We met at hurricane creek at 1:00 to check out the new stuff that they had built. It was only me, 
Tommy, Lee, and Monty. We started into the trail and I heard a terrible sound behind me. I knew someone had crashed and immediately turned around and went back. Monty was about 30 feet down the hill. I sat in shock as he got up and said he though the was ok. It appeared he only had some minor scratches. After a little time to recover we headed on and went to the mountain bike race course. We rode up around and found the new 5' drop that he had built. I was not feeling it this early into the ride and decided I 
might come back to it later. A short ride later we found the new structure right next to the wooden berm. It was pretty interesting to ride as it was pretty high even though it was plenty wide. We started off slow and finally after Lee rode the skinny I decided to try it. It is about 3' off the ground and is 12" wide. It is really intimidating just because of the height. I managed to make it even though I was really shakey. Another thing that made it difficult is that it is at a right angle off the wide part so you couldn't get lined up before going across. The second time I hit my helmet on the wood above it as I didn't duck enough. I still managed to make it without falling. I decided to ride around some and found a 3' drop on the course right up the trail. It had a ramp up and a short level section before ending. I jumped off the first time and came down on the front wheel a bit more than I wanted. It scared me a bit, but I didn't crash. I went back as there was a short gap jump that I really wanted to do. I looked at it quite a while before deciding to try it. I was told to be careful and not 
pull up to hard because the bike could kick out due to the angle of the ramp. I gathered my nerves and headed down the ramp. I didn't pull up at all and was not really going as fast as I should have been. Anyway my back tire came down right on the edge of the landing ramp. If I had come up a inch or two shorter it would have been bad, but I did land it and stay on the bike. I checked to see if John (the guy who runs the place) had gotten a good picture and he said he 
was waiting to get a picture of me crashing. I somehow felt insulted, but didn't mind that I had let him down. We finally headed on around the rest of the race course. I jumped off the 3' drop again and this time landed correctly. We circled on around and headed out to the top of the Gauntlet run. I went second as me and Lee wanted to ride the whole thing without dabbing. I made it all the way to the start of the woden section. I made it around the rock , but was going a bit fast and tried to hit the wood instead of hanging to the right. My front wheel dropped off the outside of the wood pathway and I had to put a foot down. I hiked back up to take pictures of everyone else coming down. We tried to stop at the dirt jump section. but it was soft dirt and we 
couldn't really play on it. We rode across the skinny bridge and hiked the bikes up to the short loop on the other side of the valley. I ran out of water at this point, so I knew I wasn't going to last for much longer. We rode a lap and headed back down the mountain. I passed the rock as I decided I was doing to well and didn't want to wreck now. I rode back across the bridge again. I actually made it both directions over this bridge. I was unable to make it last time I came. I think having Lee there to set the bar helped encourage me. I had to try after I saw him make it. Lastly we rode across the 
normal bridge (about 18-24" wide) and rested at the picnic area before trying the hill. We finally headed to the hill and I locked out my shocks as well as dialing my front down to 110. I went ahead and put it in a low gear and followed Lee up the hill. He made it about 3/4 of the way before wheelieing off the side of the trail. Somehow I made it to where he was and was so tired I was about to quit, but he was yelling encouragement and I managed to make it all the way to the top. It took me about 10m minutes to recover afterwards, but I actually made it. Lee went back down to the bottom to try again and I couldn't believe he had the energy to even try. He rode all the way to the top this time. I definately owe him a beer as I 
promised anyone who could ride it a beer. We went on back to the entrance and watched some helmet cam videos that some of the other riders took while we cooled off. After a nice beverage in the parking lot we headed back home. I don't know if I want to ride there again till it cools down a bit. Most of the time my clothes were so wet it looked like I 
had just gotten out of a pool. my clothes were so saturated they were dripping. I weighed when I got back home and I had lost over 5 pounds. Me and Steph decided to go to Longhorn and get a steak to help me recover.
Check out Tommy's blog as I know he has some video's up of a few things. I am going to have to see if he got any other videos. I wil have to get picture up later as this is the first chance I have even got to Blog about it.
