Disclaimer! I haven't been spending too much time with my buddy Jason lately. We're riding buddies and since I've spent very little time on the bike lately, I haven't seen him very often. Jason is a great guy, but we often have some awkward conversations where my sense of humor goes somewhere that gives Grumpy J. the heebie jeebies. I give him tons of credit because his resiliance and his ability to be a good and accepting friend is unbounded. /Disclaimer
This month's dirt rag magazine published a photo of mine (issue 119, page 99). It isn't a big deal... nothing to write home about.. but of the photos they could have published, they picked one that makes me laugh.
This photo was taken from the top of Joe's Ridge in Fruita, Colorado. The Joe's Ridge trail is aptly named. It follows along the edge of Joe's Ridge. (I'll bet you figured that out before I did.). Joe's ridge is narrow and tall, which makes the hillside drop off very steeply on either side of the trail. Additionally, the ridge runs out after about 1/2 mile which makes the trail drop down very steeply into the valley. The cool thing about the photo is that I'm standing at the very top of the ridge looking down. Jason is poised on the edge, just getting ready to go off a very steep drop, and you can see the trail snaking off into the distance WAY down in the valley. You can see over a mile of trail as it snakes off into the lower regions of the 18 road.
That's nice, but what the hell is it doing in my blog? Why does Bike Doctor care? Jason was wearing his full Bike Doctor race kit that day. The shorts happen to have a HUGE bike doctor emblem plastered across the butt. Wouldn't you know it, that is exactly the view I've got of Jason as he's heading down the steep drop. So Jason got into Dirt Rag Magazine.. or at least his ass did.
End of the funny... now on to the more serious side of the photo...
The story that this photo doesn't tell is how he was feeling and what an amazing guy he is. (He's blogged about this a bit over the last year. There's a link to his blog on the right side of this screen. Look at the entries from late April of 2005). The trails in this part of the 18 road get a bit of much deserved hype. They're steep and narrow. These trails have what some riders call "pucker power". Lets just say that it isn't your lips that are puckering. ;) The first time you ride them, it takes a lot of nerve to ride up to that first lip and keep going. As you approach the edge of the drop you keep expecting to see the trail... but it doesn't show up until your front wheel is already over the edge.
Now the skills that it takes to ride most of these trails isn't anything too amazing. All of them have a long run out and few have turns of any kind on the steep part. That doesn't diminish the trail at all. It is a gut check to ride up and over that edge. You've got to be back on your bike and ready for anything. Jason's form was perfect and I was the only one that crashed on that day. He did a masterful job to avoid running me over as we rode down the lower part of Zippidy Doodah.
I think this photo was published at the perfect time. We're heading back to Fruita in a few months and I think we're all hungry for some riding time on those trails. It should be a great group too.
Thanks for reading. Sorry for babbling.
Pete
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