YUMMY TURNS
At Hall Ranch in Lyons, CO., you haul your carcass up sandstone ledges, spin along a valley then reach a meadow. To your left, Longs Peak pokes 14,255 feet through the North American Plate. In front of you, perfect corners wait to play hot potato with your bike.
You fade left, hook a water bar, fold right, water bar, left, water bar, right — hauling the mail by now — and boost off another water bar into a big left. It’s a singular moment: body low, bike high; setting your front wheel into the line, letting the rear wheel arc around. Plant the rear, pump the cupped berm and fold into the next right.
Turn, jump, turn.
Heavy, light, heavy.
Yummy.
|
|
We’ve zoomed through this section dozens of times, and today we finally photographed it. |
 Bobbi Watt rips it for like the 17th time. She doesn’t seem to mind. She loves her extra-small 2006 Enduro. |
 Bobbi is so hardcore: There’s a very surprised (and dead) bug on her upper lip. |
Dude, I love bike riding. |
Expression credit: “Hauling your carcass” and “hauling the mail” come from Mark Weir. He works for the government, creating expressions to confuse the people.
m-dub Says October 16, 2006 @ 12:03 am
Looks like a blast! Lee, a bit off topic, but what knee pads are you using? Thanks.
Denise Says October 16, 2006 @ 8:06 am
Ok, been looking for a reason to drive that far to ride - that does it! Looks like it’s worth the “Haul”….
leelikesbikes Says October 16, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
Those are Fox Radius pads — no longer made.
For the next level of protection, I like the TLD T-Bones:
http://www.leelikesbikes.com/light-duty-kneepads.html
Scott Says October 16, 2006 @ 1:11 pm
Did you guys lower your seats at all? Are they are full XC height?
leelikesbikes Says October 16, 2006 @ 1:16 pm
Bobbi’s is at full XC height.
Mine is down about 3 inches — using a Maverick Speedball seatpost.
Esteban Says October 20, 2006 @ 2:02 am
sweet looks like a mini les gets
cASe Says October 23, 2006 @ 3:43 pm
“Ok, been looking for a reason to drive that far to ride - that does it! Looks like it’s worth the “Haulâ€â€¦.”
Thats not even the best part of the trail, just a very fun section!
Lianna Says December 8, 2006 @ 4:37 pm
1. Lianna likes Lee Likes Bikes
2. My riding buddies rip on me for using “hauling the mail”. I heard it used once on the NASA channel ( I know, Geek Factor very high) on some stock footage of the Mercury capsules, I think Mission Control said it. Maybe now if I tell them Mark Weir uses it too, I can get some respect…
leelikesbikes Says December 8, 2006 @ 5:13 pm
Lee Likes Lianna Likes Bikes …
http://liannalikesbikes.blogspot.com/
“Lianna likes bikes. Especially mountain bikes. She also likes good books, good powder, good ice, and geeky engineering-type things.”
Sounds like my dream girl.