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who went to keystone? was is it fun?

axlvid23

Monkey
Jun 1, 2003
373
0
Littleton
I managed to get up there opening day. You have to ride the fireroad to Paid n' Full because there's still a bit of snow up top. It seems to be melting fast though so expect the top open soon.

Paid n' Full was super haggard, baby head rocks and waterbars of death kept me on the brink of exploding, however this trail is still fun and pinner as always.

They had a new trail, "Money," which is officially my least favorite trail at keystone. It lacked flow, thought, and rider input. Jumps seemed way too short and many of the linked bermed turns would set you up to square off the next. In addition to the poor flow of this trail, you had to take the slow xc trail link afterwards to get to wild thing.

Good times though, bikes are fun.
 

Renegade

Monkey
Sep 6, 2001
333
0
is a 575 appropriate for keystone?
IMO, no. A 575 is on the xc end of the all mtn spectrum. Your head angle is to steep, and your riding position too xc'ish. You may spend some time going over your handlebars!
Andy, per your name, do you have an ASX? That would be great for keystone.
 

Dangerous E

Monkey
May 24, 2006
214
0
Coorstown, CO
is a 575 appropriate for keystone?
575 at Keystone = no bueno. Bring all the bounce ya got (assuming you have an ASX).

And my opinion of the Money trail was also that it lacked flow but after a few runs on it I started to get it dialed. When I read about this trail my initial thought was of a Front Range A-Line so I was pretty bummed to actually ride it. It's a fun trail but it seems like they half-assed it.

Anyone ride Eastern Forest? That trail is killer. Some rad jumps and real technical lines but super fun. Can't wait till it opens from the top (where ever that is).
 

c2001

Paparazzi
Aug 10, 2001
1,093
0
where everyone is
cool, thanks for the updates. so money trail isn't like an A-line? is it just too new/fresh or is it the design? i thought it was supposed to be A-line-style.
 

Renegade

Monkey
Sep 6, 2001
333
0
Shawn, I haven't ridden money yet, but the feedback over at mtbr is what's echoed here. Not the best flow to it, and that it doesn't flow well at high speed, that it's better at a slower speed. Some of the berms allready are blowing out as well. I'll find out for myself next weekend.
 

Renegade

Monkey
Sep 6, 2001
333
0
©2001;2578974 said:
hmmm. oh well, i guess.
where are you living these days? Are you in Co?Ca? Or are you living in your car? :busted: What I'm getting at is, come out here and ride it yourself!
 

Dangerous E

Monkey
May 24, 2006
214
0
Coorstown, CO
Eastern forest??? where was it? how did you hit it?
Coming down the fire road we went past the spot where you exit to get into the Drop Zone. We followed the fire road for a bit longer and there was a double-diamond sign on the left side of the trial. Just jumped in there. It looks like the trail starts way above there though. We had bumped into a trail builder at those new jumps on Mosquito Coast who told us to check it out. Reminded me a bit of Garbanzo at Whistler. Can't wait till it gets ridden in a little and opens from the top. One of the jumps is super scary looking but also looks wicked fun. One of my bros took a picture so if I can get it from him I'll post it.
 

Dangerous E

Monkey
May 24, 2006
214
0
Coorstown, CO
it sounds like lower jam rock. Is the jump you're describing a huge step-down?
yeah, big ol' step down--take off is a big rock. landing was pretty steep w/ a nice berm at the bottom. i could definitlely be wrong on the trail name though so it may be jam rock. the trail builder we ran into was describing a trail over that area called eastern forest so maybe i was in the wrong place. whatever it's called it was rad, that i do know.

on another note, anyone know what trails will be closed for the G3 race on june 30/july 1? i wanna ride that weekend but don't want to race and don't want to drive up there to ride 2 trails.
 

axlvid23

Monkey
Jun 1, 2003
373
0
Littleton
©2001;2578927 said:
cool, thanks for the updates. so money trail isn't like an A-line? is it just too new/fresh or is it the design? i thought it was supposed to be A-line-style.
It is A-line style. It's 21 or 22 table top jumps and some poorly placed berms and other sh1t that make this trail gayer than fine cheese.
 

Renegade

Monkey
Sep 6, 2001
333
0
From mtbr: " East Forest will be a Double Black on par with Wild Thing with more wood work, including a 15' tall ladder down corkscrew but isnt slated to have many jumps. Evenflow will be a single black and is basically a smooth fast bypass to wildthing. Helter/Skelter are stupid steep and short. Eye of the Tiger might be more what you are looking for in terms of progression jumps.

