[IH8Rice]

Wow...that's an odd perspective. What I like about Mountain Creek is that you can do a little of everything there from the burly to the buttery. And when you can't hold onto your bars anymore, you go do more buttery runs until you get the strength back to do a burly one.

to each their own. i like a more natural trail system that keeps you on your toes because its dynamic. creek does what they do fine and it obviously appeases to the masses. i just dont like the hard packed bike park type trails...i had more fun on the obscure,out of site, local trails in Morzine, then i did at their bike park. but i also do sometimes enjoy the occasional trip down alpine to get my lean on (they do berms well)
oh and the waterpark customers dont make it enjoyable

 

[jonKranked]

to each their own. i like a more natural trail system that keeps you on your toes because its dynamic. creek does what they do fine and it obviously appeases to the masses. i just dont like the hard packed bike park type trails...i had more fun on the obscure,out of site, local trails in Morzine, then i did at their bike park.
oh and the waterpark customers dont make it enjoyable

as a rule i avoid mt creek during water park season unfortunately.

angry, you going to blue this weekend? any idea on conditions with all this rain?

 

[BigBoi]

to each their own. i like a more natural trail system that keeps you on your toes because its dynamic. creek does what they do fine and it obviously appeases to the masses. i just dont like the hard packed bike park type trails...i had more fun on the obscure,out of site, local trails in Morzine, then i did at their bike park. but i also do sometimes enjoy the occasional trip down alpine to get my lean on (they do berms well)
oh and the waterpark customers dont make it enjoyable

I spent a day at the waterpark last summer with a broken thumb while my friends rode the bike park and I had a blast.
It reminded me of my childhood.

Apparently there is something strange about a 6'8" middle-aged man cruising the waterpark by himself in bike shorts.

 

[intensified]

I'd say go north. Vt,Maine,nh is where I'd be if I had free time on a weekend.

 

[swiftknee]

HEY SEB
IS this your first time in the states
what kind of rider are you
when your at plattekill ask for matt and ill show you around
its the best park on the east coast

 

[kickstand]

Wow...that's an odd perspective. What I like about Mountain Creek is that you can do a little of everything there from the burly to the buttery. And when you can't hold onto your bars anymore, you go do more buttery runs until you get the strength back to do a burly one.

There used to be a knock on Snowshoe that the only way down the mountain was burly every way you turn. But I gotta say, we're all getting one heck of a mix of parks these days and it's AWESOME!!!

It's too bad people said this, because snowshoe is buttering everything up and taking away that gnarly burly appeal.

 

[JustMtnB44]

It's too bad people said this, because snowshoe is buttering everything up and taking away that gnarly burly appeal.

Timberline is now the go to place in WV for natural, gnarly, steep terrain. No groomed runs there, but tons of fun.

 

[BigBoi]

Timberline is now the go to place in WV for natural, gnarly, steep terrain. No groomed runs there, but tons of fun.

Agreed. F*ckin love that place. I think I'll go tomorrow!

 

[JustMtnB44]

Agreed. F*ckin love that place. I think I'll go tomorrow!

Good idea! I went yesterday with my buddy, and there was only one other guy there. Conditions and weather was perfect too.

 

[Brian62]

Hello, first post, last week was looking for a bike park to go to for first time. No DH experience. I was kinda being told that my Rocky FS Altitude with 5.5" was not enough. I was looking at the "groomed" dh runs to try first. Any input ?
The most air I have had is over the 4" log and no real jumps, but have to start somewhere. Which of these in WVA or Pa might work for me?
Thanks

 

[BigBoi]

Hello, first post, last week was looking for a bike park to go to for first time. No DH experience. I was kinda being told that my Rocky FS Altitude with 5.5" was not enough. I was looking at the "groomed" dh runs to try first. Any input ?
The most air I have had is over the 4" log and no real jumps, but have to start somewhere. Which of these in WVA or Pa might work for me?
Thanks

Input? Where a full face helmet and knee pads at the least. Your bike will work fine for easy trails but would recommend renting a real rig. Seven Springs, timberline, or Snowshoe would be a good place to start.

 

[bizutch]

It's too bad people said this, because snowshoe is buttering everything up and taking away that gnarly burly appeal.

It would take an absurd amount of heavy equipment to pave that place. The gnar always bubbles back up to the surface.

 

[- seb]

OK.

So, this week:

Highland
Killington
Blue/Launch/Bryce (all in PA, to split up the drive)
Timberline
Snowshoe

Definites in bold, unsure about the others. What resorts would you take in on tue/wed/thu/fri?

 

[Sandwich]

http://www.attitash.com/mountain-biking.html

Attitash is open weekly now, I think (worth a call). Terrain is hard to describe...more dirt than plattekill (less rox?) less vert than whiteface, more roots than rocks. I enjoyed it a fair bit when I went there for a previous year's ESC race. There's also an alpine slide, and water slides, I think. Plus, you can jump in the river after the fact for a quick cool down. Not far from Highland, either, maybe about an hour. It would be my choice over Killington, as somebody who has ridden both with no guide and only one time.

