Ride Report - Delta Ridge Trails

95% of my riding over the last few years is done on weekdays during my lunch "hour". There is a good crew of about ten riders at my work that share my passion for moutain biking. A subset of them head out at lunch time just about every day.

We've heard about some new trail relatively close by and have wanted to sample them, but the weather hasn't been very cooperative. The Southeast has had a wonderful break in the Winter weather this week, so today was the day we tried out the Delta Ridge trails.

We knew where to find the trailhead and understood that it was a pretty good distance from work. Slghtly further than our usual trail systems. After having ridden five days in a row this week, it turned out to be a long haul to get to the trailhead for me. I felt exactly like Ben Stiller describes in his account of a night mountain bike ride. After biking for 30 minutes, I was tired, ready to turn around and declare the ride a successful workout. That’s when we got to the trailhead.

The trail itself was great. It’s a varied trail system - flowy in some sections; technical in others. I remembered riding parts of this trail 10 years ago. We were surprised to find a lot of new trail. Some of it a few months old, and one or two sections that must have been cleared within the last few days. I’m not sure how much trail there is – 6 miles? There were lots of spur trails off of spur trails. At one point, it felt a bit like our Behind the Rocks epic adventure at Moab – the trail kept going and going; getting further and further from where the trailhead was.

It’s definitely a challenging trail system. Of the four riders today, three of us had some really hard falls. When we finally emerged from the trailhead having completed the ride, we were left with a very hilly ride back to work. Long, grinding climbs are not my strength. This was reinforced as I watched Eric and Jon pull away from me fast on the first climb. We regrouped at the top of that climb, but they were gone again once we started the grind up the next big hill. I believe they beat me back to work by a good 15 minutes.

Overall, I had a lot of fun on these trails. We’ll definitely incorporate them in our normal routine, but we’ll need to find a better route there and back.

Sanford Trails

Some biking buddies and I drove an hour south to Sanford today. We rode San Lee Park and Governors Creek trails. The most surprising thing about riding these trails was how groomed they were. Over-groomed, in my opinion. Not one log crossing in 2 hours of riding. Don't get me wrong, we had a blast. There were plenty of creek crossings, climbs and all-out fun descents - but no logs.

At the end of the day, we all agreed that the trails were really fun, but not quite enough to warrant coming back too soon. With three kids, I don't have the luxury to drive 2 hours in addition to my biking time. It was precisely this problem that caused me to shift from primarily mountain biking over to road biking ten years ago. There are three decent trails in the immediate area. Otherwise, I have to drive 45 minutes or more to find some trails to ride.

But I digress. Back to Sanford.

The 29er loved the fast, flowy Sanford-area trails. I was especially pleased with the RIP9's performance in the rock gardens in San Lee Park. I dabbed only once in The Gauntlet, and saw many preferred lines in Free Fall. Although I dabbed many times in Free Fall and tried more than a few sections over again, I was really pleased with how well the RIP9 lead me through these technical sections on my first attempt. Having ridden those sections now, I'm certain I can get through The Gauntlet with no dabs and Free Fall with only a couple.

Back at the San Lee trailhead, we met some guys from 29eronline.com. They were really nice and were shocked to see a 2009 Niner RIP 9 on the trail. The frame isn't supposed to be shipping to customers for another month. After tooling around the parking lot on a Turner Sultan while he test rode my RIP9, I realized that my rear shock is setup too stiff. I'll lower the air pressure in the RP23 and see if I can find the buttery smooth plushness I felt on the Sultan. Wow, the DW-Link on that bike was plush! It felt way too soft - like it would bottom out on a small 2-foot drop, though. I think it was under-sprung for my weight. Regardless, it did feel really nice.

Considering I have never bottomed out the fork or rear shock on the RIP9, it's time to lower the pressure a little. I'll do that and report back. Current pressure is 100 lbs up front (25% sag) and 180 lbs. in the RP23 (27% sag). The weather this week looks phenomenal. I'll have plenty of trail time to play with sag in the next few days.

Dry, Warm Weather Finally

For a nice change of pace, the wet, chilly East coast weather subsided for a few days. The trails are dry enough to ride and it's warm enough for shorts and only a single layer of shirts - well, it was toward mid-day.

I met a group of four guys this morning at a not-so-local trail system - Garner Recreational Park. It was my second single-track ride on the Niner RIP 9. Ah, what fun.

This trail was an excellent opportunity to get used to the new bike. These are some of the most varied trails in the area. Technical climbs, a few 2' drops, jumps, creek crossings, rooty descents and the ubiquitous log crossings.

Of course, the RIP 9 ate up the trail. The Niner is really more bike than I need for this area, but it's nice to know that I'm not pushing the bike too close to its limits. At 215 lbs., I really prefer a bike that feels stable no matter what I do to it.

Looks like tomorrow's weather will be a repeat of today. Yea! I just love a taste of Spring in the middle of Winter.

Yeti For Sale

It's a bitter sweet moment for me. As I put the finishing touches on building the Yeti, it's time to offer it for sale. A comment was added to my last posting asking about the bike build. Here you go:

* PUSH'd Fox RP3 rear shock
* Cane Creek S2 headset
* SRAM X-9 shifters
* Shimano XT front derailleur
* SRAM X-0 rear derailleur
* Race Face Evolve XC stem, seatpost and cranks
* Avid Juicy Five brakes with 185mm rotors
* Yeti grips
* Mavic 317 Disc rims, Shimano Deore rear hub, ARC front hub
* WTB saddle

All pivot and rocker (dogbone) bearings are brand new.
All cables and cable housing are brand new.

She weighs 30 lbs. as shown in photos with heavy Maxxis Minion DH Downhill Specific tires. You can get a sub 28 lbs build really easy with the 575's.

Classified Ad over at MTBR.