RR: Mammoth with the Adams family

[tkblazer]

First off i'd like to thank Traci for driving to and from Mammoth for us and for setting up all the arrangements for lodging.. you are the best even if Neil says different

We left friday night and after checking in and moving everything up we all called it a night around 230-3am.. we were all awaken by a storm trooper by the name of neil at 0700 .. all he said was, "let's ride" we hit up the new york bagel spot and got breakfast and then headed for the trails... Since only Showtime and I have ridden here before Neil and Gary had no idea what to expect.. Showtime decided that DC-10 would be a good warm up trail to hit and that trail selection seemed to bite him in the ass as the pictures below will show. Gary managed to do the same and it was a beautiful start to the day...
I believe we did another run and then met up with Traci and Maddie for some XC riding on the Downtown trail.. Maddie was killing it on all the climbing sections where the rest of us were really starting to feel the elevation. We even ran into some bears on the trail and it was a scary encounter since there was two cubs and a momma bear. We huddled together as a big group and went another direction away from them.Showtime and I branched off to hit shotgun while the Adams and Gary proceeded on Downtown. Jay and I were in town for at least 30 minutes when we finally managed to reach Neil and he reported that maddie hit 2 drops and did fine but on the 3rd one her front tire dove in the sand and she face planted into a banked turn. She was a little shooken up but no damage was done. We hit up a sushi joint for dinner which had a sweet Happy Hour Special of a PBR and spicy tuna hand roll for $5.. right when she said that we all ordered one.. the best part was that they ran out of PBR and had to substitute Newcastle instead.. so it was safe to say that asian guy + elevation + two nukies + shot of cough syrup sake = buzzed asian guy.. the others continued to drink as i figured i would be the designated driver. So everyone had a few more drinks back at the condo and i believe someone fell asleep in the bathroom, but that might just be a rumor.
Day two we were joined by Kevin a mammoth local and friend of Showtime's that hooked us up with a sweet deal on passes.. homeboy is a ball of energy and never stops pedaling, uphill or down.. i guess when you have spent the last 4 months there you get a little acclimated to the elevation. Anyhow, we hit Kamakaze to shock treatment to a locals trail. second run we hit velocity and did some drops and hit another locals trail back to the gondy. third run we did velocity to twilightzone to downtown to shotgun and is where i managed to clip my handlebars on a tree and land on my left shoulder.. it popped out on impact and i managed to pop it back into place and get back on my feet.. i busted my shifter mount and have to rig it back to get back out to town. that was my last run while the fellas did a final kamakaze to the gondy run to close the weekend out.
All in all a great weekend, the lift lines were short and we rarely ever encounter other groups of riders since a lot of the people out there were going on more xc type of rides. We all hit some jumps and drops and had a blast despite the loose conditions..

















Traci does ride a bike



start of day two









no RR is complete without a token trail marination pic

[shudder]

We even ran into some bears on the trail and it was a scary encounter

Holy CR@P, asian guy!!! I have always worried about this up there. Seen a few bears down in town and was always a bit squeamish that I'd see one up on the trails. Glad it all worked out okay. Yeesh!

Sounds like a great weekend!

shud

[sdyeti]

Oh, I was expecting these guys:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...damsFamily.jpg



kidding...looks like you all had a fun weekend! thanks for sharing it

[art23rockpile]

Thanks for the nice RR, Asian Guy!

Looks like you all had a great time up there. I wouldn't want to be awakened by Neil at 7am... when it comes to riding he's no slacker!

A bunch of us will be up there at the end of the week... can't wait.

[blender]

i think i ran into your group, when you guys were sessioning the first rock drop on Techno.. one of you had just crashed i think and was getting back on his feet. Hope he's doing ok

[Mudman]

Great photos Nam! It was a blast and I can't wait to make a trip of Mammoth again... Crashes were had by all. And I got ran over by a bike..

Madeline did a GREAT job! she was climbing everything and even got in the air a few time off of some roots- she killed everything despite her crash.

Oh and I fell asleep taking a poo in the bathroom.

