Meeting Goals...

After a very wet and cold Saturday, Sunday dawned sunny and bright at the house. Our plan for the day was to meet some friends (Emma, Scott, Randy and Suzanne) and ride the PW DH. Well it's not all a DH, there's plenty of yummy tight, technical and rocky climbing to be had first off then you get rewarded with a long and challenging DH, perfect in my book. And with the rain the trail would be perfect tacky bliss. I've also had a goal for PW since the spring, there's a natural rock drop out there, it's about 4.5 feet in height, to a flat landing between two trees. You need enough speed on the drop to clear the base of the rock as it slopes out at the bottom, it's not as straight forward as my lumber drops at home and elsewhere, it has some texture to it for a lack of a better descriptive word. Craig and Dan had done it once before and I put it on my to do list with the thought that I needed more practice with larger drops.
So when we got to the area of the drop Craig went off it first. I was wanting to do it, knew I could do it, I had confidence and asked Craig if I could follow him in so I could gauge my speed needed to clear the drop as well as miss the trees on either side of the landing. The entrance into the drop is flat as well so you have to pedal hard to get your speed up. Yesterday was the day and I stomped it, quite literally as the landing was a bit harsh since it's flat with no transition but it felt good and I was stoked. Emma caught it all on video, thanks Emma! Of course it doesn't look as tall or as interesting as it does in person but I'm proud of myself for reaching this personal goal this year, I wanted to make sure I did it this summer and I have, sweet!

PW Drop Down (Video taken by Emma Young)

The other feature Craig noticed while riding up and we noted for the return DH was a rock roller. This thing was sweet, steep, narrow entrance to a blind and steepish exit, it was cool and tall too. I love riding trails that have natural features to play on.


Rock-n-Roller (Video taken by Emma Young)

The ride was a blast, I felt on and my head was in my game..riding with confidence always feels good. The rest of the ride felt tight too, nailing tricky switch backs with ease, these types of riding days come along once in awhile, just to add some stoke to your ride and your experience, it was an awesome day out there pedaling with friends, almost perfect.