WBP 17

Posted by: thaaad

It's a confidence / fear issue. I can do it, I just can't make myself. Put me at the top of a double black tech line, no sweat. Put a lip on it and I can't knuckle up for it.

High speed longer flatter jumps are way less of an issue than lippy jumps for me. Scares me shitless.

I used to have the same problem. Lippy jumps get me grabbing the brakes, which is why i liked old dm more than aline back in the day. It just takes time man and commitment. Do you ride with buddies who hit them all properly? I always get towed into stuff first time i hit it and that helps a lot for me

God dammit nickel, yer a wizard.

I was a bit concerned when I first came across that whoop section... thinking it's going to be a long time until I'll be able to manual through it.  A few laps later I went jello and just monster-trucked through it and it worked just fine and was fun as hell.

The step down before the s-turn and EZ bridge.. the bigger option is so nice now.  Before it felt as if the landing zone was the size of a postage stamp.  Now we have a nice new lip on it and the landing seems huge.

We slightly mellowed the whoops this morning before the park opened. It was felt that the whoops were better than dragging brake into the next jump.

Posted by: dmc

The armchair trail building over on the PinkBike WBP is pretty stupid sometimes.

Nickel, thanks for all the work that you and your crew do. I really appreciate the "inside scoop" you bring here on what otherwise appears to be a black art.

Meh, people have opinions. It's kind of entertaining as well as often perplexing but it's fine. 

People are pretty engaged in the mountain bike world, I think it's nice to be able to provide a touch of insight when appropriate. I'm glad to know it's appreciated.

Posted by: ReductiMat

God dammit nickel, yer a wizard.

nickel the brown?

"YOU...SHALL...NOT...SKID!"

Hoping things come together for me to taste some of his handiwork this week...

bit of 7year war maintenance, bit of ho chi and hod maintenance, ciu more than half done with machine maintenance. aline and dm running bloody awesome. dbv maintenance is complete so that's running great top to bottom. 

the park is running pretty damn good right now so get out there!

A-Line was running soooo damn well on Saturday, so easy to maintain speed. Finally sacked up to Goats Gully and it wasn't as hard as I was expecting although I did ride at a crawling pace on the easy lines and put a foot down on that right hander after the bridge. Saw that upper No Joke is under repair, looking forward to that hopefully next weekend which is gonna be my last this season.

nickel: echoing appreciation for giving us the scoop on here/PB... and dealing with knuckleheads complaining about brake bumps on A-Line in August.

thaaad: I'm not much of a jumper, prefer the tech stuff. It took me 4 seasons (this summer) to be able to clear A-Line. It was mostly mental (committing to not brake check, and popping the lips) as well as cleaning up my technique in one of the Elevation Camps so I was consistent every jump. After that, getting towed through to know the right speed did the trick. C-More is a good trail to progress on since they fixed it this year. The jumps have good sight lines and long/flat landings so even if you pump hard and overshoot it's not a big deal, I think it's better than CIU/Blue Velvet for learning on.

Pizza Cat looked like it was under the knife today too.

Can confirm Shady and DBV is flowy as fuck.

I'm struggling with doing other trails right now.. Dirty is a perfect wave.

Thaaad, this was the first year I lost fear of jumping.  I'm relatively new to riding and I'm old. 

I had a near life altering experience when I thought I had the skills to go from, "holy shit mountain bikes are cool, I'm gonna buy one, holy Whistler is cool, holy CIU is cool, I can do Aline and Dirt Merchant I'm pretty sure."

<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">After a year of downtime I spent a year on blues like Ninja.  Eased into Aline and Dirty the next two. </span>

<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"></span>

<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">This was the first year I lost all fear of speed and jumps.</span>

<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"></span>

<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">I'd say the biggest thing that caused that change was learning how to rail berms (pedalling into a jump is just asking for a mistake) and owning the pop.  If you dictate your launch conditions, it's easier to replicate regardless of lip.</span>

• I am not a bike instructor. Advice is worth the price charged.

This forum editor is just pure fucking shit.

I don't know, it's just a huge mindfuck now.

I usually ride with my buddy who can send almost every jump in the park, stylish whips, super comfortable and confident. I've been going for like 4-5 years now and it's still super uncomfortable for me. I know the bike setup isn't whack, I know the jumps aren't whack, I know the speed is right because I'm following a buddy, it's all in my head and every time I go to the park I tell myself it's going to be different and it never is. I go there and ride a trail or two I'm comfortable on to warm up and then hit the jump trails. All. Fucking. Day. 

Fade to black features, no problem, container step up / down, no problem, Schleyer drops, no problem. Jump trails? Can't do it. I don't know what else to do aside from keep going but it doesn't feel like I've progressed on jumps at all from the first time I went to the park, and most of the time I leave more frustrated than it seems like it's worth. blaahhh... 

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys.

any thoughts on keeping the park open a bit later this year? (weather permitting)

Posted by: thaaad

I don't know, it's just a huge mindfuck now.

I usually ride with my buddy who can send almost every jump in the park, stylish whips, super comfortable and confident. I've been going for like 4-5 years now and it's still super uncomfortable for me. I know the bike setup isn't whack, I know the jumps aren't whack, I know the speed is right because I'm following a buddy, it's all in my head and every time I go to the park I tell myself it's going to be different and it never is. I go there and ride a trail or two I'm comfortable on to warm up and then hit the jump trails. All. Fucking. Day. 

Fade to black features, no problem, container step up / down, no problem, Schleyer drops, no problem. Jump trails? Can't do it. I don't know what else to do aside from keep going but it doesn't feel like I've progressed on jumps at all from the first time I went to the park, and most of the time I leave more frustrated than it seems like it's worth. blaahhh... 

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys.

You're invested enough that maybe it would make sense to look into some professional instruction? I do an Elevation Camp once a summer (cheap, good WBP coaches) and it's helped me progress a ton. ZEP is another option. Having someone who can teach watch what you are doing and then correct it immediately is valuable.

Timv: I don't think I've ever seen them stay open past Thanksgiving, has it happened before? Guessing lift maintenance and ops prep for winter take precedence.

Posted by: grambo

Timv: I don't think I've ever seen them stay open past Thanksgiving, has it happened before? Guessing lift maintenance and ops prep for winter take precedence.

This. And no, its never happened :(