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I turned 45 this year and it seems to be that time in life when high school friends start dying and loved ones start getting ill. For these reasons and others I"ve had a chance to go back to where I grew up in westchester county new york a couple times this year. It's been 22 years since I moved to Northern California, I stared riding about 11 years ago, and racing 4 years ago. Since I live about an hour from Lake Tahoe and Downieville, I've become a n MTB snob and always assumed there was NO MOUNTAIN BIKING where I grew up. Before My first trip back home I checked out WMBA.ORG to see if there were any trails in Westchester, I was surprised to see there were and that one place(Sprain Park) was just a few miles from the house I grew up in many years ago.
I arrived in July to drop my kids off at summer camp and had a chance to ride with some of the guys from WMBA at the Sprain Park. I could not believe how technical and fun the riding was and how friendly the WMBA crew was. I did more log crossings in one ride then I do all year here (not an exaggeration!)
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We flew back for a week over thanksgiving and I had called an old Collage buddy who hooked me up with my new hero Craig
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Craig not only lent me one of his bikes for the week , he also lent me a vest which I forgot as well as a set of body armor, something I never tried before
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Craig and Gil took me to Graham Hills first.
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This was the coldest ride I've ever done, the temp was 25 when we started then "warmed" up to 34 by the time we were done...brrrr. There must have been 10-20 cars in the lot when we started, the east coast riders are hard core! Next day Blue Mountain. More awesome technical trails. Can you tell it was cold?
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One of weirdest parts of the ride, Eating the PB&J sandwich my "mommy" made for me for the ride. Lucky my wife is therapist.
Lunch time
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Last ride was solo and back to The Sprain. There were some of the best technical riders I've seen out there that day. I think his name was Ian, here he is doing a big drop
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Can't remember this guys name, here he is about do a monster drop much bigger then it looks!
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I've been to Moab and Sedona twice, and I thought the trails in NY were almost as much fun. Yeah the scenery was not as good and there were no real long epic climbs, but the trails were a blast. Lots of NY slickrock
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Me going down some NY Slickrock
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Other Observations
I'm a girly man when it comes to riding the real technical stuff
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East coast set up.. Big Ring? I got your fockin big ring right here!
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There is a reason where everyone wears body armor there.
Logs, logs and more logs
![]()
Maybe I was just on vacation but the NY riders sure seemed a lot more friendly to me. After only 2 rides with the guys from WMBA I feel like I have a gang to ride with.
As our governor says
I'll be back!
I arrived in July to drop my kids off at summer camp and had a chance to ride with some of the guys from WMBA at the Sprain Park. I could not believe how technical and fun the riding was and how friendly the WMBA crew was. I did more log crossings in one ride then I do all year here (not an exaggeration!)
We flew back for a week over thanksgiving and I had called an old Collage buddy who hooked me up with my new hero Craig
Craig not only lent me one of his bikes for the week , he also lent me a vest which I forgot as well as a set of body armor, something I never tried before
Craig and Gil took me to Graham Hills first.
This was the coldest ride I've ever done, the temp was 25 when we started then "warmed" up to 34 by the time we were done...brrrr. There must have been 10-20 cars in the lot when we started, the east coast riders are hard core! Next day Blue Mountain. More awesome technical trails. Can you tell it was cold?
One of weirdest parts of the ride, Eating the PB&J sandwich my "mommy" made for me for the ride. Lucky my wife is therapist.
Lunch time
Last ride was solo and back to The Sprain. There were some of the best technical riders I've seen out there that day. I think his name was Ian, here he is doing a big drop
Can't remember this guys name, here he is about do a monster drop much bigger then it looks!
I've been to Moab and Sedona twice, and I thought the trails in NY were almost as much fun. Yeah the scenery was not as good and there were no real long epic climbs, but the trails were a blast. Lots of NY slickrock
Me going down some NY Slickrock
Other Observations
I'm a girly man when it comes to riding the real technical stuff
East coast set up.. Big Ring? I got your fockin big ring right here!
There is a reason where everyone wears body armor there.
Logs, logs and more logs
Maybe I was just on vacation but the NY riders sure seemed a lot more friendly to me. After only 2 rides with the guys from WMBA I feel like I have a gang to ride with.
As our governor says
I'll be back!
