Tanner and I made it up the upper Millcreek with the road closed and had the place to ourselves. Pretty cool.
I made it out to Draper to help build the initial section of Jamie's trail. My abs are still sore but it was rewarding to see a trail take shape. I'll be back for more work. You should join me. This section of trail will likely be the best descent in the Corner.
Got to hang out with Brad. That's always good. The hat made it through the trail work OK.
Some of the team have been able to spend the last three days acting as tour guides for Specialized's 2010 product line global press launch. The big S brought in about 75 journalists to hear about the bikes and play on them. Here's our small group of 60 + unloading on Guardsman Pass.
The altitude made Puke Hill live up to its name.
Here's trail boss Glen giving last minute instructions to our group of 41 today. We got in about 34 miles with 2,000 up and 7,000 feet down. Good stats.
The rental box van had some pricey cargo. On Saturday, we had another level stacked on top. No bikes were hurt in the making of this picture.
Here's the MTB compound at Snowbird. There's another one just like it in the upper parking lot for road bikes. Dealers come in the next couple of weeks to do more of the same. They will be there during the Snowbird ICUP race. We make get a few out of town fast guys giving the race a go.
It was a pretty unique opportunity to ride with guys from around the world and some celebrities. I got to send some quality ride and discussion time with Ned. Also, I tried to follow Hunter and Berrecloth down Mill D and Millcreek, life threatening but fun. I realized today I was riding in between a world champion gold and bronze medalist for a time. I doubt I'll get to do that again. I also got to catch up with a couple of good guys from my time at Specialized I haven't seen for a time.
It's interesting how we just take for granted the quality of trails and scenery we have here. To a person, everyone was incredibly impressed. These are people who have ridden all over the world and could not get over the quality and quantity of our trail system. I was directing traffic near the bottom of the Desolation to Mill D trail and got to hear "This is awesome" in about 8 languages. The smiles were very large. A number of the guys said it was if not the best, one of the best trails they've ever ridden. A group of German journalists went back up today for more pictures for a feature in their magazine.
Even with all the visitors, the quote of the weekend came from a local. On our way down the closed road in upper Millcreek down to Pipeline, a guy riding up yelled at us because we were spread too far across the road and came close to him. Later, as we were gathered in the parking lot at Rattlesnake Gulch the same guy pulled his minivan over to apologize for swearing and to lecture us about how to ride. His final words were "I hate to pull rank on you, but I've been riding bikes for 16 years and have ridden all over the country so I know what I'm talking about". Too bad he didn't realize he was talking to a world champion and riders from 10 countries. We said thanks and managed to hold the laughter until he left.
One final note. While the out of towners struggled with the altitude, they had some serious skills. The Euros can descend with speed and style. I got out of my XC racing conservative DH mode and let it rip following these guys. What a blast. The 2010 S-Works Stumpy I rode today wasn't bad either.
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