{"id":598,"date":"2010-06-24T14:46:43","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T22:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=598"},"modified":"2010-06-24T14:46:43","modified_gmt":"2010-06-24T22:46:43","slug":"one-flying-dog-and-a-finicky-bitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=598","title":{"rendered":"One Flying Dog and a Finicky Bitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The thermometer in my truck read 89 degrees when I pulled into the Anderson Truck Trail parking area yesterday afternoon.\u00a0\u00a0It was my first return to Anderson Truck Trail in a long time\u00a0 (October of last year).\u00a0\u00a0I should have known better.\u00a0\u00a0 I forget how many times I have been out here in the heat and just gotten pummeled by it.\u00a0\u00a0 As least I would not be alone.\u00a0 Almost everytime I have done something\u00a0idiotic out here it has been with Steve.\u00a0 Steve has a way of bringing out people’s inner\u00a0idiot.\u00a0 (For some, it’s not so inner)\u00a0\u00a0 Steve is an Idiotic Whisperer if you will.<\/p>\n

\u00a0We both knew it was going to be a brain boil on the climb as we had both done the climb in even hotter weather.\u00a0\u00a0 What we both needed was “I’m with Stupid” \u00a0jerseys.\u00a0 Steve further added some beatdown\u00a0potential to his ride by bringing out\u00a0his custom\u00a0Wolfhound singlespeed.\u00a0 This\u00a0bike is a thing of beauty\u00a0build to Steve’s exacting specs.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The climb was indeed a brain boil as expected.\u00a0 There are a couple segments of the climb that are known\u00a0to have “Dead Air”\u00a0 where the afternoon sun hits you from the left while heat is radiated from the rocks on your right and there is no breeze to move the air around.\u00a0\u00a0 It is like you are in a brick oven and your head is the pizza.\u00a0\u00a0 That was not a surprise as we knew it was coming.\u00a0 What was surprising was\u00a0how the lines had changed over winter.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the past I knew all the turns and bumps like the back of my hand and basically had the descent wired.\u00a0\u00a0 That was not the case\u00a0now as the lines changed\u00a0enough that I would have to recourt this mistress on the descent.\u00a0 I tried to make as many mental notes as possible of the new conditions.<\/p>\n

I came into the day thinking about hitting a jump I had not pulled the trigger on before, the Halloween Drop.\u00a0 Throughout the climb I was visualizing my takeoff and landing.\u00a0\u00a0 Short of any last minute mental flatters, it was going to happen today.\u00a0 Despite the heat, we climbed fairly well.\u00a0 It was not my fastest climb by a longshot\u00a0but I have\u00a0lagged much more in the past.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I was mentally prepared for the Halloween Drop by the time we took a break at the top. \u00a0Before long it was time to turn the bike’s\u00a0downhill.\u00a0 Some new lines had\u00a0sprung up since my last visit that\u00a0I was up for trying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nA little bit of rock wall ride.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Steve navigating the Wolfhound onto the rocks<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nPart II of the new section was a gnarly bit of rocks.\u00a0 Steeper than it looks and a bit tricky even on the full suspension rig.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nSteve did some good rock surgery on the Wolfhound<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"
\nSteve on “The Diving Board” letting the dog fly<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nI had not even thought about doing the Diving Board.\u00a0 I have done this a bunch of times in the past.\u00a0\u00a0 My thoughts had been on the Halloween Drop.\u00a0\u00a0 I passed on the jump but later while grabbing the shot of Steve doing the jump, he went into went Idiot Whisperer mode and the next thing I know I’m doing the jump.\u00a0\u00a0 I did not stick the landing.\u00a0 I was way too overconfident and as far as I can tell I had my weight too far back on the landing which allowed the front wheel to slip out on the off-camber landing and I did a nice little thump and slide on the hardpacked decomposed granite.\u00a0 Ouch!\u00a0\u00a0 I had managed to exfolilate a nice\u00a0patch of skin my left thigh and whack the meaty part of my right palm.\u00a0\u00a0 I always find it interesting how you can take the top layer of skin off of your body and the clothes between you and the ground remains intact.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 These were pretty minor in the scheme of things but it was still somewhat painful.\u00a0 (Glad I had protection on my other bits.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Anderson can be a finicky bitch\u00a0who does not take kindly to you staying away too long and courting too many other ladies.\u00a0\u00a0 She gave me a nice little bitch slapping.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So my little spill messed with my mental game enough that I decided to keep the tires on the ground.\u00a0 Anderson has plenty of on-the-ground technical goodness so I was still not getting off easy and I hit all the rest of\u00a0my usual stuff.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe Flying Dog – aka Wolfhound<\/p>\n

I was not the only one who had been visualizing a\u00a0Halloween Drop launch, Steve had been mentally stewing over this\u00a0with the Wolfhound.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Steve said this was not going to be a\u00a0multiple run in thing.\u00a0\u00a0 One run in only,\u00a0the trigger was going to be pulled or the anchor was going to be thrown out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Steve pulled the trigger, landed like a cat and\u00a0yelled and giggled for the next five minutes.\u00a0\u00a0 We are pretty sure this is the first time someone has hit this on a hardtail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nA different angle of the 911 roll.\u00a0 I was digging the moon rising.<\/p>\n

On our way over to the final descent, to add insult to injury, some kind of flying insect went into my mouth and as I was spitting it out the thing\u00a0bit\/stung me on my lip.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was not as full on painful as a regular bee sting but my lip immediately was tingling and I felt some puffing up starting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes Anderson can be a finicky bitch that does not take kindly to being ignored for months and then thinking\u00a0 you can just show \u00a0back up and make lots of heat in the sheets.<\/p>\n

For the final descent I had learned my lesson, court the lady, stoke her through curves and let her tell me\u00a0how\u00a0fast you\u00a0can go.\u00a0 It was a blissful descent with lots of newness\u00a0from all the changed lines.\u00a0\u00a0 The tradional post-ride burritos followed.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m sure I will have\u00a0some interesting\u00a0technicolor body artwork develop off the\u00a0next few days but it was not a bad Wednesday at all.<\/p>\n

More Stuff Like This<\/h3><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Vacation and Laguna Mountains<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t New trail goodness at Black Mountain<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Lake Hodges<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Daley Ranch Sprinkles<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n<\/div>