First ride at Fort Custer

[kyle_vk]

That was too funny.

If you "hurt the children," get your ass off of the saddle! Seriously. You shouldn't be sitting down when riding that stuff. The "kids" shouldn't be in jeopardy.

Haha, i wasn't sitting down, i'm no pro but i know that much. after landing the first drop my feet bounced off the pedals and the second bit took them off altogether (still working on that whole absorbing thing , the seat was kind enough to catch me.

[Di_bear]

That was too funny.

If you "hurt the children," get your ass off of the saddle! Seriously. You shouldn't be sitting down when riding that stuff. The "kids" shouldn't be in jeopardy.

Haha, i wasn't sitting down, i'm no pro but i know that much. after landing the first drop my feet bounced off the pedals and the second bit took them off altogether (still working on that whole absorbing thing , the seat was kind enough to catch me.

Yeah, that pedal thing can be a bit of an issue. I had to go with clipless because I kept losing my pedals. If you wanna stay with flats, I would recommend asking a freerider how to do it.

[kyle_vk]

yeah i've been back and forth over going clipless, if the right deal comes along i might give it a go this summer...otherwise i'll stick with platforms and just keep improving my form since there's plenty of room for improvement. I'm sure advice helps and its easy to read about it, but i just need to get out more. 3 more weeks till finals are over... :/

[xycarp]

If you are just getting started on more technical riding, I'd recommend reviewing the videos on Youtube. There is TONS of great info. Here is a video showing the proper technique for taking a drop. The guys goes over it in pretty good detail. If you watch the whole thing, you will get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnIKZw9n ... re=related

[Sortaslow]

Anyone like the holdridge drop. Like 3- 3.5 feet? I landed no so good there once. On my side, basically my hip.

[AllMountin']

Anyone like the holdridge drop. Like 3- 3.5 feet? I landed no so good there once. On my side, basically my hip.

The one on the tech loop? I think it is labeled as a 3 foot drop, which I honestly thought would seem... bigger. I didn't have a tape measure handy. I really liked the last couple log rides out there. The last one, before the tight turn back to the right... I rode it w/out inspection. Got to the end and wasn't sure if I could roll the exit or not, so I stalled. Bike rolled off the right, and I belly flopped the log ride. The log bloodied my chin as punishment for my indecision.

If it makes you feel better, yesterday I was sessioning drops off a cement slab to a short downslope next to a paved trail. I was trying to hit it *just right*, so the front tire stayed up all the way down the incline and would gently touch down on the trail below. Looped out on my last attempt and went tailbone first onto the pavement(clipped in of course). No eyewitnesses present, thankfully.

[RickPlite]

Thanks guys, he was good after the faceplant...just had to pick some dirt out of his face.

BTW that last two faceplant clips were at Yankee Springs not Fort Custer.

where at Yankee is this? I have no idea.

Wow sorry, had a total brain fart and put my video in the wrong folder...didn't think twice when i typed it. It was actually at cannonsburg. I can't remember exactly at what point. As for the the falling aspect...we're not pros...like i said they'd only been out a couple times. The drop wasn't the intimidating part, it was that 15' after there were two decent rut/drops spaced just far enough apart that having a controlled landing before hitting them was key.

Edit: Found the clip of me hitting it, ignore the outro.



Not great but you can see that it was more than just a land and coast away, that and all the leaves really didn't boost your confidence for keeping traction into turns haha.

ok, now I know where it is, thanks.

[rvd]

Anyone like the holdridge drop. Like 3- 3.5 feet? I landed no so good there once. On my side, basically my hip.

The one on the tech loop? I think it is labeled as a 3 foot drop, which I honestly thought would seem... bigger. I didn't have a tape measure handy. I really liked the last couple log rides out there. The last one, before the tight turn back to the right... I rode it w/out inspection. Got to the end and wasn't sure if I could roll the exit or not, so I stalled. Bike rolled off the right, and I belly flopped the log ride. The log bloodied my chin as punishment for my indecision.