Originally Posted by blender

i think i ran into your group, when you guys were sessioning the first rock drop on Techno.. one of you had just crashed i think and was getting back on his feet. Hope he's doing ok

that was probably me. Can't believe I fell on that drop- I had been crashing on everything today, even on the small things.

What bike were you on?

[bwolmarans]

I have no idea where half those pics were taken

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by bwolmarans

I have no idea where half those pics were taken

mammoth

[Wrecker]

Great RR and pics! Maddie is one amazing little rider! And, Traci, is that a new bike?

[Draheim18]

Great pictures, if only I could get up there to ride.

[surlygal]

Originally Posted by Wrecker

Great RR and pics! Maddie is one amazing little rider! And, Traci, is that a new bike?

Wow is Mammoth beautiful!

Maddie killed it this weekend, I was so proud of her With a 6 year old, you never know what your day will be. You can plan as much as you want but they *may* have other plans. This was not one of those days ~ instead this was Maddie's day - she rode up she rode down, she'd hit little drops, she'd make the deep sand switchbacks, she'd lead, she followed and then she fell she fell on the most technical part of the entire trail - she followed Garys line and basically had a dirt lunch(should have known better Gary makes crashing look easy LOL) - It took about 15 or so mins before she got her confidence back (very long 15 braking, walking, etc) but then decided that was boring and rode the rest of the way down fast! This was the only ride for her and I for the weekend but well worth it.

Just Riding Along


Maddie following Jay up a hill (notice she's sitting)


Showing us where to go


Her snack break - all of the sudden she stopped took her pack off and grabbed a bite to eat ~
We were like What's going on??




As for the 2 baby cubs and mama bear...They were in a very exposed place by a water tank. Gary saw them 1st and had Maddie stop (the trail went right by them) once we all saw the cubs and no Mama we knew we needed to move and move fast...We then saw the mama in a set of trees about 20ft from her babies - she saw us - we saw her and we took off towards the road taking a bypass from the trail. I asked for someone to take a picture but we just wanted to stay away from a mama keeping her babies safe.
I think see the bears was the highlight of Maddie and all of our trip.

As far as the bike I was riding ~ it was a Tracer proto (actually proto #3) and let me tell you ~ it was a fantastic ride! Light enough 27lbs to climb easily but plenty of travel to hit things smoothly..It rode the switchbacks easily ~ I can not say enough about how pleased I was with the bike except I will be selling 1 to buy 1 very soon (just can't decide if it'll be the Marin or the Voodoo SS )

Pictures of the rest of the weekend and the DH stuff will be posted by Neil later

Have fun next weekend! and pray for rain this week ~ it was loose and full of kitty litter, rain would have made conditions epic.

Great time with great people! Gary & Nam are such a part of our family and it was a pleasure to spend it with them. Jay *showtime* always takes Neil for DH adventures like no other (thanks Jay) .We will be making more trips up next year

[blender]

Originally Posted by Mudman

that was probably me. Can't believe I fell on that drop- I had been crashing on everything today, even on the small things.

What bike were you on?

i was on a grey Sinister R9 without any stickers.. white 888 rc3 up front.
Me - black shirt, jeans, rather large lookin red/white/black 661 moto helmet

[jamisjake]

Thanks for the RR. I cant wait to get back up there next year! They opened TZ after I left and it looks sweet--cant wait to hit it next season!!!

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by blender

i was on a grey Sinister R9 without any stickers.. white 888 rc3 up front.
Me - black shirt, jeans, rather large lookin red/white/black 661 moto helmet

o yea, i think you were in line in front of us on sunday for the morning shuttle.. Neil said he saw the typical shredder in jeans and a tshirt

[blender]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

o yea, i think you were in line in front of us on sunday for the morning shuttle.. Neil said he saw the typical shredder in jeans and a tshirt

yea, that was me.. i saw your bunch, when you guys ducked out for a "luxury breakfast"

[Mudman]

I didn't get to take any photos as I had hoped, because I was too busy having fun. But here is one photo of us getting ready to leave in the touring machine loaded up with bikes on the outside, and packed on the inside with gear.

Showtime stares at the many wonders that is currently strapped to the back of the Armada, as Nam walks.