Hey, all:
Yesterday I had the pleasure of driving up (from LA) to
Santa Barbara and hooking up with Matt and the Santa
Barbara gang for a spectacular Muni ride (my first with a
group) down a sheer granite mountainside. The entire ride
took us a little over three hours (all descending) and
demolished our legs. Through the course of the ride I
learned the following things:
1. When the trail narrows to 2", goes into a hairpin turn,
angled at 45 degrees and littered with boulders and
shale, lean into the mountain as opposed to trying to
ride straight up and down. That way it you UPD, you
won't plunge to your death over the vertical cliffside
at the edge of the trail.
2. When the single track turns to sand and drops down an
incline steep as an Olympic ski jump, don't slow down or
the boys will run you over.
3. The definition of an "honest" descent precludes
stopping at vertical, circuitous, rocky sections to hop
over obstacles. That's like a downhill ski racer side-
slipping the tough sections. The "honest" descent
requires you to "bomb" even the gravest terrain, the
faster the better.
4. The only way to bomb exceedingly rocky sections is to
keep the wheel moving so fast you won't get hung up and
you can roll over anything smaller than a Bradley
Armored Vehicle–though you might still get bucked off
and swan dive 100 yards down a thorny palisade, or
peddle directly off the trail and freefall to the next
switchback (I almost did both).
5. When the very edge of the single track turns to sand and
is like the brink of El Capitan, and the Forest Service
has shorn up the margin with 2 X 6's to keep the trail
from simply falling into the void, don't dare Christian
to hop onto the 2 X 6 and ride it down the 40-degree
incline because he will.
6. Allow the boys to vastly overrate your true abilities.
This will give you the gusto to go for–and possibly make--
something you'd otherwise blow off as suicidal.
7. At all times, encourage each other to take even greater
risks, no matter the consequences.
Thanks, boys, and I'll see you next weekend.
JL
--
vivalargo
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