Bridges, Jumps and Wall Rides

The way things work in Mammoth is that the blue trails cross underneath the features of the black diamond trails. On my first day, I came across some cool bridges and decided to make a point of riding OVER them by the end of the trip. It turned out to be a daring and fun adventure.

The Taj Mahal on Sooth Operator. Snap shot from my GoPro

The Taj Mahal on Smooth Operator, which is a double black diamond jump line, is probably one of the cooler features at Mammoth. Its definitely a work of art at the very least. This thing is much steeper and more cambered than meets the eye. Equals scary. On my first go of it, i had to stop on the drop to assess. Yikes! I let go of the brakes and rolled it just fine. Second time, i didn't stop (see video below) and rolled it smooth, but on the third attempt i took it too fast and ended up almost going off the jump. I had to slam on the brakes and ended up stuck with one wheel off the ramp. Xina thought i was just waiting for her and dropped in. When she realized i was not going to move, it was too late and she had to lay it down. Thankfully no one got hurt.

The Monolith is another long beautiful structure. Huge kudos to the Mammoth Mountain Bike Park crew! It is part of a run called Pipeline which is double black as well. It's one of my favorite runs on the entire mountain with all kinds of fun features to play with. Foxy grabbed a few photos of me riding this trail last last year.

My insisting on rolling the House Jump sent me down one of the more advanced trails on the mountain: Bullet. Steep drops and rock gardens, it was not pretty, but i made it. Foxy followed me with the GoPro and you can see some of the highlights in the video below.

Jeff Fox whipped it out and nabbed this good one of me and Styles at the end of Shotgun. I was flying actually. Look at my suspension compressing, swerving to miss Jeff.

Out here free amongst the trees. Foxy took this one too. Loc: Shotgun

I haven't written much about my girlfriend, Christina, to protect her privacy, but i just had to share (because i'm super proud) that she bought a bike and is absolutely KILLING it. Footloose Sports in Mammoth gave her a screaming deal. She is mountain biking for the first time in her life and keeping up with me on advanced terrain. Kind of a shot to my ego, but who cares! Hot riding partner!

Xina is excited about her new toy!

Here's the video about the adventure. Let me know what you think!

Note: I got a few unsubscribes after my last blog entry and i think its because i included trail information. This blog will be about my adventures, pitfalls, gear and feelings. If you are curious about what i run into on the trail in more detail and accessibility information, you can read about that here: www.theunpavement.com.

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