Nice technical chunk is pretty amazing!

 

Oh yeah, thats looks sweeeeeeeeet. We would ride together if we lived in the same part of the world.

I did the mother of all hike a bikes yesterday. Hiked to the top of a mountain in Queenstown . The scariest "if I stuff it up I die"

ride I have ever done. Faaaark.

But I did it and didn't die. An epic adventure.

 

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Oh yeah, thats looks sweeeeeeeeet. We would ride together if we lived in the same part of the world.

I did the mother of all hike a bikes yesterday. Hiked to the top of Ben Lamond in Queenstown . The scariest "if I stuff it up I die" View attachment 2138271
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ride I have ever done. Faaaark.

But I did it and didn't die. An epic adventure.

Oh yeah. That looks like limestone too. Limestone provides an extra layer of sketch because it breaks down into little ball bearings and is naturally slippery when wet.

I’m always scanning for features and spicy lines every time I’m out in the backcountry. My usual summer trails have a lot of hairball features, but at this point I’ve done them all and have shared them here multiple times.

I will be bringing more to this thread throughout the season. I’ve got a few zones I’m hoping to explore that will hopefully be fruitful.🤞. Sometimes you get to a place and are just sure it’s going to have something sick, only to find out it’s either not doable at all or the risk isn’t worth the reward. We’ll see what we see…

 

...bouncing off granite from a cheap MTB mistake is not as fun now as it was 30 years ago

 

I enjoy speed as much as the next guy — but it isn’t my leading motivation to ride. On many high speed trails these days, my brain can operate on autopilot, especially on my modern bikes.

Spring is finally here, and it’s go time.

Share your love of the “unrideable.”
Thanks for reading!

I went from a hardtail to a DH bike when I started riding, so what I thought was previously unrideable became a walk in the park!

Same for anything steep, lots of suspension and sticky tyres deal to most things.

 

My favorite type of riding. Your senses need to be full tilt boogy. And then add a dose of momentum.

 

wow! you guys are a cut above what i usually ride lol ive had a few years without riding.. so skills went down for me.. its a bit of a sore point.. but for me.. now.. if i ever get back to being comfortable on black lines.. itl be good.. if i dont.. well as long as im enjoying the rides and i realize what some of you ride is beyond even double black... hats off.. and keep the pics coming eh that means stay safe

 

"unrideable"
East Rim Post Line Trail

https://www.mtbr.com/threads/did-you-ride-today.988566/page-528?post_id=15701996#post-15701996

My riding buddy, Bill, and I entertained the IMBA trail care crew one time at West Branch State Park (Ohio). There is a trail called "Rock Wall". It's tricky, to say the least (these days things have shifted and there is a lot more moss in the shady spots).
We led the IMBA crew down it (and Bill and I effing cleaned it - this was our day!), then we decided to try it in reverse (just...no.). The IMBA guys tried and tried and declared it "unrideable". Bill and I headed back up and cleaned it in reverse! (I seriously doubt I could do it today) Slacker jaws were never seen.

Also, this "Mountainview" trail at Blue Knob SP, PA became very sketchy with all the moss and water.

-F

 

I was reliving this little gem. It's not really there any more, making this little adventure a literal once-in-a-lifetime outing; erosion completely changed the course of the stream there, and many old, large trees have piled up into an impassable barrier.

Up A Creek

-F

 

You would really enjoy the Grouse trail in Steamboat Springs. It definitely had some similar spots to the pics you show. Amazingly beautiful climb up through the aspens followed by double black gnar on the way down.

 

The "unridable" things I enjoy are new routes. I love figuring out ways to link up trails for longer rides, or new loops that nobody figured out before.

Stunts and obstacles hold no real appeal for me. I get no particular thrill out of clearing them, and I have nobody to impress. I can appreciate that some people do like that stuff though. It's just a different mentality, solving puzzles, like rock crawling in the 4x4 world, or hard enduro on motorcycles. I don't care for that stuff either. Trophy trucks and Dakar/Baja rallies would be my jam in those disciplines.


.

 

Same here. There are countless miles of abandoned/ unmaintained two-track and game/cattle trails scattered all over the state. It's a blast finding all the bits you need to link up a massive loop...

 

I enjoy speed as much as the next guy — but it isn’t my leading motivation to ride. On many high speed trails these days, my brain can operate on autopilot, especially on my modern bikes.

No, for me; what really gets me stoked before and after a ride is cleaning sections of trail (or maybe not even a trail) that appear to be, for all intents and purposes— impossible to ride. Or at least “very likely to go badly” if precision and calculation is not on point.

I dabbled in trials riding during the decade of my 20s. While I built some skills, I can’t say I ever approached mastery. I was downhill racing and “freeriding” as well at that time, and those were still my preferred disciplines.

What I go for now is sort of a combination of downhill and trials. I imagine what motivates me is very similar to what motivates a highly skilled trials rider.

Enter exhibit A: Yesterday’s trail ride. It’s one of the first trails that opens up in the spring due to its south facing aspect. The trail itself is very mundane — just a good stiff climb but otherwise unremarkable trail surfaces. Way too many people hiking it to have any sort of speed or flow coming back down. What has my fires stoked is the 100 feet or so off a spur trail, which I picture here:
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I first rode these lines over 20 years ago — but they are in no way less scary on modern bikes. Just a little safer.

Anyway, I’ll try to wrap up this ramble by saying the thrill and the stoke are still there. The ride was awesome because of that hundred feet or so of trail. I’ll go back again a couple more times before our other trails open up.

Spring is finally here, and it’s go time.

Share your love of the “unrideable.”
Thanks for reading!

I think we would enjoy riding together.

Just Swell by Mike Curiak on Exposure

It would be difficult to overstate the uniqueness of this route. There is essentially no trail. It's not like the first rule of Fight Club where we just don't talk about the trail -- it really doesn't exist. There is a suggested route, denoted by occasional splotches of paint on rock, but beyond...

mikesee.exposure.co

 

Having started by mountain biking on rough hiking trails in the 1980s, riding slow and technical climbs and descents is my preferred type of riding. I almost look at riding these trails clean is like trying to solve a puzzle.

 

 

These look crazy. I'd love to give these a shot. What's the line on this one below? Is it like the red line I drew below, or more like the green line?

 

Green line is pretty much the line. Red line would get you killed, haha. If you went off the end of that rock, it’s about a 4’ drop (can’t be rolled), and just to the left of it is very steep exposure with jagged rocks.

This picture is the same line, but looking up. The green line is what I do. It’s steep, and it’s hard to tell, but very stair-steppy.

 

Time to update this thread! I’ve been riding a lot of the same old stuff this season; very little time for exploring new zones.

Here’s a move I did today. I’ve shared pictures before looking from the top down, but my cousin was there today to get a better angle of riding it:

It looks like a pretty straightforward rock roll, but of course it’s not.😎

Here’s the view from the back:

You’ve got to hit this with speed and lunge your way over that dip in the rock. I put that stick there to smooth out the bump a little. Once you’re on top, you’ve got to turn right and go about 4’ before dropping down to the left. It’s tall, and pretty steep. I went a little too fast today and hit the g-out pretty hard, but better than the last time. To my knowledge, nobody else has ever ridden it.

Not an impossible move, but spicy. Please share your rock moves from this season, or gnarly chutes and root tangles. I live on this stuff.👍👍

Different bike/different day, but what it looks like from the top.

 

That looks like a fairly difficult runout.

 

I upped the ante today.😎

 

Oh yeah, Love it!

 

Daily terrain -chunk, chunder, rolls on gnar granite!

 

Thats some juicy jank right there.