SSing at Hall Ranch
pic from mtbr photo gallery
Hall Ranch is my favorite local trail. About a 20 minute drive from home - it's a lollipop shape starting off with about 2 miles of rock garden and then mellowing out into fun/rolling singletrack and then returning via the rock garden. woohoo!
My favorite quote when I took a girlfriend riding there was "WHOSE great idea was this to make it a mtn bike TRAIL?!?!?!" hee-hee
Thanks to my boyfriend - he's taught me how to ride most of this trail. I can clean 85%-90% on the way up (that wheel popping up ramps still has me stumped) and 100% on the way down. it's so cool to be able to ride that stuff! My goal by the end of the year is to clean all of it without stopped to rest or toe dabbing.
jen @ 24hrs of OP - pic from her blog
Anyways - Jenifer had invited me to ride with her and her gang on Saturday. I was nervous as Jen (badass SSer) had just completed the 24 hours of Old Pueblo and did an impressive 13(!) laps. i've been wanting to ride my SS there to see how I would do. The gearing I run on my SS is about 4 gears harder than what I ride on the FS - but the fact that the SS is about 3lbs lighter should account for 2 gears, eh??
I was hoping her and her gang wouldn't be waiting too long for me. It ended up being me, Jen, and Dan starting from Redstone Cyclery in Lyons and riding up Bitterbrush (rock garden) and April and Cole riding Antelope (no rock garden).
Jen and I compared stats and gears. She's 5'1" ~110lbs and I'm 4'10" ~105lbs - she's so small and cute and she's STILL taller than I am. oh well...what can you ?? We were both running 32x18 and Dan was running 32x17.
Jen and Dan definitely had better lungs than me - but I'd say we were evenly matched on the technical skill level. I rode some problems they weren't able to ride and they were able to ride a few I wasn't able to ride. I was super STOKED tho - as i cleaned ~60ish% of the rock garden - mainly failing due to lack of leg strength. I think part of it is learning how to use momentum and ride a SS.
Ride time was 1:33 for 13.5 miles ~1650 elevation gain.
As I mentioned I walked some of the rock garden, but not much. I was WORKED OVER after this ride. All i was able to do for the rest of the day was eat, rest, nap and eat. Poor me! what a life, eh? ;)
Can't wait to get back out there on the SS!!!
Hall Ranch is my favorite local trail. About a 20 minute drive from home - it's a lollipop shape starting off with about 2 miles of rock garden and then mellowing out into fun/rolling singletrack and then returning via the rock garden. woohoo!
My favorite quote when I took a girlfriend riding there was "WHOSE great idea was this to make it a mtn bike TRAIL?!?!?!" hee-hee
Thanks to my boyfriend - he's taught me how to ride most of this trail. I can clean 85%-90% on the way up (that wheel popping up ramps still has me stumped) and 100% on the way down. it's so cool to be able to ride that stuff! My goal by the end of the year is to clean all of it without stopped to rest or toe dabbing.
jen @ 24hrs of OP - pic from her blog
Anyways - Jenifer had invited me to ride with her and her gang on Saturday. I was nervous as Jen (badass SSer) had just completed the 24 hours of Old Pueblo and did an impressive 13(!) laps. i've been wanting to ride my SS there to see how I would do. The gearing I run on my SS is about 4 gears harder than what I ride on the FS - but the fact that the SS is about 3lbs lighter should account for 2 gears, eh??
I was hoping her and her gang wouldn't be waiting too long for me. It ended up being me, Jen, and Dan starting from Redstone Cyclery in Lyons and riding up Bitterbrush (rock garden) and April and Cole riding Antelope (no rock garden).
Jen and I compared stats and gears. She's 5'1" ~110lbs and I'm 4'10" ~105lbs - she's so small and cute and she's STILL taller than I am. oh well...what can you ?? We were both running 32x18 and Dan was running 32x17.
Jen and Dan definitely had better lungs than me - but I'd say we were evenly matched on the technical skill level. I rode some problems they weren't able to ride and they were able to ride a few I wasn't able to ride. I was super STOKED tho - as i cleaned ~60ish% of the rock garden - mainly failing due to lack of leg strength. I think part of it is learning how to use momentum and ride a SS.
Ride time was 1:33 for 13.5 miles ~1650 elevation gain.
As I mentioned I walked some of the rock garden, but not much. I was WORKED OVER after this ride. All i was able to do for the rest of the day was eat, rest, nap and eat. Poor me! what a life, eh? ;)
Can't wait to get back out there on the SS!!!
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