Mammoth - Day Three
This will be the final post about my recent Mammoth weekend.
DISCLAIMER: THIS WILL BE A VERY LONG POST!
Probably best to get something to eat for this bad boy ...
The prior two posts described the first two days at Mammoth, which were for the most part, the "climbing" days. Day three was booked as a shuttle day. The plan was to go up and down the gondolas and chair lifts all day.
We ended up making five runs down the mountain before deciding to call it a day. Five may not sound like a lot, but it was. It took roughly 6 hours to finish the runs including breaks and stops. By the end of the five runs I was totally done physically.
I'll break up all runs into sections to make it easier to read.
At the top:
RUN 1 (Off the Top - Beach Cruiser):
I had done this exact route last year from the top of the mountain and it was amazing. This year was no different. The trip from the bottom (8,000 elevation) to the top (11,000 elevation) is pretty quick.
I will say though that I hate, hate, HATE gondolas in general. The one at Mammoth was no exception. I just can't stand to think that I'm in a several ton box being slowly lifted on a thin cable over huge gaps and ravines. Not cool.
The trail itself was 100% singletrack from what I remember. No fire roads at all. The top sucked a bit because of the strong wind, but after reaching the tree line, the pace really picked up. I was trying to keep pace with Matt and Andrew and I was helped a ton by the endless parade of beginning riders coming down the mountain.
The nice thing about singletrack in Mammoth is that it's singletrack and it's fun. The bad thing is that lots of people are riding with you and passing becomes problematic.
About 20% of the way down the three of us came up on a guy that was obviously a beginner. He was not moving on the singletrack and we rode behind him for a bit. Eventually he tipped over on a sandy switchback and we were able to get by him.
This would be a theme for the day. We would come up to people, they wouldn't move and eventually they'd crash (nothing bad) or tip over on a switchback. It was frustrating because several people were deliberately stubborn and would not let us pass even though we were clearly faster. Oh well.
The last thing to mention about the first run was that we had actually wanted to hit some black diamond trails, but missed the turns for them. I really wanted to do the most technical rides first to save my strength.
RUN 2 (Break Through - Seven Bridges):
This was probably my second favorite run of the day. We ended up at the bottom of "Chair 2" at the end of the first run which meant we could take a chair lift halfway up the mountain instead of going all the way to the top in the gondola.
I was excited for two reasons. Firstly I didn't have to ride in the scary gondola and secondly I could explore new trails. I had never been on "Break Through" or "Seven Bridges". Both trails were rated below black diamond, so I figured they'd be easy.
The run was short (only 3.3 miles), but it was a blast. Break Through was nothing to write home about. It had some tough technical climbing sections at the start that no one could clear, but after that flowed pretty well.
Seven Bridges:
Seven Bridges was the meat of this run. Once we connected to it, it started to get mildly technical. Then more technical and then all of a sudden a ramp appeared on the trail leading down to a creek.
After going down the ramp we rode over a series of bridges that criss-crossed the creek. There were various small technical challenges before and after some bridges that spiced it up a bit.
Over all this ride was great and I'd love to do it again. It would have been fun to do it 2-3 times really fast in a row so that with each run we could get more familiar with it (which means going faster and faster each time).
RUN 3 (Trail Home - Richter):
This ride was one of the shortest we had done on the entire trip. We simply took the gondola halfway up the mountain and then dropped down Trail Home. At one point however Trail Home diverges and you get an optional route called Richter. Richter was listed as a black diamond so we decided to explore it.
The top part of Richter was very loose and the trail was barely defined. There were a few little steep sections, but nothing too bad. Not a lot of flow on the first section.
After the first quarter of a mile, the trail got really fun. It spit us out into an "X-Zone" (which is supposed to have jumps and stunts), which was a blast. There are little jumps that flow together very well. You don't have to ride fast or pull up on your bike to hit the jumps. It all just happens very naturally and it's very fun.
