RR: Rim Nordic With xc burr & The Boy's!

[maxwell]

Well, since the Rim Nordic series is comming up I figured I'd take Jake up and see what he thought about the trails, and if he'd be interested in racing XC.
The first thing he asked when I told him we were heading up there for a ride, was if his friend Chris could come along?
I said "sure why not".
We went by The Path to see if anyone else was interested in going.

Nope. Staying local, and riding Oaks. Cool!

So, we made the 1.5 hour drive up.


The series is just around the corner. If you like real MTB XC racing, you really should hit the Rim Nordic races! http://www.rimnordic.com/bike.php

The plan was to take the boy's around the XC course, at an easy pace, and just let them enjoy riding in the mountains for a change.

Jake and Chris head up the first climb.


The first part of the course is always pretty much the same for every race. After the first race, the rest of course get's some changes, to mix it up, and keep it exciting!

Chris and Jake head accross the first bridge, and up the techy rock section that follows.

Chris




Jake




The trail keep's climbing for a bit, then it's a short, fast, rolling downhill section that leads to two more bridges, and some more climbing.

Jake on another bridge.


Well, after another small DH section the trail comes to one of the first course splits. For the first race it usually goes up to the left for some more climbing.



The boy's saw another bridge (oh, those bridges are FUN!) and kept going on downhill to the right.

So, that's cool. I'll just let them climb back up the second climb, for the second race, and we'll be back at the split.
We made it back up to the top, road back down to the slpit, and had the guy's go ahead and climb back up. (I'm mean huh?)

Chris climbing back up.


Jake doing the same.


Well, when we got back up top, I was letting them know that we were going to go back down, and keep following the original plan. There was a rider comming up the trail, so we'd wait for him to come up, and we'd start down.

Well, to my surprise it was Harry, aka xc burr!

He had seen that I'd posted about comming up for the ride, and thought he'd join us. It was just by chance that we'd actually got to meet up.

Good thing the boy's made the first wrong turn!

So, since Harry had never done the course we road down, and started all over.

Ya know, a funny thing happened on that ride down.

I CRASHED!

Full on, OTB, belly slide into home base.

Complete surpise! What the heck did I hit?

Oh well, I crash, there for I am!

We made it up the first climb to the bridge, so I figured I'd get Harry in on the photo action!





Back on up, and back on down again, where the course makes a left by the starting area, and heads on into the hills!

There is a pretty nasty section of single track climbing along here, and the boy's found out just how you can get up it.

Chris pushing, with Jake just behind him.


And even more climbing!

Harry up front, with Chris behind, and Jake doing his best "ME bringing up the rear" impersination.


We finally hit another one of the fun DH sections.

Harry


Jake and Chris


Harry, a Clydes racer threading the needle.


So, with every good XC course, there is more climbing after the DH.

This "little" tree took a tumble just after the steep sandy climb, just before the fire road.


We reached the fire road, which is pretty much where I get dropped on this course.

We made the turn-off, from the fire road to the next section of double track, and guess what? It's almost fire road now.
The big fire up here last year had taken it's toll on some of the course.

Which leads us to our first little bit of trail work!

We ran across this large rut, which has pretty much always been there the years I've raced here, but it's never been this deep.



We took the time out of our ride, and fixed it up a bit, and made it more rideable.



Harry gives it the first go.


On down the trail......

and some more affects of the fire.


This next section used to have a good sized root drop, kinda steep, into another section of rocks.
The root drop is gone, but it's still fun all the same.

Harry


Chris


Jake


The section after this has a nice narrow section of trail, with a tight left turn around the tree at the bottom, then more climbing.

This is what we found where the tight left turn used to be.


We took a few more minutes out of the ride, and made something that was unridable, ridable.


Earlier in the ride Harry had be telling me how good the guys from Cannondale had treated him at Sea Otter.
He had been having drive train issues. The had set him up with some nice, new, some FREE, some not, goodies, and got his bike working for him.

And with one little flick of a stick, it almost went up in smoke!


We removed the "twig", and found little if any dammage. He's gonna check it out later and see if the derailur got tweaked.

On with the ride.....

With another wrong turn, provided by me this time, we got back on course.
The boy's were hunrgy, and seemed like they'd had enough.
I told them the famous MTB'er quote, "this is the last climb" a couple more times, and we finished it up.

One more climb Jake....


Chris and Jake making "another" last climb.


All and all, it was a fun ride.
Hooking up with Harry was great. First time I've actually got to ride with him without racing.
And riding with the kids is ALWAYS FUN!

Jake and Chris actually rode some more after we came home, so they could feel the difference of the elevation.

It must be nice to be young!

Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll see you at Rim Nordic!

[davidB]

now THAT'S a ride report!

I raced that course last year, and besides the fact someone had forgotten the oxygen, I have never seen a better XC race venue. Even got myself in their paper. I think I'll do it again at least twice this year because of how much fun it was up there.

Awesome RR Maxwell

[genusmtbkr5]

Thanks Darin for the RR. I've got to get out there sometime. Looks like lots of fun and lots of shade. Thanks also for the trail work.

[JoeTruth]

Nice RR! The boys were kicking butt, which at that altitude, isn't an easy thing to do. Thanks for taking the time to post.

[ghixon]

Rim in all its glory.

Supposedly, there is going to be some trail work this week to remove the downed trees on the climb section just before the fire road. I'm not sure if they're going to do anything with the west extension parts. It's got 3-4 downed trees in various locations and it looks like the forest service has been out felling some of the damged trees lately.

[maxwell]

Originally Posted by ghixon

Rim in all its glory.

Supposedly, there is going to be some trail work this week to remove the downed trees on the climb section just before the fire road. I'm not sure if they're going to do anything with the west extension parts. It's got 3-4 downed trees in various locations and it looks like the forest service has been out felling some of the damged trees lately.

Yeah, there were actually only two spots where they fell across the trail that we rode yesterday.
There had been a lot of clearing done already.

It'll be another great series up there!

[andy aka rut]

Heather and I rode there last weekend. What a beautiful area. Funny, you never get to see the beauty when you are racing!

Great RR Darin!

[lukewiens]

Thanks, I was waiting for this....you got my vote this week!

[allison]

I was going to ask if the course was at all signed, but I'm guessing no

Sounds like a great day!

[maxwell]

Originally Posted by allison

I was going to ask if the course was at all signed, but I'm guessing no

Sounds like a great day!

Not yet. I'm guessing Kerry and Rusty will be out there sometime this week, or next weekend.
They're great about having the course marked the weekend before the race.
Allision, you and Justin would really enjoy this series.
True XC MTBing for sure!

[allison]

Originally Posted by maxwell

Allision, you and Justin would really enjoy this series.
True XC MTBing for sure!

Unfortunately I think we're taking some time off from racing; especially when it's a long drive! Trying to save up for a few recreational road trips later this summer I think (and Downieville).

I wouldn't mind riding it one day on my own, though!

[xc burr]

Great pics max thanks again for showing me around had fun.