Tommy, Lee, and Monty. We started into the trail and I heard a terrible sound behind me. I knew someone had crashed and immediately turned around and went back. Monty was about 30 feet down the hill. I sat in shock as he got up and said he though the was ok. It appeared he only had some minor scratches. After a little time to recover we headed on and went to the mountain bike race course. We rode up around and found the new 5' drop that he had built. I was not feeling it this early into the ride and decided I might come back to it later. A short ride later we found the new structure right next to the wooden berm. It was pretty interesting to ride as it was pretty high even though it was plenty wide. We started off slow and finally after Lee rode the skinny I decided to try it. It is about 3' off the ground and is 12" wide. It is really intimidating just because of the height. I managed to make it even though I was really shakey. Another thing that made it difficult is that it is at a right angle off the wide part so you couldn't get lined up before going across. The second time I hit my helmet on the wood above it as I didn't duck enough. I still managed to make it without falling. I decided to ride around some and found a 3' drop on the course right up the trail. It had a ramp up and a short level section before ending. I jumped off the first time and came down on the front wheel a bit more than I wanted. It scared me a bit, but I didn't crash. I went back as there was a short gap jump that I really wanted to do. I looked at it quite a while before deciding to try it. I was told to be careful and not pull up to hard because the bike could kick out due to the angle of the ramp. I gathered my nerves and headed down the ramp. I didn't pull up at all and was not really going as fast as I should have been. Anyway my back tire came down right on the edge of the landing ramp. If I had come up a inch or two shorter it would have been bad, but I did land it and stay on the bike. I checked to see if John (the guy who runs the place) had gotten a good picture and he said he was waiting to get a picture of me crashing. I somehow felt insulted, but didn't mind that I had let him down. We finally headed on around the rest of the race course. I jumped off the 3' drop again and this time landed correctly. We circled on around and headed out to the top of the Gauntlet run. I went second as me and Lee wanted to ride the whole thing without dabbing. I made it all the way to the start of the woden section. I made it around the rock , but was going a bit fast and tried to hit the wood instead of hanging to the right. My front wheel dropped off the outside of the wood pathway and I had to put a foot down. I hiked back up to take pictures of everyone else coming down. We tried to stop at the dirt jump section. but it was soft dirt and we couldn't really play on it. We rode across the skinny bridge and hiked the bikes up to the short loop on the other side of the valley. I ran out of water at this point, so I knew I wasn't going to last for much longer. We rode a lap and headed back down the mountain. I passed the rock as I decided I was doing to well and didn't want to wreck now. I rode back across the bridge again. I actually made it both directions over this bridge. I was unable to make it last time I came. I think having Lee there to set the bar helped encourage me. I had to try after I saw him make it. Lastly we rode across the normal bridge (about 18-24" wide) and rested at the picnic area before trying the hill. We finally headed to the hill and I locked out my shocks as well as dialing my front down to 110. I went ahead and put it in a low gear and followed Lee up the hill. He made it about 3/4 of the way before wheelieing off the side of the trail. Somehow I made it to where he was and was so tired I was about to quit, but he was yelling encouragement and I managed to make it all the way to the top. It took me about 10m minutes to recover afterwards, but I actually made it. Lee went back down to the bottom to try again and I couldn't believe he had the energy to even try. He rode all the way to the top this time. I definately owe him a beer as I promised anyone who could ride it a beer. We went on back to the entrance and watched some helmet cam videos that some of the other riders took while we cooled off. After a nice beverage in the parking lot we headed back home. I don't know if I want to ride there again till it cools down a bit. Most of the time my clothes were so wet it looked like I had just gotten out of a pool. my clothes were so saturated they were dripping. I weighed when I got back home and I had lost over 5 pounds. Me and Steph decided to go to Longhorn and get a steak to help me recover.Check out Tommy's blog as I know he has some video's up of a few things. I am going to have to see if he got any other videos. I wil have to get picture up later as this is the first chance I have even got to Blog about it.
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