The bottom part of Richter was were I had some trouble. I came up behind Andrew to a very steep and sandy descent and stopped. Andrew looked at it before going down and that made me pause as well. After 2-3 false starts I finally rode down. It definitely got my adrenaline going, but I survived. It helps to do more and more steep stuff because it seems that I come across this kind of stuff more and more.
RUN 4 (Gravy Train - Bearing Straits - Shortcut - Beach Cruiser):
This post has taken forever to write, so this last section (I'm writing this last) is going to be short.
This ride had a lot of climbing in it that I was not expecting. I was in the wrong gear quite often and had my rear shock unlocked more than I should have. The other noteable feature of this ride was the wind. It was very windy on Bearing Straits and it made it hard to get going without worrying about tipping over due to the wind. Quite the experience.
Starting down Bearing Straits:
The second half of this run was nothing new.
RUN 5 (Skidmarks - Bridge the Gap - Trail Home - Richter - Downtown):
Ok this was the best ride of the day. I actually wrote out sections for all five runs and when I sat to type everything up, I skipped ahead because I was so excited.
We took the gondola up to the top for this last run because we wanted something epic. I guess you could call 12 miles of downhill to end a three day weekend riding adventure epic. It wasn't so much the trail itself as it was the experience of riding it that made this last run so good.
Last year at Mammoth I had really wanted to test myself. I wanted to ride some black diamond trails and see how I stacked up against them. I managed to ride only one last year and it scared me considerably.
I really wanted to start a run down with Skidmarks and thankfully Andrew and Matt agreed. Actually the real story is that both guys had to convince me to start with Skidmarks. Haha. I was pretty tired at this point and I didn't want to eat it bad on a technical section because of fatigue.
Skidmarks turned out to be not bad at all. The first part of it was singletrack down the side of a volcano. That's what it felt like. Nothing but rocks all around the trail. The other noteworthy aspect of the top was the wind. I have never in my life been in such heavy winds. We all had to get off our bikes and stop to wait for the gusts to die down at one of the switchbacks at the top.
The sign at the bottom said the winds were 20-30mph if I remember correctly. It ended up almost knocking me over even when I was standing with the bike. It was unreal.
The meat of Skidmarks was a technical singletrack that reminded me of The Luge except more technical. Large loose rocks on the trail and a few small drops just for fun. The rest of Skidmarks was a fast fire road with a lot of loose dirt. Apparently there is a trail called Kamikazee that is a black diamond trail, but it's just a steep fire road. Whatever.
I'll skip ahead to the more memorable parts of the last run ...
Matt, Andrew and I got stuck behind a young girl before hitting the fork in the road to do Richter. Unfortunately she veered off the side of the trail and awkwardly fell over trying to let us pass. Sorry!
I was not too happy to get suckered into doing Richter. I was very tired by this point in the weekend and I wanted to do a new trail. Andrew gave me a speech that went something like this:
Andrew: We've decided to do Richter. You can do Trail Home if you want and we'll meet at the bottom.
Ryan: ...
What was really said was this:
Andrew: We've decided we are awesome. Trail Home is too easy. Only wimps and girls do that trail. If you want to be a girl, then go ahead, we won't stop you. Loser.
Anyways, I did Richter and it was fine. I took the last part fairly fast it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The final stretch home was fascinating. The three of us passed probably around 30 people on Downtown. Most everyone got out of our way as we were flying down, but some people were stubborn and insisted on staying in front of us. Very frustrating.
My favorite part was when a girl crashed in front of us on an easy switchback. We had been right behind her and her guy friend for a while and she finally caved under the pressure. It was not a serious crash at all. More like a tip over into sand, so she was just shaken up a bit. That's what she gets for not letting us pass, right? Haha. I'm being sarcastic in case anyone can't tell.
This was a great last run to end a great trip.
This is the life:
DISCLAIMER: THIS WILL BE A VERY LONG POST!
Probably best to get something to eat for this bad boy ...
