Friday morning Shitty and I hit the streets at 3 AM. Our destination? Mammoth. We would stop for breakfast at Jack’s in Bishop and hook up with Denmother, Roger, Jsims and Daniel.
I think around 9:30 am we pulled into the Mammoth parking lot and suited up:
Shitty works on them pesky new Shimano pedals:
Hey look! A Jeff aka jfsh siting:
By 10 am we were on the gondola. Our first drop would be Velocity. Man it takes a run or two to get used to the pumice again.
I like Velocity, its fun, short and spits you out right at the gondola.
jfsh demonstrates a little extra credit fun at the bottom:
I think after one more Velocity run we headed all the way to the top. Our primary target would be Shock Treatment, but how to get there…hmm. The crew obliged me with a blast from the past riding Off the Top.
Temp up top:
One of Off the Tops many pumice infested switchbacks:
Part way down we jumped on to Kamikaze so we could reach the Shock Treatment trailhead.
Last year due to the weather we had to walk a couple of sections. (Namely this next section and the wood work.)
jfsh demonstrates the rider’s left line:
Shitty gives it a try:
He would wash out at the bottom and fall over the side. No damage, just funny.
Roger takes the easier rider’s right line:
It was a piece of cake. (It helped that while we were looking at the section, some more seasoned riders passed by making it obvious which was the better line.)
Jsims:
Much to my surprise, riding the wood work was a piece of cake.
Jsims hits a drop after the wood work:
I was stoked to be able to ride the entire trail this year.
For the next run we decided to repeat. Got to see if all that practice paid off. We lucked out and picked up Jim as well. Denmother had the need for speed, so we just rode down Kamikaze to reach Shock Treatment this time.
jfsh finishes up the wood work:
Shitty too:
Jsims post wood work:
The fellas decided to play a little.
jfsh:
Shitty:
Jsims:
We would break for lunch, but the Yoddler was closed, so we ate at the main lodge. Beware the spices there, the chef really likes to lay in on thick! Yes I’d like a burger to go with my Lawry’s please. (Next time, eat in town.)
Next up was DC-10. This would be my first time. Right off the bat you get to a steep section with lots of rocks and stumps. At least 4 down arrows marked it.
Shitty would go first but stop a third of the way down.
I was up next. I figured braking would suck, but was pleasantly surprised to be able pick my way through with ease. A clean!
Jim followed up with a clean:
Shitty would clean it on his second attempt:
Roger gets through it with a dab:
For those of you scoring at home that’s Team Sunday 3 and Team M6 ZERO!!! LOL. (Just kidding around.)
A little later the trail turns to crap:
I didn’t get any DC-10 jump pics. It was smaller than I thought.
Once at the bottom we would traverse our way to the village below…yuck!
Jsims launches into the Alligator Pit:
Daniel said that he doesn’t have any pics of himself riding, so I was happy to oblige:
Jsims one more time:
A little drop along the way. Watch out for that root.
Jim:
Roger:
Jsims:
Daniel:
To finish off the day, we rode Velocity two more times.
Jsims – Calling out all beginner class riders at the Fontucky Nov Challenge!
Poor Jim has a shoe lace stuck in his chain guide:
Denmother:
Daniel:
For out last run we checked and did the new wood tranny. (The wood tranny spares folks the drop to deep pumice. This is the one section of Velocity that splits. Easier line to the left and more advanced riders go straight.)
No problem for Roger:
Jim:
Some ramp pics.
Jim:
Shitty:
Jsims:
Denmother:
Roger:
Daniel:
Finally a pumice turn before a ramp.
Shitty:
Jim:
Jsims:
Denmother:
Roger:
Daniel:
A fun day, but how could it not be? It’s always fun downhilling with Roger & Nancy.
The End.
“…an economy where clients are cutting back and they're sleeping with their wives again. THEIR WIVES!!!” - Eugene “Gemini” Spellman