Money was designed to be a slow trail. It was never intended to be raced down, just a fun trail to cruise and jump for those people that enjoy jumping. It wasnt designed to be A-Line.

I agree with you guys that the first time I rolled into it I was surprised to see the size of the lips, but with the line they had to work with had they put in A-Line style tables you would get 1 or 2 per pass, not they 3 to 7 they it has. And as you get further into the run the tables get smaller. If you start clearing the ones at the bottom and work your way from the bottom up it does allow for a decent progression. But thats just my opinion, I like the fact that it is a challenge, and when I see someone flow through that run the way it was designed to be, I just want to take another go at it.

I talked to the trail crew about an added line on witchdoctor, they like the idea, but are spending their resources on building the rest of the trails they have lined up for the summer before going back to the old stuff. They really just dont have the manpower/budget at this point.

And you can add High Speed Dirt to the trails that opened today, leaving Girls Scouts, Sue's, Milky Way and upper Paid in Full as the only closed trails(I exclude 11-7 because well, Ive never even tried to ride it)."
 

Dangerous E

Monkey
May 24, 2006
214
0
Coorstown, CO
And you can add High Speed Dirt to the trails that opened today, leaving Girls Scouts, Sue's, Milky Way and upper Paid in Full as the only closed trails(I exclude 11-7 because well, Ive never even tried to ride it)."
So does that mean it's open top to bottom now? No more fireroads?

Damn, when do we get our own Forum like Diablo? :lighten: (just kidding)
 

Renegade

Monkey
Sep 6, 2001
333
0
If you use that link to the mtbr thread that I posted a few posts ago, I believe one of the guys says cowboy up is now open.
 
May 30, 2005
323
0
A$$pen
©2001;2578927 said:
cool, thanks for the updates. so money trail isn't like an A-line? is it just too new/fresh or is it the design? i thought it was supposed to be A-line-style.
A-line is wider, has more space between jumps, has longer tables with gradual landings and has more potential for speed. IMO the jumps on Money are too small and narrow. The trail crew did say they are going to brick some of the berms to prevent them from blowing out in 3 days like last weekend. I have ridden several mountains that try to build A-line type trails, including a few in BC, and I have realized A-line is amazingly well built and hard to duplicate.
 

ASX_Andy

Chimp
Feb 23, 2007
83
0
the 3 OH! 3
The thing about Money is that the tabletops have no flow, its hard to get enough speed to clear any of them other than the first ones in the series. A couple of them are fun. The berms minus the last one? really need some work, they are fallin apart and are hard to go fast on..I feel like I'm turning on a switchback rather than riding a berm.

Cowboy up is sweet, I love the massive rock garden. The step ups are rather awkward but that will seem better later in the season.

TNT has fast and fun, theres a couple places where you can steer off the trail and find some small jumps. The 7' drop (Fuzzy Bunny?) near the end of it is pretty good, although you need a lil more speed than you think to land on the sloped part of the landing.
 

patrik

Chimp
Apr 10, 2007
37
0
Can't say I was up there the last day or two, but I can say I was the first mountain biker in the medical center for the season. I get sthuper cool points for going down on the service road on the last right hand turn before the drop zone, because I was an idiot and going too fast. It was on my fourth run down on friday, which would have made it about noon on opening day. Seperated AC in my right shoulder, hopefully I'll be better by the time crankwerx rolls around as I already registered.
Anyway I agree that money was not what I expected, but it was fun no less and everything else was exactly what I expected or better.
 

cjcrashesalot

Monkey
May 15, 2005
345
13
WA
Anyone been up there in the last day or two? How muddy are the trials at the top?
Was up there yesterday... only 1 really muddy berm in the woods section of cowboy up. Other than that, pretty good stuff


By the way, money only sucks if you aren't a great dirt jumper. If you can flow dj's on a hardtail, then money is...money.
 
S

Snargockle

Guest
I liked Money, but I thought the burms should be a little more spaced out. Really though, its pretty damn good.
 

Dangerous E

Monkey
May 24, 2006
214
0
Coorstown, CO
By the way, money only sucks if you aren't a great dirt jumper. If you can flow dj's on a hardtail, then money is...money.
Agreed. But there are not a lot of people that can flow steep DJ's on a 45 lb DH bike. That trail takes some practice and it certainly doesn't suck, but it's also not as good as it could be. Anyone that's ever ridden A-Line had a certain expectation and Money obviously did not live up to it.