The prior two posts described the first two days at Mammoth, which were for the most part, the "climbing" days. Day three was booked as a shuttle day. The plan was to go up and down the gondolas and chair lifts all day.
We ended up making five runs down the mountain before deciding to call it a day. Five may not sound like a lot, but it was. It took roughly 6 hours to finish the runs including breaks and stops. By the end of the five runs I was totally done physically.
I'll break up all runs into sections to make it easier to read.
At the top:
RUN 1 (Off the Top - Beach Cruiser):
I had done this exact route last year from the top of the mountain and it was amazing. This year was no different. The trip from the bottom (8,000 elevation) to the top (11,000 elevation) is pretty quick.
I will say though that I hate, hate, HATE gondolas in general. The one at Mammoth was no exception. I just can't stand to think that I'm in a several ton box being slowly lifted on a thin cable over huge gaps and ravines. Not cool.
The trail itself was 100% singletrack from what I remember. No fire roads at all. The top sucked a bit because of the strong wind, but after reaching the tree line, the pace really picked up. I was trying to keep pace with Matt and Andrew and I was helped a ton by the endless parade of beginning riders coming down the mountain.
The nice thing about singletrack in Mammoth is that it's singletrack and it's fun. The bad thing is that lots of people are riding with you and passing becomes problematic.
About 20% of the way down the three of us came up on a guy that was obviously a beginner. He was not moving on the singletrack and we rode behind him for a bit. Eventually he tipped over on a sandy switchback and we were able to get by him.
This would be a theme for the day. We would come up to people, they wouldn't move and eventually they'd crash (nothing bad) or tip over on a switchback. It was frustrating because several people were deliberately stubborn and would not let us pass even though we were clearly faster. Oh well.
The last thing to mention about the first run was that we had actually wanted to hit some black diamond trails, but missed the turns for them. I really wanted to do the most technical rides first to save my strength.
RUN 2 (Break Through - Seven Bridges):
This was probably my second favorite run of the day. We ended up at the bottom of "Chair 2" at the end of the first run which meant we could take a chair lift halfway up the mountain instead of going all the way to the top in the gondola.
I was excited for two reasons. Firstly I didn't have to ride in the scary gondola and secondly I could explore new trails. I had never been on "Break Through" or "Seven Bridges". Both trails were rated below black diamond, so I figured they'd be easy.
The run was short (only 3.3 miles), but it was a blast. Break Through was nothing to write home about. It had some tough technical climbing sections at the start that no one could clear, but after that flowed pretty well.
Seven Bridges:
Seven Bridges was the meat of this run. Once we connected to it, it started to get mildly technical. Then more technical and then all of a sudden a ramp appeared on the trail leading down to a creek.
After going down the ramp we rode over a series of bridges that criss-crossed the creek. There were various small technical challenges before and after some bridges that spiced it up a bit.
Over all this ride was great and I'd love to do it again. It would have been fun to do it 2-3 times really fast in a row so that with each run we could get more familiar with it (which means going faster and faster each time).
RUN 3 (Trail Home - Richter):
This ride was one of the shortest we had done on the entire trip. We simply took the gondola halfway up the mountain and then dropped down Trail Home. At one point however Trail Home diverges and you get an optional route called Richter. Richter was listed as a black diamond so we decided to explore it.
The top part of Richter was very loose and the trail was barely defined. There were a few little steep sections, but nothing too bad. Not a lot of flow on the first section.
After the first quarter of a mile, the trail got really fun. It spit us out into an "X-Zone" (which is supposed to have jumps and stunts), which was a blast. There are little jumps that flow together very well. You don't have to ride fast or pull up on your bike to hit the jumps. It all just happens very naturally and it's very fun.
The bottom part of Richter was were I had some trouble. I came up behind Andrew to a very steep and sandy descent and stopped. Andrew looked at it before going down and that made me pause as well. After 2-3 false starts I finally rode down. It definitely got my adrenaline going, but I survived. It helps to do more and more steep stuff because it seems that I come across this kind of stuff more and more.
