iRide

So you know I recently sold some bikes and acquired a new one. It’s a Santa Cruz Nomad. It’s sick. It’s awesome. I’ve always wanted one. Now I have one. Cue “Celebration” by Kool and The Gang!!

I picked it up from Bicycle Warehouse where it was getting new shift cables ran and then J and I headed over to Lake Calaveras to break it in. Lake Calaveras isn’t a hardcore trail by any stretch. But, I haven’t ridden there in forever, there’s newly built trails there I want to explore, so I figured why not. Joe was nice enough to show Jeremy and I the new stuff so we set off.

The Nomad did awesome!! It felt a little too plush. It turned out I was running 40 lbs less psi than I should have been–more on that later. Anyhoot, before too long we came to a pretty tasty rock garden I have seen only in pictures before.

So what’s the best way to get through this??

Why with this of course!!

The rest of the ride was fun too. I couldn’t believe all the new trails!! The Nomad felt a little too plush, but still rode great!!We rode for a couple hours and I had a blast. When I got home, I decided I should check and see how much air pressure the rear shock was supposed to have and I found out I was running it about 40 psi too low–which is why it felt too plush throughout the ride. I know, I know–I should have checked that before the ride. Oh well. I guess when you’re as good looking as I am, being smart on top of it just wouldn’t be fair, right?? Right??

Anyway, throughout the week, Joe and I were thinking about heading to Vail Lake Resort out in Temecula. It’s known more for the Cross Country bike races it hosts, but it also has some cool DH trails too–perfect for breaking in a bike like the Nomad!! Neither Joe or I had ever ridden there, but Joe knew Italo from MTBlocos and he knows the trails really well. Joe asked and Italo was nice enough to show us around.

We arrived early (to try and beat the heat) and set out. We headed up the “Ambulance Access Road” that wasn’t too steep. When we got to the top, we took real flowy trail back down called Dragon’s Lair. It was pretty cool, not too technical but was enough to get the blood flowing. Dylan did really well too–even though he was only on a 4″ travel Trance while I was on a 6″ travel Nomad and the rest of the guys were on 8″+ travel bikes. I believe he only walked one section of that trail!!

Before long we were back at the bottom by the cars and everyone grabbed their armor so we could go do battle against the DH trail. We decided to ride/push our bikes up the DH trail instead of riding the fireroad back up. There were no other cars in the parking lot, so we knew we wouldn’t run into anyone riding down. Plus, this would give us all a chance to scope out the trail first–as we were heading up–and see what we were in for on the way down. A good idea given the technical trail we would soon be on.

Heading out:

The first real feature we got to was a ladder bridge that was purposefully built pretty off camber. Italo hits it:

The steeds:

There was an easier, more level ladder bridge above the off camber one. Dylan wanted to get in a bit of practice while we were stopped, so he’d have a better feel for it on the way down.

Not quite halfway up, a look at the route back down:

And the push up goes on…

…and goes on:

Dylan was getting worked from pushing his bike up such steep hills, so Italo kindly offered to stay with him at about the halfway point, so Joe, Dennis and I could go all the way to the top. Super cool of him!! The three of us continued on. A look back down:

Finally we got to the top. I didn’t get any pics of the descent back down. The trail is pretty narrow without a good place to stand for pic taking, plus I didn’t want to interrupt the flow of the DH. We got down to where Italo and Dylan were waiting in no time at all and we continued on. Dylan only walked a couple sections, but hit both ladder bridges. We were all really proud of him!!

After that, we pedaled over to the top of the BMX/jump course so we could finish up the day on that.

Everyone eyeing up one of the huge gap jumps at the top:

When I say “huge”, I mean HUGE!! At least a 30 footer:

Needless to say, no one was feeling stupid brave enough so we just continued down the main track and ended up back at the cars. The temps had been climbing all day, but we had a cooler full of ice-cold Gatorade waiting for us. It tasted SO good!!

So, the verdict on the Nomad?? AWESOME!!! I don’t mind saying some of the sections of the DH course had me in “full pucker” mode, but the Nomad soaked them up just fine!! I can’t wait to see what she does next!!

Until next time, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…