Monday, September 8, 2008

My other hobby

Well, flying isn't really the only thing I do for fun. Living on the edge of the Rocky Mountains provides a lot of opportunity for outdoor adventures. Mountain biking has become very popular out here, and I dabble a little during the summer when flying is not occupying all my time.

I try to plan my trips such that broken limbs won't cause me to miss any important flying events. Some of the trails can be a little risky :) Also I am not really that good of a mountain biker...so I fall frequently lol!

These particular pictures are from a ride around Mt. Baldy and through Baldy pass. It was about 20km, 10 of which were uphill. Its a loop trail, on the 10k climb up you gain about 600m in elevation, and drop that same amount in about 3km on the way down :) Makes for an exciting trail!


Here is a shot of Mt. Baldy from the parking lot. Eventually we ended up on the other side of it.










There was a lot of logging going on along the first part of the trail.










Checking the map...you do not want to get lost out here. The trail networks are usually quite extensive, and it gets dark in a hurry.











This was a huge washout section likely created by the spring runoff, with my amazing biking skills I decided it was better to carry my bike across :)







This is at the pass, about 1850m ASL. You can sort of make out the trail just above my rear tire....yes that narrow little path of rocks that rapidly disappears is the trail, and that is the only fun way down :)






Not sure what happened here...but I probably fell and decided that this was as good a spot as any to have a break. Some of the downhill sections are pretty steep, and if you get timid and slow down is pretty easy to lose you balance and you have to stop.










A couple of the nicer sections of the trip downhill!















We had a 5km ride back down the highway to the parking lot, I thought this hill would never end.









That's it for now, my riding friend is expecting his first child any day so not sure when we will get out next. When we do though I will be sure we take more pictures and I will post them here.

Chad

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