Motomike and Trill Will were gracious enough to let Noah and I get a sneak peak at the Dirty Bird this weekend after the Beech Mtn race. Those guys have done a helluva job on some prime trail construction. The course is fun without being scary but technical enough to be challenging for the fast guys.
My boy has recently started showing more interest in 'real' DH (closest thing he's ridden before this month was a fun and flowy SuperD course). He's been hucking and dirt jumping since he was 4 and now i think he's finally big enough to control his bike/brakes well enough to start DH. I took him to a local ,easy, shuttle spot a few weeks ago and, to my surprise, he let go of the brakes and picked lines i wouldn't have imagined a 9 year old would pick; jumping from rocks into berms and leaning his bike over in flat turns like a pro.
Then on Sunday, we hit up the Dirty Bird. the pics and vids just don't show the steepness of this track and the downhill bermage is stupid fun. Noah was a little hesitant on the steep stuff but started to get the hang of it. I think he got a little freaked out on the long rock garden because he wanted to do it but got the "hesitation fear" after a few run-up attempts at the drop in for it. the rest of that first run was crap as he was kinda shook up and had a hard time relaxing.
he took a break and went back up again, did much better and the smile returned to his face while he was blasting through the smaller rock gardens. he still was a little nervous in the steep berms near the bottom but did great for his 2nd shot at a new course.
anyway, mucho thanks and kudos to motomike, trill, muelstar and anyone else who has built that course...it has the potential to be a NC mecca
some pics and vids of Noah's DH uprising this month:
trail huck on Headley's at Wilsons Creek (near Boone, NC)
about 10 seconds before the bottom fell out of the sky on our last run down headleys
Dropping in at the Dirty Bird
one of the short woods sections near the top
too fast through a small rock garden for my flash
pumping through the rhythm section near the bottom
2 short clips from headleys
and sunday at the dirty bird
My boy has recently started showing more interest in 'real' DH (closest thing he's ridden before this month was a fun and flowy SuperD course). He's been hucking and dirt jumping since he was 4 and now i think he's finally big enough to control his bike/brakes well enough to start DH. I took him to a local ,easy, shuttle spot a few weeks ago and, to my surprise, he let go of the brakes and picked lines i wouldn't have imagined a 9 year old would pick; jumping from rocks into berms and leaning his bike over in flat turns like a pro.
Then on Sunday, we hit up the Dirty Bird. the pics and vids just don't show the steepness of this track and the downhill bermage is stupid fun. Noah was a little hesitant on the steep stuff but started to get the hang of it. I think he got a little freaked out on the long rock garden because he wanted to do it but got the "hesitation fear" after a few run-up attempts at the drop in for it. the rest of that first run was crap as he was kinda shook up and had a hard time relaxing.
he took a break and went back up again, did much better and the smile returned to his face while he was blasting through the smaller rock gardens. he still was a little nervous in the steep berms near the bottom but did great for his 2nd shot at a new course.
anyway, mucho thanks and kudos to motomike, trill, muelstar and anyone else who has built that course...it has the potential to be a NC mecca
some pics and vids of Noah's DH uprising this month:
trail huck on Headley's at Wilsons Creek (near Boone, NC)
about 10 seconds before the bottom fell out of the sky on our last run down headleys
Dropping in at the Dirty Bird
one of the short woods sections near the top
too fast through a small rock garden for my flash
pumping through the rhythm section near the bottom
2 short clips from headleys
and sunday at the dirty bird
he's not as sneaky as his burglar sisters 