You've got to think glass half-full here: "my chin bloodied the log ..."

I find the line of baby heads (as they would say in Flemish) on the Holdridge tech loop a very nice feature. I did the left (shorter one) my first time at Holdridge, but rode the longer line of boulders my second lap. As for the 3-foot drop, I took the bypass on my first lap, but went for (and very much enjoyed) it the second lap.

It is funny how some of these tech features, including this drop, can scare you initially, but then turn out to be a blast once you man up. I am hoping I can develop a similar appreciation for the new 'pitchfork' line at Burchfield. I am scared of it now though!

[reidabel]

I am hoping I can develop a similar appreciation for the new 'pitchfork' line at Burchfield. I am scared of it now though!

I am more scared of unrollable drops than I am of Pitchfork! The difference being that Pitchfork requires no skill other than being able to stay on it and do a small rollable drop at the end. With the big drops, I still don't know how to do them properly, and practicing means a significant risk of falling and possibly breaking something. I guess Pitchfork requires little skill but has some risk. These drops require skill AND have risk.

On second thought, I think the important skill needed on Pitchfork is to know how (and when) to jump off before putting a wheel off the side of it ...

[reidabel]

If you are just getting started on more technical riding, I'd recommend reviewing the videos on Youtube. There is TONS of great info. Here is a video showing the proper technique for taking a drop. The guys goes over it in pretty good detail. If you watch the whole thing, you will get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnIKZw9n ... re=related

I was surprised when the guy said that you don't actually lift the front wheel - though I think it has to happen doing what he said to do. I'm thinking I could try what he says just on the flat and see if I get my front wheel to lift off the ground a bit for a few feet. That is, long enough for the rear wheel to go over the edge had I been doing it on an actual drop. I think I need a physicist to explain it, with full computer graphics

[balexander87]

I think you're right. Doing what he suggests, you end up lifting the front wheel slight, or at least remove almost all weight from it. The point is to not focus on lifting the front wheel. When you do that, you tend to lift your body, raising your center of mass and putting you in an overall less stable position rather than shift back into a more stable position.

[Sortaslow]

I think you're right. Doing what he suggests, you end up lifting the front wheel slight, or at least remove almost all weight from it. The point is to not focus on lifting the front wheel. When you do that, you tend to lift your body, raising your center of mass and putting you in an overall less stable position rather than shift back into a more stable position.

When I took my dive at holdridge I lifted the front of he bike up and exactly as you describe and ended up way to high up and leaning to my right. Made for a painful fall. Not the way to do it.

[reidabel]

Trying to do wheelies with my new lighter bike, I've found that I'm almost always slightly off-center when I get the wheel up, making it so that I can't pedal more than a couple of times before coming down with my wheel precariously angled to the side. Who knew doing long wheelies was so hard?

Doing a wheelie off of a big drop sounds like a good way to splat!

[cramer]

Thanks guys, he was good after the faceplant...just had to pick some dirt out of his face.

BTW that last two faceplant clips were at Yankee Springs not Fort Custer.

where at Yankee is this? I have no idea.

Wow sorry, had a total brain fart and put my video in the wrong folder...didn't think twice when i typed it. It was actually at cannonsburg. I can't remember exactly at what point. As for the the falling aspect...we're not pros...like i said they'd only been out a couple times. The drop wasn't the intimidating part, it was that 15' after there were two decent rut/drops spaced just far enough apart that having a controlled landing before hitting them was key.

Edit: Found the clip of me hitting it, ignore the outro.



Not great but you can see that it was more than just a land and coast away, that and all the leaves really didn't boost your confidence for keeping traction into turns haha.

ok, now I know where it is, thanks.

Yeah, that's on that downhill run that crosses the main trail right there and that drop off sort of jumps the regular XC trail. I remember watching the guys from down south (St. Louis area maybe?) build that during the Midwest Mountain Bike Summit a few years ago. They were teaching us how to build solid rock armoring.