 

[intensified]

sunday river is open on fridays, i promise my last plug for it

 

[mattmatt86]

OK.

So, this week:

Highland
Killington
Blue/Launch/Bryce (all in PA, to split up the drive)
Timberline
Snowshoe

Definites in bold, unsure about the others. What resorts would you take in on tue/wed/thu/fri?

I'm pretty sure Bryce is in Virginia.

 

[yd35]

Hey Seb,

Been following your adventures through this post. Could someone do a tour similar to yours, but in England? Are there enough parks, or would one have to a European tour to hit the same number of places?

 

[teamkranzelbike]

I believe Blue Mountain is closed this week . They are having a Spartan race there this weekend.

 

[Pegboy]

Highland this week..bummer I was going to take a day off and try to meet up with you. If you are there on Friday, I'll be there from 12:30 on.

 

[IH8Rice]

I believe Blue Mountain is closed this week . They are having a Spartan race there this weekend.

yeah they are but i havent seen anything about the shuttling during the week

 

[teamkranzelbike]

from their web site.

NOTE:
The Blue Mountain Bike Park will be CLOSED the following days:

Thursday, May 30 - Friday, May 31 - Saturday, June 1 & Sunday, June 2 for the NEOC Race!

Thursday, July 11 - Friday, July 12 - Saturday, July 13 & Sunday, July 14 for the Spartan Race!

Thursday, July 25 - Friday, July 26 - Saturday July 27 & Sunday, July 28 for the PA Blues Fest!

 

[- seb]

Ah that's good to know, thanks!

Had a bit of a lame day at Highland. I've ridden for about 12 days straight recently, and most days in the last 3-4 weeks, so in Highland's defence I think part of the problem is down to me being tired.

The other part of the problem is the weather they've had; loads of rain over the last few weeks, and the trails have suffered. Trails that should be smooth (i.e. the jumpy ones) have quite a few rain ruts on them. Not massive, but enough to ruin the flow a bit. Also the ground was a bit damp, so not rolling as fast as it might have otherwise. Jumps were hard to clear, basically.

To sum it up, Mountain Creek was far better than Highland. For me anyway, at the moment. With a bit more maintenance on the trails Highland might fare better. They're building (or rebuilding maybe) a new run at the moment, and I suspect a lot of their trail crew have been kept busy with that at the cost of neglecting the existing routes a bit. The new trail looks awesome by the way, shame it wasn't open yet!

Further to this slight disappointment, the lift was shut from about 2pm due to thunderstrikes, and although it reopened briefly there'd been a half hour downpour. We couldn't be bothered to ride again just for the sake of notching up a couple of extra runs.

Bone Saw & Cat's Paw were the highlights for me. A couple of other trails were shut so I can't rate them all

Would like to go again during a period of better weather. But probably never will. Ah well, can't have an amazing day on the bike *every* time...

 

[Pegboy]

Yeah, that is unfortunate. Highland is really fun when the weather is descent and the trails are dry but it's frustrating when the dirt is slow. The mountain is just not steep or big enough to carry enough speed when the dirt is soggy. There are a couple of trails that remain OK, but there is just not enough variety to be great on bad weather days...and we've had a week or so of complete down pours. I usually give it a day of sunny weather to dry out before I bother going...we'll see on Friday afternoon how it is.

I haven't been to MC or Platty... people keep telling me that I gotta do it. I was up at Bromont the week before you guys arrived and loved that place. I think it's actually closer for me than the previous two that I mentioned so I would rather go back there.

Attitash has a couple of trails that remind me of Bromont, but not very many of them and not quite as rocky and tech as some of the Bromont sections.

I wouldn't bother with Sunday River...complete lack of flow IMO. It seems like any time you start getting up to speed, there is a 90* UP HILL rocky section. I rode there in a very light rain and didn't know the trails, so maybe if the weather was good and I was with someone who knew the trails it would have been more fun. They had one trail (tango and cash?) that was OK but most others left me frustrated. I can't see ever going back.

I also liked Jimmny Peak when I rode there 4-5 years ago for a festival thing. There was some fairly steep trails on the rider's right side of the mountain and generally everything was pretty fast. Unfortunately, they have weird hours (I think they open at noon?) and don't have a ton of trails.

I would say if there is a few days of dry weather, and you are in the area, Highland is worth it. Bone Saw is great. The Race trail and Threshold are pretty rough and fun, but Threshold has a steep ledge with a 90* turn that scares me when it's wet. ODB, Eastern Hemlock and Sheleighly all have fun moderate single track.. even Happy Hour can be fun for a easy rest run. There is also a couple of hidden spots that can be good. Oh well...our weather has sucked.

 

[bizutch]

So are you going to hit Plattekill? It will rough you up, but no pedaling.

 

[- seb]

So are you going to hit Plattekill? It will rough you up, but no pedaling.

Yeah we were there this weekend for the ESC race. Spent a hunch of time riding the other trails there too, really enjoyed the place. Not as steep and shaley as I had imagined it to be, but steep and shaley enough! .

Really enjoyed the race track too, had some hairy moments up there when pushing on!

