So I finally got to go mountain biking at Snowshoe. Wow!!! What a thrill! I've seen the light and it's name is Downhill Biking! We left Thursday morning and got there in exactly 6 hours (from my driveway to the top of Snowshoe). Rented the bikes, signed wavers, promised not to ride the DH courses since they were closed (fingers crossed, of course) and hit the slopes.
Since the shuttle wasn't running, we shuttled ourselves up and down. Nine guys, two cars. It takes about 15 minutes to bike down, load the bikes inthe cars at the bottom of the moutain, drive up and do it again.
At first, I felt beat-up and, in some cases, out of control. However, as I got the feel of the bike and the trails, I relaxed a bit, picked up more speed, and started glancing off the tops of the rocks instead of grabbing brakes and trying to ride over or in between them. Now we're cooking with gas!
Henry, John and I had "big bikes" and went off to do our own thing. Thanks to the 7 inches of travel (front and rear) plus a slack head angle, we really took to the flowing trails with jumps. Pete, Andrew, Drew, Paul, Richard and Rob each had XC bikes with a more up-right design and "only" 6 inches of travel. It might not seem like much of a difference, but it's like night and day.
The XC guys had to fight the bike to make it stay on the lines they wanted. They had to grab brakes the whole way down and stay slow. Any time I got trapped behind them, my hands would cramp from applying the brakes so much.
Just about the time I was beginning to figure things out, it was time to pack up and head home. However, now I'm addicted! The bike I rented was a bit too small for me (I'm 6'5" - no big surprise there), and any time the bike left the ground, I really struggled to keep from over-rotating backwards - not a good feeling.
Now I'm researching buying a new bike and hope to have enough saddle time before my next trip to understand how to jump correctly. I can't wait!