RUN 4 (Gravy Train - Bearing Straits - Shortcut - Beach Cruiser):
This post has taken forever to write, so this last section (I'm writing this last) is going to be short.
This ride had a lot of climbing in it that I was not expecting. I was in the wrong gear quite often and had my rear shock unlocked more than I should have. The other noteable feature of this ride was the wind. It was very windy on Bearing Straits and it made it hard to get going without worrying about tipping over due to the wind. Quite the experience.
Starting down Bearing Straits:
The second half of this run was nothing new.
RUN 5 (Skidmarks - Bridge the Gap - Trail Home - Richter - Downtown):
Ok this was the best ride of the day. I actually wrote out sections for all five runs and when I sat to type everything up, I skipped ahead because I was so excited.
We took the gondola up to the top for this last run because we wanted something epic. I guess you could call 12 miles of downhill to end a three day weekend riding adventure epic. It wasn't so much the trail itself as it was the experience of riding it that made this last run so good.
Last year at Mammoth I had really wanted to test myself. I wanted to ride some black diamond trails and see how I stacked up against them. I managed to ride only one last year and it scared me considerably.
I really wanted to start a run down with Skidmarks and thankfully Andrew and Matt agreed. Actually the real story is that both guys had to convince me to start with Skidmarks. Haha. I was pretty tired at this point and I didn't want to eat it bad on a technical section because of fatigue.
Skidmarks turned out to be not bad at all. The first part of it was singletrack down the side of a volcano. That's what it felt like. Nothing but rocks all around the trail. The other noteworthy aspect of the top was the wind. I have never in my life been in such heavy winds. We all had to get off our bikes and stop to wait for the gusts to die down at one of the switchbacks at the top.
The sign at the bottom said the winds were 20-30mph if I remember correctly. It ended up almost knocking me over even when I was standing with the bike. It was unreal.
The meat of Skidmarks was a technical singletrack that reminded me of The Luge except more technical. Large loose rocks on the trail and a few small drops just for fun. The rest of Skidmarks was a fast fire road with a lot of loose dirt. Apparently there is a trail called Kamikazee that is a black diamond trail, but it's just a steep fire road. Whatever.
I'll skip ahead to the more memorable parts of the last run ...
Matt, Andrew and I got stuck behind a young girl before hitting the fork in the road to do Richter. Unfortunately she veered off the side of the trail and awkwardly fell over trying to let us pass. Sorry!
I was not too happy to get suckered into doing Richter. I was very tired by this point in the weekend and I wanted to do a new trail. Andrew gave me a speech that went something like this:
Andrew: We've decided to do Richter. You can do Trail Home if you want and we'll meet at the bottom.
Ryan: ...
What was really said was this:
Andrew: We've decided we are awesome. Trail Home is too easy. Only wimps and girls do that trail. If you want to be a girl, then go ahead, we won't stop you. Loser.
Anyways, I did Richter and it was fine. I took the last part fairly fast it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The final stretch home was fascinating. The three of us passed probably around 30 people on Downtown. Most everyone got out of our way as we were flying down, but some people were stubborn and insisted on staying in front of us. Very frustrating.
My favorite part was when a girl crashed in front of us on an easy switchback. We had been right behind her and her guy friend for a while and she finally caved under the pressure. It was not a serious crash at all. More like a tip over into sand, so she was just shaken up a bit. That's what she gets for not letting us pass, right? Haha. I'm being sarcastic in case anyone can't tell.
This was a great last run to end a great trip.
This is the life:
posted by prevents email spam at
12:01 PM
4 Comments:
We decided we are awesome. hahaha
Actually, in Andrew's case no decision took place. It is self evident that he is awesome.
Sorry, my webpage link was broken on my previous comment. Here it is: http://tinyurl.com/37b3bb
Ha! Girl needs to ride FASTER or continue to learn about Awesome the hard way.
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