 

[Sandwich]

did you make it over to the double side? some of my favorite trails are over there.

Are you riding highland again, or was it a one-day thing? They've made great strides in making good trails across the mountain. It helps spread out the beating that they take. Some of the more traversed sections get pretty brutal.

 

[bizutch]

Oh, didn't see a ride report and you suck at posting pics of this adventure.

 

[- seb]

Today was Killington. The guys there were really helpful and gave us free life passes which was awesome. Unfortunately the entire South side of the mountain was shut... though we may have got, ahem, "lost", for a couple of runs.

Learnt that it's definitely not a DH place. Someone probably said as much earlier in this thread, but I suck. Ah well. Some nice sections, but they tended to be short and far between, with FAR too much traversing and climbing to get to them. Someone said that the land is State-owned, and that they're not keen on steep DH tracks. In fact, the gnarliest track we found was a double black that had clearly been intentionally blocked off, presumably for being too steep. But it was still on the map, so we found it... Naughty naughty. Still, was one of the more enjoyable bits of the day!

did you make it over to the double side? some of my favorite trails are over there.

Yep, we traversed across a bit while the double was shut on Saturday, and then rode the double a few times after race runs on Sunday.

Are you riding highland again, or was it a one-day thing? They've made great strides in making good trails across the mountain. It helps spread out the beating that they take. Some of the more traversed sections get pretty brutal.

Unfortunately not, we're back to the UK on Tuesday so are a bit short on days to cram stuff into!

Not sure what our onward plan is tomorrow. We're both pretty exhausted so I think we're going to have a rest day tomorrow, give the bikes some loving, and do some driving. Not sure where to hit up on the way to Snowshoe. Launch splits the drive up nicely, but I think Seven Springs would be a more enjoyable day on the bike.

Oh, didn't see a ride report and you suck at posting pics of this adventure.

My bad. I didn't want to be all "hey look at me, I won another race out here", so I kept schtum ;-)

 

[- seb]

Agreed. Killington can be a blast but the good trails are tough to find and there is certain ways to link up good parts of different trails that make for killer DH runs. I know many people who have wasted a day searching for the good stuff with no success. That is my local mountain and I ride it a tone. If anyone ever needs a guide shoot me a pm I would be more than happy to show you around.

Should have taken you up on that. Ah well!

 

[Jim Mac]

My bad. I didn't want to be all "hey look at me, I won another race out here", so I kept schtum ;-)

Ahem....

 

[bizutch]

Brother, if you won a freaking race, post up. You're the least smug of us...we'll let you get away with way more than bragging.

 

[- seb]

Done 4 races out here so far.

Won ESC Sugarbush
Punctured ESC Mt Snow
Won GES/ProGRT Windham
Won ESC Plattekill

(All in Cat 1 30-39).

In the UK we have a different category system to out here:

1) "Elite" (19+, similar to your "Pro")
2) "Expert" (19+, similar to Semi-Pro, which you don't seem to have any more)
3) then just age categories: ripper (0-12), juvenile (13-14), youth (15-16), junior (17-18), senior (19-29), master (30-39), veteran (40+)

In the UK I race Master, and definitely don't win every race I enter. So Cat 1 seemed the most appropriate option out here... Starting to feel like I'm unintentionally sandbagging though.

Off to Snowshoe this weekend. Will probably go cat 1 again, but am considering putting myself in Pro, even though I know I'd get smoked!

 

[- seb]

Snowshoe ProGRT track walk this afternoon:

 

[demo 9]

^ that looks about right

 

[- seb]

It's hard to believe, but somehow today Snowshoe was basically dry. Tacky most of the way down, dusty in places, and slippery in only a few spots. Bizarre given that photo that was taken at 7pm yesterday!

 

[mykel]

What did ya think of the 'shoe?

 

[kickstand]

Snowshoe ProGRT track walk this afternoon:

Typical snowshoe.

My friends and I call it downpour bike racing.

It does however seem to dry out pretty quick on the western side.

Looks like you're having a hell of a trip.

 

[- seb]

Snowshoe was good fun. I wasn't a big fan of the track at first, but it grew on me as I picked my pace up over the weekend. It's long though, so long.

I felt really lazy in my race run. I wasn't pedaling nearly as much as I thought I should. I kinda told myself I was saving something for the bottom of the track, pacing myself, but really I was just too lazy to push harder, and worried about crashing out. But, hell, it seemed to work, somehow notched up my final win of the holiday

Only been home back in the UK for a day, but already I'm just sat here mourning the fact that I'm not on holiday any more. We had an amazing time in the USA, met loads of awesome people and pretty sad to have left it all behind now... I suspect I'll be back some time!

 

[bizutch]

Did you actually stay and hit up all the other trails at the Shoe or literally just race?

 

[- seb]

Ride a few of the other tracks. Lower Hairball and a few of the blacks on the basin side. LH was good, some of the Basin stuff was very flat. Might have worked better in the dry.

I don't doubt that we missed some good trails, but when I'm at a race I want to win, so most of my riding was on the race track.

Would have been nice to stay for another day but we had other plans and flew back to the uk on Tuesday.