The recap

This last week at work just crawled by, probably because I'm in training and also because I was waiting for the weekend. My buddies from a-town came over to the cities and I got to be the local pro tour guide, I use those terms lightly, haha.
They got here Friday afternoon, killed some time waiting for me exploring the local bike shops. When I got off work we headed over to Leb. This was a good starting ride because it gave us all a lot of option and I could see exactly what type of riding would be best for the rest of the weekend.
I knew my buddy Tyler would be up for anything. He's a solid rider with at strong bike back ground. I sort of got him into BMX and he sort of got me into MTB. He is well rounded but more of a XC guy opposed to a Freerider like myself but he can handle a bike. Kyle on the other hand is a green horn. He has just recently, in the last couple years, got into endurance athletics, running, road biking and most recently MTB so he's skills are still being honed but he did a great job and learned quite a bit this weekend and we will continue to try and ride together and work on those needed skills. leb went well. We did about 13.5miles, started green, did blue, double black, blue to green x2 and a session on the skills area at the end.

After leb we headed back to my place ordered some pizza cracked a few frosty beverages opened and a couple more of my friends came over and we proceeded to have a good time till about 2 am chatting laughing and playing darts in the basement! What a great night.
Unfortunately it didn't lead to the best morning but a cup of coffee, a couple eggs and some bacon later and we were ready to thrash again.
We left at about 830am, drove an hour to Elk River and proceeded to work Hillside over. This has to be one of my absolute favorite courses in the greater metro area. If it didn't have so much sand it would be my favorite and be right at the top of all time favorites! This course has everything from climbing to flow to natural features to man made awesomeness! My fork has seen some better days so I'm not getting the compliance out of it I would like, lots of sticktion and just not plush anymore and for some reason don't get the full travel it really bunches at the top. I'm going to see what I can do to just nurse it through the season and then probably get it Pushed over the winter. All have to talk to my favorite mechanic and resident bike genius James and see if there is a inexpensive band-aid we can do for now. Over all this ride went great. Before we hit the trail I gave Kyle some pointers on some of the things I saw that he was struggling on the most and we worked on it for about 15mins in the parking lot and I think it helped a lot. As he gets more confident he will be able to rip harder and faster!

After the morning ride, we did one full lap and then section 1 and 4, so we did approximately a half lap, we headed to get some grub. Again right around that 13 mile mark. We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, great food horrible service. I haven't had the best luck there with service lately but the food is always good. After that they wanted to go to Dick's Sporting Goods and Ramsey Cycle as they both were having sales this weekend.
About 3 or so we got to Battle Creek and got suited up. I decided to have Tyler park at the Rec Center parking lot since I didn't want to risk his car getting broken into down below. I've heard too many horror stories.
We headed out and I wasn't too familiar about where we were since I don't normally start there and I got us a bit lost but we discovered some bomb trails that I look forward to going back to and really exploring further! There are so many options for short tech DH runs. I really hope we can get something going with that endro race there. I'm meeting with a guy hopefully this week that might be able to help!
The ride was great, it might have been a bit on the gnar side for Tyler and some was possibly out of Kyles league especially because he was rocking a hard tail but it looked like they were having a blast! They definitely like the luge, always a hit. It is a much more raw and demanding course. It has tough, long, loose up hills with rough tech down hills. Plain and simple its realy MTB and it's not some polished and groomed trail system and that's what I love!

Over all the weekend was a hit. They left with a great experience and huge smile on their faces. Kyle gained some valuable knowledge and I know with his desire to learn he will come back next year and be an even better rider and learn even more! I had a great time showing them around, helping Kyle and getting to just ride with my hommies! Thanks guys for coming down and I look forward to next year and hopefully doing it again!

Keep it real