, with a lot conversation. Dean and I did a lot of chatting on this day.

We eventually found this "new" trail after a little searching around. We geared up and hit it. It really was quite fun. There are a few little drops sort of notched out of the trail as it used to be a dirt bike trail. There is some potential for some pretty cool stuff up there. The other builders have been working on it and there are a couple of nice bridges at the end. It would appear they are working from the bottom up. Aside from a minor mishap at the bottom, I'd say this trail is pretty sweet.

After this trail we headed over to Goldmine. There was a time when Dean would have to wait soooo long for me it isn't even funny. Not anymore. I've gotten quite a bit better and on this ride I was starting to show it. We ripped Goldmine pretty good and got to Snakes. Obviously we both love Snakes. We headed on down. Dean veared to the right to hit the rock drop. I stayed left on the main trail. We crusied down to the corner before the Snakes jump. Stopped and chatted for a bit. We took off and ripped the Snakes jump and the new section of hits. Four all together. The new gap built over the old line is sweet. I almost killed myself on it the first time I hit it, but I've done it succesfully three times now. So fun. We stopped at the end of the new section, discussed some future building options and decided to go back up and hit it again. Good times. Down the jumps, down the log ride, down the first rock face, and to the next one. I stopped at the top and tried to decide which line to take. The usual "valley" line, the steep rock face line or the squid line. After some encouragement from Dean"do it bitch" I hit the steep rock face line. Felt good. Off we went down the rolldown to the lower section that Tim had buffed the day previous. Um, it was fast. Real fast.

After this we chatted a bit at the bottom and headed over to Shotgun. Tim and Dean usually play a little cat and mouse type thing here. Tonight, it was my turn. We flew into Shotgun narrowly missing two young kids with there dog. Around the corner, over the two drops, across a bridge and over a newly worked jump. Big air, and guess what. I am not far behind Dean at all. He senses me though and starts to pull away. At a corner where he always loses Tim, he lost me. Bastard. I tried to follow his line to keep up, but I washed out and he got away from me. We stopped at the logging road and chatted for a few minutes huge smiles on our face. What a rip. We headed on down the rest of the trail to the cars. Had a beer and headed home.

There are reasons I ride. Cypress isn't one of them, but today was. It was awsome. It has me hungry for more. Can't wait for tomorrow.

Friday, April 08, 2005. The last time I ever ride Cypress

It's Friday. We're having a garage sale tomorrow. Why do I mention this? Because I'd rather be at home getting ready for it than riding Cypress. How gay is that?

We got there at around 5pm. Chris and I were the first there so we got ready slowly and waited for Dean and Mike. Once everyone was there we headed up for our first of what would be two shuttles. Mike is the resident Cypress guru so he was in charge of the trail selection. He should have researched a bit more. We couldn't find the trailhead at the start and did a lot of seaching around. We finally found it and the ass kicking of Mr. Woodlot began. I don't know what trails we were on but they were steep, rooty, rocky, and deadly. I got the snot kicked out of me. Dean and Mike seemed to have fun, but me? Nope. I've always said a bad day riding is better than a good day working. That theory was put to the test tonight. As we neared the bottom of our first run we came to a simple ladder roll down. This thing wasn't very steep and the ladder was HUGE. I couldn't even hit it. My confidence at the time was absolutely shot. I stood atop the stunt I would eventually walk around and I shouted at Mike "See what you have done to me?!?!" Of course it wasn't him, but someone had to take the brunt of my frustration.

Our second run was much better. We hit the Roaches and Cherry Bomb. Trails I am familiar with. It was a much funner blast down these. Much better time. The lower section of this before the road is a blast.

We all chatted a bit at the cars and Dean headed home. Mike Chris and I went for a quick pint. Then home for me to do what I should have done in the first place. Get ready for the garage sale.

Last time I ride Cypress until the bike park opens. Count on it.