Im posting in the arizona thread in hopes that people will use examples of trails ive ridden on. Im trying to figure out whether to call myself a xc or am rider. What would you call the trails like trail 100, thunderbird park, deem hills, white tanks, and black canyon trail? Lots of them have farely smooth and fast sections, but the technical and rocky parts may lean more towards the description of all mountain.
Buggy, I've ridden Geronimo and 24st on my 29er countless times and while they are both entertaining and a blast to ride, neither trail is gnarly enough to give me the slightest cause for pause. I hear Holbert is a bit "gnarlier", but if my buddy rides it, knowing his skill set, it can't be that gnarly. I agree that all the talk of how tech Hairball, Cheesegrater, etc, are, is a bit much, especially when you see all these videos of riders crawling down these sections fully padded up on dh bikes. To get into a debate, or borderline childish argument, about whether Somo or PMP has gnarlier terrain is simply ridiculous. What may be super tech and gnarly to one person, may be a sidewalk to another. What may be fast to one, may be a crawl to another. I will ride my nancy boy xc 29er up and down anything this valley puts in my way, includng Geronimo, then turn around and smoke 99% of the super hard Somo crew that shuttled thier fat @sses up the mountain.
I'll be out at Somo tomorrow, look for the guy you can't keep up with....up or down.
How rad are you getting? Is there chunk? Are you taking the right supplements? Do you have the right barcode? Can you clean all of TrialDoc's improvements? THIS IS VITAL INFORMATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm I thought it was the opposite ( maybe its opposite day? Spongebob ) xc guys are up at the crack of dawn, and AM guys usually are out around noonish due to bro'ing it all night and having a hangover ....or maybe it's riding hangover all day and..... ahhhh hell I'm all now
Freeride used to mean riding your bike to the top (hence no lift ticket = free). Now "Free Ride" is something totally different, more like free style. All mountain is the new free-ride bike right? and the free ride bike is a huckster's downhiller right? If you ride your XC bike to the top how can you get back down? Take the lift? I'm so confused...What if I want to ride a rigid SS? Can I even take it on a trail? or is it only suitable for riding the side show when the circus comes to town??
Bike industry folks sure have created quite a stir through marketing eh? Now we don't just have many different bikes to choose from but also a certain look is needed to go along with your new bike! I would love to say I'm above all of this but honestly.........I'm just as hooked as the next guy. All in all it's still just mountain biking. This newish separation within the sport sort of reminds me of snowboarding when it was still fairly new. The Burton marketing people were pretty smart with the whole mocking the sport of skiing thing but now a days most mountain town people agree it's all just sliding on snow.
Hate to bust you bubble Bug but PMP has just as tech stuff than SoMo. SoMo has longer hills but most of the East side of the mountain is a freeway with a few little tech spots thrown in.
Hey Buggy, my hubby and I are going to ride some XC trails (cheesegrater/hairball) tomorrow, on our trail bikes, sporting XC shoes, wearing AM lids, roadie sunglasses, and DH socks. Come see if you can hang.....or shut up!
Alot of I am bader than tho in this thread..Best response was its called mountain biking ...now go ride when the sun rises release that work week tension..
I normally stay out of these stupid PMP vs SOMO debates and usually hate to stoke a troll's fire, but one time Short Bus James introduced me to the Quartz trail at PMP and that thing made me scared for my life. The upper portion literally has parts where falling off will probably lead to death. While navigating that exposure, you then have to travel down a series of drops and switchbacks, with so many tire traps, it was damn near impossible. Way scarier than Holbert.
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