As most of you know this fall has been spectacular in terms of riding. I myself have been tied up most of the time with work, family, etc. However the rest of the crew has spent the last month killing it around the Wilson’s Creek area. Rumor has it there have even been a few Nate Dog, Ronnie Denny, Craig and BBA sightings up in them there woods! Before the summer ended C-Los, OG, Steve-O, Rose, Sukie and I decided to head to Snowshoe to take in one last weekend of runs at the bike park.

Snowshoe is arguably one of the most well equipped bike parks on the East Coast. It is a great mix of full on downhill trails, stunt filled free ride trails, and slope style trails complete with wall rides and fun boxes. The best part is that all of this killer terrain has quad lift access. There’s even a healthy dose of cross country single track if you feel the urge to get your pedal on.

We usually roll up a day early to take advantage of riding the bike park on Friday. The crowds are always light and at times it almost feels like you’ve got the park to yourself. Most of us were recovering from a bout with the beginning of cold and flu season so we took it easy this first day. To be quite honest riding conditions could not have been better. The dirt was dry, not dusty, with bluebird skies and temperatures in the low 70’s. Friday’s riding centered around the free ride side of the mountain and most of us spent our time sessioning the stunts and slope style features. I spent most of the day riding with Sukie. It’s always a blast to watch someone’s riding progress and to see them start to really flow down trails that were once too intimidating to try. It was an awesome low key day of classic park riding capped off with some of Rose’s home made chili and cookies.

Saturday was a different story. The lift on the Western Territory was running all day and we were not going to miss a single minute of ride time. The Western side of the mountain is characterized by a mix of full on World Cup style down hill runs complete with natural rock drops and long rock gardens that leave your back and forearms toasted along with blazing fast smooth trails consisting of huge berms and table tops. No time was wasted flip-flopping between the two styles of trails and we tried our best to get as many runs as possible. The highlight of the day was a top to bottom run that ended with OG’s back and legs so cramped he couldn’t get of his bike. As his bike slowed down he just kind of fell on his side and laid there for a while moaning. That had us cracking up the whole chairlift ride back up the mountain. Most of us were in no better shape and by the end of the day my hands were so toasted I could barely stand to grab my brake levers. For me this ranks as one of my most enjoyable days of riding at the bike park. The conditions were so good that it was truly tough to call it day.

A huge spaghetti dinner back at the pad and some time hanging out at the village made for a nice chill end of the trip. Amped off of a couple days of great riding all of us left looking forward to spending the next few months riding the local trails back home. Below are a few pictures from the trip!
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