Sean and I headed out for a rip at the dump today. He brought Bosley with him, but I was Yoshi-less. Yosh needed a timeout. He overdid it a couple days ago, and was still a little sore.

The ride was fantastic though. The weekend was supposed to be rainy and gross all weekend, but the weather held out for the ride. Actually, the weather was quite nice all day. Blue sky, fluffy clouds every now and then, but muggy.

We headed up skull, up to C-Section, then up the switchbacks. So far I was feeling pretty good. My quadricep was a little sore, but I took it easy until I was really warmed up. The climb up the switchbacks was tough, bu tI made a few more corners than I normally do.

I set a new personal record on the log ride at the top of the switchbacks. I rode it completely 4 times in a row, including one time in the reverse direction. Very cool.

Taming twister we headed up towards phase 2, but cut off for Jelly Roll and Lumpy Pants. I had been on Lumpy Pants before, but this was my first time on Jelly Roll. Both trails have some great features. Each has a couple jumps that can be quite big if you get enough speed. Slow it down enough, and the drop is only 3 – 4 feet. The Jelly Roll drop is definitely the bigger drop on the two trails.

After eyeing up the jump, I decided that I was definitely going to do it. I got my feet set on the pedals, and started the roll in. As I neared the lip I was about to tap the brakes and chicken out. Mentally I told myself NO, and moved those fingers away from the brakes, and planted them on the bars. The takeoff was quite smooth. As the landing rushed towards me I extended my legs to get the rear wheel down first.

The impact wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Quite the contrary actually. It was pretty smooth. My back end did buck up a little, but a jab on the brakes, and everything was under control. Woot. It was fun, and I wanted to do it again. I refrained, and chose not to push my luck.

I must need to change my rear shock setup. That landing really caused a bad bucking action. Later on Lumpy Pants, on a similar drop, the same thing happened. On landing the rear shock rebounded very quickly, and control was limited. This time I turned into the slide, and regained control. I came very close to running into some logs laying on the fall line, but it was all good in the end.

After Lumpy Pants we followed the road back up to the top of Who’s Yer Daddy. I don’t this trail very often, and I always forget how much fun it is. After the first rock face that ends at the fenceline, the trail descends, and picks up the flow. You just let the brakes go, and weave throught the trees. Drop off a few logs, jump a few rocks. Fun, fun, fun.

At the end of tha trail, it was just down the fireroad, and a quick burn down Skull.

Lovely little ride today. I am feeling pretty fit these days, and am really enjoying riding. I just want to get out there and ride some more.