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Went to Utah this weekend. Conditions were F'n perfect this prez day weekend. Everyone went skiing. The gf and i decided to head to Moab instead. It was soo worth it. Fairly warm during the days and chilly at nights. We had our pick of campsites in Moab(Sand Flats area) and Canyonlands. Click the link. I'm tired of pasting pictures.

http://travelblogcontd.blogspot.com/

Well, after a brief powder dump a couple weekends ago, we're back to prime mountain biking weather here. SanFrantastico had never ridden in Santa Cruz before, so I offered to break him in (emphasis on break ).

First run. "Just roll off that wood thing."

"Uh, I don't think it's finished. It just ends."



"Yeah, I know, just roll off it. It's easy. Are you b*tch squealing again??"

"Well, OK..."





Big Yellow Slug, to match SF's Big Yellow Bike and Big Yellow Car. I'm surprised he wasn't wearing the Big Yellow Spandex. I know it's there in his closet...



Wavy and The Token Old Dude (Larry) playing on the teeter:





Yet another epic mtb day in Santa Cruz!



We finished up by checking out the Banff Film Festival which was showing downtown. Some really cool films shown this year. Check it out if it's in your neck of the woods:

http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/tour/

So did he send it? It's amazing how tame that drop looks from the first pic,then ya look at it from the side..............

And wtf is with that big,yellow slug? Nasty. Are those things rare out there or what?

HELL NO!

Jim would do it though. My bike is way too small for that and so are my cojones. I've only owned a mtn bike since the summer and this was my first time riding with other humans so I'm kind of inspired and overwhelmed by what I learned from Jimw, Wavey, and Larry. Thanks guys for letting me follow you around! Those Santa Cruz trails are really amazing/beautiful/scary as hell. I have a good couple shots of Jim in flight that I'll post up tonight.

Oh yeah - for the record that's a banana slug and I don't have big yellow spandex. I go for the sweet skimpy yellow spandex.

Ran across these while browsing thru RideMonkey during lunch.... looks like they're from the dude that was set up alongside those big gaps:

JimW's friggin crazy


The ONLY reason I don't go that big is because I don't want someone to happen to take my picture while my face is this contorted


Thanks for making the drive out to Santa Cruz SF and Larry, that was too fun!

Thanx wavy, didn't know he posted those pics. That must be a wad of chew in my cheek.


Believe it or not, the banana slug is the official mascot of UCSC! Don't see them too often, but I thought seeing one was especially appropriate with SF on the big yellow bike. In addition to his skimpy yellow spandex, I heard he has a bright yellow one-piece that he breaks out for the spring tours. If only he could borrow fassnor's yellow boots. (What happened to fassy anyway??)

I didn't hit that drop, thought it might be a little too much for the 5" bike and the landing is kinda flat. But then I found out someone hit it on a 4" Blur 4X, so now I have to go back and hit it...

Oh yeah... on the subject of banana slugs... I was telling the guys about an interesting zoological find that my wife and I stumbled across a few years ago.

A very ambitious salamander took on a very big banana slug resulting in mutual destruction and lots of mucous:


**Edit to add one more banana slug pic...**

Some kooky-frenetic pictures of jimw flying through the redwoods.





Jim likes to do that.

Both chainstays snapped clean off at the joint. It is oddly appropriate that this happened on a little memorial ride we had this afternoon for my friend Mark Reynolds, who died this past weekend at the Sea Otter DH race. I'm still in disbelief, I had just talked to him at the top of the course. He came up to wish me luck, and said "see ya at the bottom". Mark was a true innovator, and passionate about his product (the Dualrailleur chainguide, on my bike in the pic) and biking in general. He was also a hell of a nice guy and just a great human being. My heart hurts for his family. RIP brother.

Fuck dude, sorry to hear about your buddy. Condolences to you and his family. I've never heard of such a thing.

When I first saw the picture I was shocked. Certainly reading the caption puts the loss of a bike into very real perspective. Sorry for your loss and everyone who did (or would've) known Mark.

I just read about him this morning. Sad news for the mtn biking clan, RIP.

It seems that when something leaves us, another usually comes back in a new form. Here's my new baby and some stoke from last wknd in Fruitcake. It was the first weekend in 5 months that I wasn't on my board

Bump for some MTB stoke. JimW where you been?

I've been riding a fair bit, did a 29 miler yesterday, but I usually don't take a camera. Sorry , nothing to contribute.... post up so the rest of us can live vicariously on your rides!