So after being in the OC for about 10 months I recently took a trip back east to see friends and ride some familiar terrain. We took a trip down to Diablo Freeride park in northwest New Jersey, Im sure youve heard about it by now
Diablo was fantastic! The terrain is a good mix of really rocky tech sections, and some fast smooth flowy sections. They have put serious effort into making the trails fun (hint BB) by building bridges, ladders, putting transition on the drops (North East landings are typically flat), putting in nice berms, and building some great table tops!
Definitely a great place for the beginner/intermediate riders to learn, yet still fun enough for the advanced rider to really tear it up. This place is not as extreme as places like Plattekill (still my favorite) because there are no huge drops, and there are cheater lines everywhere. I personally would like to have seen some bigger stuff, but thats just me. I was recently (post trip) told that the BMW trail has nothing to do with cars and everything to do with a little bike shop in the New York area wish I had known that when I was there, maybe that has more crazy stuff? Regardless Ill be back next year!
The image quality isnt that great because the lighting was difficult. It was cold and dark clouds one run bright and shiny the next. Plus I was using a disposable camera, and my buddy was using his new digital at lower resolution to get more shots
Heading up!
Exodus Trail lots of drops and several ladders. Didnt get too many pictures because we were having too much fun on the trail!!!
This looks tamer than it is b/c of the angle its about a 6 drop from the top of the rock until where he landed. As you can see by the tire tracks, you could also roll it if you wanted.
Bridge crossing
Roll out
(nice reflector)
Twist Trail Little section that was fun to session on.
Nice rocky approach to a drop, I like this sequence although its 3 different riders
Same drop, different angles
to a ladder up and over a rock (with a 30 degree turn that I missed the first time!) and down a ladder (previous drop is in the background)
to another smaller drop. The rock/ladder can be seen in the background of the image on the right. You can also see the log roll option on one side, and a cheater line is behind the tree on the left.
Sachum (Sp?) little section that was just fun to cruise through
Side view of that last section
Im not sure which trail these were on but man do I miss rocks!!!
Dominion TONS of fun table tops shoot ya right up and over with very little effort, a total blast and a nice break towards the end of the day when your hands are just too beat up to handle the tech stuff. Unfortunately they were so much fun we didnt take many pictures, and of the ones that we did; a lot were blurry or missed the action. This is Jens first time hitting stuff like this looks pretty damn good!
(just after take off )
I should be getting more photo's shortly (after the Red Sox win the world series so my freinds can send me the digital pictures).
Diablo was fantastic! The terrain is a good mix of really rocky tech sections, and some fast smooth flowy sections. They have put serious effort into making the trails fun (hint BB) by building bridges, ladders, putting transition on the drops (North East landings are typically flat), putting in nice berms, and building some great table tops!
Definitely a great place for the beginner/intermediate riders to learn, yet still fun enough for the advanced rider to really tear it up. This place is not as extreme as places like Plattekill (still my favorite) because there are no huge drops, and there are cheater lines everywhere. I personally would like to have seen some bigger stuff, but thats just me. I was recently (post trip) told that the BMW trail has nothing to do with cars and everything to do with a little bike shop in the New York area wish I had known that when I was there, maybe that has more crazy stuff? Regardless Ill be back next year!
The image quality isnt that great because the lighting was difficult. It was cold and dark clouds one run bright and shiny the next. Plus I was using a disposable camera, and my buddy was using his new digital at lower resolution to get more shots
Heading up!
Exodus Trail lots of drops and several ladders. Didnt get too many pictures because we were having too much fun on the trail!!!
This looks tamer than it is b/c of the angle its about a 6 drop from the top of the rock until where he landed. As you can see by the tire tracks, you could also roll it if you wanted.
Bridge crossing
Roll out
(nice reflector)
Twist Trail Little section that was fun to session on.
Nice rocky approach to a drop, I like this sequence although its 3 different riders
Same drop, different angles
to a ladder up and over a rock (with a 30 degree turn that I missed the first time!) and down a ladder (previous drop is in the background)
to another smaller drop. The rock/ladder can be seen in the background of the image on the right. You can also see the log roll option on one side, and a cheater line is behind the tree on the left.
Sachum (Sp?) little section that was just fun to cruise through
Side view of that last section
Im not sure which trail these were on but man do I miss rocks!!!
Dominion TONS of fun table tops shoot ya right up and over with very little effort, a total blast and a nice break towards the end of the day when your hands are just too beat up to handle the tech stuff. Unfortunately they were so much fun we didnt take many pictures, and of the ones that we did; a lot were blurry or missed the action. This is Jens first time hitting stuff like this looks pretty damn good!
(just after take off )
I should be getting more photo's shortly (after the Red Sox win the world series so my freinds can send me the digital pictures).
