Mammoth Steeps and Speed

This is a BIG mountain!

Back from Mammoth and I feel just as trashed as if I did back to back 8 hour races. Kevin and I pounded runs like no other and covered a ridiculous amount of descents. All in all the rest of the family had a great time...a few bumps and bruises, but no trips to the ER thank goodness.

Friday we set out in the morning with our sights on Lower Rock Creek trail between Bishop and Mammoth Lakes. The plan was to run a shuttle to cover the 8 mile descent from 7000 feet down to 5000. We piled out of the cars and strapped on the gear...I was sporting the new armor and full face helmet. We looked a little over dressed for what the trail had to offer...but I was assured that the lower section of trail would not disappoint in the technical aspect. The top was fast and flowy. Kevin and I traded places out front as we let out a 6 hour drive worth of trail anticipation. Once we hit the third section the technical difficulty shot through the roof. We faced a ton of super rocky chunk rollers and drops. The trail was a little overgrown and would offer boulder sized surprises around many of the blind turns. Kevin was rolling everything....I was pussin out here and there, still uncomfortable with all of the new gear.


Kevin on Lower Rock Creek from luke wiens on Vimeo.

For the trip I dropped about 10 psi in both the fork and shock and ran about 5 psi lower in both tires. I also dropped the seat about 1.5 inches which set the King up with a nice squish feel.

Gondola action

Self portrait from the top

Saturday I was looking for redemption. Kevin and I ramped up slowly and then broke from the group nearing lunch time. We tackled diamond run after diamond run, Flow - Richter - Skid Marks - Shotgun. I was amazed with the progression in technical ability from last year...the huevo size has definitely increased. By the end of the day Kevin and I were absolutely hammering the trails. Coming off Skid Marks on the last run of the day we were totally riding the threshold of out of control. I have never in my life pounded technical descents grouped with drops, exposed switchbacks, etc. at that speed. The details of the trail turned into a complete blur below me....I just trusted the bike and stayed loose and off the brakes....so fun!!

Survived the sick day!

Not a single person passed us on the trails on Saturday.


Luke on Shotgun log roller from luke wiens on Vimeo.

Sunday we woke up pretty drained and beat. Our bodies were shot from the number of runs we took the previous day. In all, I got the most in on Saturday, taking advantage of every moment. 3 trips to the top (11,000 feet), around 5-6 trips up chair 2 and two trips to the mid chalet....a shift!

Leading the group out

We stayed with the group for the first couple of runs on Sunday to get the blood pumping again, but it wasn't long before the double diamonds began calling our names. Kevin wanted to try his hand at the super techy stuff so I thought I would join him and walk all of the sections that were beyond my abililty. We started with Techno rock and both got a good shot of adrenaline from the two super steep rock step sections below the lift. As we headed down further, Kevin hit a 4-5 drop at speed...I watched after making the walk down below. It looked like a lot of fun...but I am sure not going to blow a whole season on one drop....the penalty is high on that stuff.

Kevin on Techno Rock drop from luke wiens on Vimeo.

We made our way down as Kevin tackled nearly everything...I was completley amazed to witness some of these sections cleaned first hand. There were a couple of situations where I would roll into something and scare the sh!t out of myslef but I made it down unscaved. We headed back up to hit Shock Treatment for the next run. The top was super loose and we made a lot of the sections. I fell a couple of times walking down a few of the lower sections (yeah...that steep!)...Kevin again was fearless cleaning nearly everything...animal! My 4 inch bike just isn't quite double diamond worthy.

Nice little jump in the X-Zone

We decided to start taking some pictures before we wrapped up the day. We hit a few gaps and jumps...and decided to get some video of the log roller on Shotgun. Bottom line is we didn't take enough pictures...we were having way too much fun. I love hitting pure descent days...it is funny when I get in that mindset becuase I avoid climbing like the plague. I come out of these weekends much faster and way more confident descending the comparably easy stuff that is presented in cross crountry and endurance racing. I need a bigger bike!