However, I think the rest of the mountain is in kickass shape and I give huge props to the trailbuilders up there. Can't wait to see some of the new wood on Eastern Forest.
 

Beast

Turbo Monkey
May 23, 2002
1,579
0
Where the riding is good
best combo possible at keystone: milky way to motorhead to high speed dirt to jam rock to mosquito coast then to the base via the usual wildthing route. Simply amazing. Keystone knew what they were doing when they added all the large doubles, hips, and steeps to those trails. Very fun times.

Yesterday:

Oh, and Money was easy to ride/clear everything, even chainless. Not incredibly fun, but a good time nonetheless. And guys, look around keystone, none of the berms are concreted/bricked in. Do you really expect them to change that for one trail?
 

cjcrashesalot

Monkey
May 15, 2005
345
13
WA
Oh, and Money was easy to ride/clear everything, even chainless. Not incredibly fun, but a good time nonetheless. And guys, look around keystone, none of the berms are concreted/bricked in. Do you really expect them to change that for one trail?
Talking directly to one of the builders up there, I was informed that bricking the berms on money was the plan down the road.
 

ride_fast

Monkey
Jul 10, 2005
325
0
boulder, co
I rode "Money" today and I was surprised, I really liked it. The tables are small but they are absolutly perfect for practicing scrubs etc. and the berms on that trail are amazing, built well for sure. I like them blown out, way more fun than a packed berm because you can slide in them. Still like Beast said...
best combo possible at keystone: milky way to motorhead to high speed dirt to jam rock to mosquito coast then to the base via the usual wildthing route. Simply amazing.
 

EVILTWIN

Monkey
Mar 9, 2005
290
0
the loins of god
Im kinda hopin' after all this small stuff goes in we get some booters. Now that the cheesewedge plywoods gone we got nothin'. A lip there and how about a lip to road gap before entering the woods at wildthing off the high speed? Easily 45's.
 

cjcrashesalot

Monkey
May 15, 2005
345
13
WA
Im kinda hopin' after all this small stuff goes in we get some booters. Now that the cheesewedge plywoods gone we got nothin'. A lip there and how about a lip to road gap before entering the woods at wildthing off the high speed? Easily 45's.
Not a fan of the bush booter? I personally think that thing is rad. Jam rock has some other good gaps as well
 

Bikerpunk241

Monkey
Sep 28, 2001
765
0
It's the gap off the rock to a stepdown landing with a rock on the right... shoots you into a left hand berm at mach 10.

I beleive it's off of jam rock...but we had to take the fire road to get to it last time
Fantastic jump that one is.....not to bad on the little bike either. Too bad that money trail seems to be such a big let down....

I also agree with eviltwin, would be sweet to have some longer jumps, not just jumping longer to flat....
 

Dangerous E

Monkey
May 24, 2006
214
0
Coorstown, CO
best combo possible at keystone: milky way to motorhead to high speed dirt to jam rock to mosquito coast then to the base via the usual wildthing route. Simply amazing. Keystone knew what they were doing when they added all the large doubles, hips, and steeps to those trails. Very fun times.
Definitely. So freakin' good.

So anyone hear anything about when Eye of the Tiger is set to open?
 
Feb 3, 2002
58
0
mile high
update

Money isn't a perfect world class run, but it is well made and a lot of fun.

Even flow, on the other hand, is a piece of dog poo (In all fairness, it was still under construction).

Once again I met a handful of nice people (dh) at keystone and saw some sweet new stuff. For anyone going up, enjoy yourself and remember to say hi to others.

PS, the little asx park at the base of river run is a freindly little finish.

cheers and balls out!
 
May 30, 2005
323
0
A$$pen
update

Money isn't a perfect world class run, but it is well made and a lot of fun.

Even flow, on the other hand, is a piece of dog poo (In all fairness, it was still under construction).

Once again I met a handful of nice people (dh) at keystone and saw some sweet new stuff. For anyone going up, enjoy yourself and remember to say hi to others.

PS, the little asx park at the base of river run is a freindly little finish.

cheers and balls out!
Also....

Eye of the Tiger is way better now than when it opened. It still has some wet soil days after rain which is so rare around here. You can definitely move pretty fast on it now. I think it rides a lot like Angry Pirate at Whistler.

Evenflow has some cool woodwork, but I'm just not feeling it yet. It isn't really hard, but require a ton of braking. I think they could have done more for a Wild Things bypass.

The jump size variation on Money still drives me nuts. I hate changing speed from jump to jump.