[26West BikePark]

Ribbon Cutting Formally Opens Park

26 West is officially open with bedded in trails, new features and an exciting Fall planned ahead. Saturday, nearly forty riders enjoyed dry, loose conditions on the trails, new features in the terrain park and hot dogs down in the village.

All types of riders had a blast - xc guys, full on DH brethren, kids. Very nice to see a diverse group having fun and encouraging each other; everyone tried out the new 30' table on Park Connector. Some cleared, others not, so now it is your turn to give it a shot!

Speaking of shot, pictures will soon be posted of new features.

Rain has returned to the Park, so expect the best conditions of the season this coming weekend!

RIDE 26 WEST!

 

[FCLinder]

Ryan, glad you had a good turn out!!! Sorry I could not make it up as I had a trail workday for the race coming up. Let us know when the trail work day will be for your race and some of us will try to make it up to help.

By the way your on all the new Flyers.....

Cecil

 

[ShawnB]

Saturday was a blast and we appreciate your dedication to the cause Ryan! Every time I ride 26West there is something new. Speaking of new I ran the last run w/out a chain. Big Black Chainless Shockwave 9.5. Not pretty.
Couldn't have broken at a more perfect time.The opening went smoothly and holy cow the rocky mtn gal was hot.
See you Monkeys next weekend.

 

[bizutch]

....The opening went smoothly and holy cow the rocky mtn gal was hot.
See you Monkeys next weekend.

 

[DHPeteinSC]

I agree with Butch ^

 

[wannabeabonedoc]

Ryan, don't you mean ribbon-breaking ceremony?
I'll have to look through the pictures I got I think I may have gotten a pick of the rocky mountain girl. I think between her and the chick running the lift we were treated to good views at both ends. Although I'm pretty sure the girl workin the lift was bored out of her mind....
ShawnB it was GREAT riding and hangin out with you guys. I was the guy with the clapped out Kona Coiler, fully stocked with jelly beans. It's all about blue-raspberry and sour apple. I stopped at the store on the way out and the lady working there said she was down for your "special order". What was it again?? A 7-up and a what?
One of the biggest pluses for me, and this sounds absolutely stupid is the way they work the lift ticket. The little green carnival bracelet is much nicer than having to strap stuff to your bike...
Ryan, that place was nucking futs man! You've obviously put a LOT of hard work in up there and it shows. My favorite line was to take Yo-B down and then cut out into slope over that little rock line, then hit one of the drops, then to the big left handed berm to the step down. TONS of fun. I hope to get back down there sometime before you close up shop. Pics are coming soon, I promise.

OH AND A HEADS UP: BRING CASH... AND YOUR OWN DRINKS... They had the means to run a card eventually but it just makes everything easier for everybody if you bring cash!

 

[manimal]

ryan,

is season closing going to depend on weather or do you have a set date in mind?

 

[wannabeabonedoc]

Manimal, if my memory serves me correctly, I remember Ryan telling me that the tentative date for closing for ski season is around Nov. 1st. That of course is unless NC gets snow before then... Just what I think I remember him saying, but of course I'll let him answer it officially...

here's the better of the pictures I got. Nothing spectacular....

Looking up the mountain before the day got started:

The new 30' table top on Park connector

Im sorry I didn't catch many people's names but here's the guy on the bottlerocket on the step up just before the large tabletop:

And of course the hip... This guy went for it and everything looked great until halfway through the air, he got really nose heavy and ended up eating a lot of dirt. He popped right back up though. Props for sending it man:

Another person on the hip:

 

[wannabeabonedoc]

Here's a pic from the top of the lift. I have to say, having never been lucky enough to venture into western North Carolina I was impressed and awe-struck.. and insanely jealous b/c of how friggin awesome it is.:

Rocky Mountain showed up with demo bikes galore:

This one however wasn't demo-able b/c of something about a prototype brake up front not working or something...
The only other flatline they had was an x-small that looked like a lot of fun.

Industry-9 of course showed up with a few sets of wheels on a couple demo bikes, as did Suspension Experts and I think a Maverick Rep was there with them as well...:

Here was the only bike I ended up trying out and it was fricken sweet. I HUGE difference in how it rides compared to my coiler...:

Here's a pic of the full bike and you can see what picture I did manage to get of the Rocky Mountain girl... Sorry it's not the best...:

that's all I got. they're crappy pictures I know but hey I never made claims to be a good photographer.
Ryan, again GREAT job on those trails so far. It was WELL worth the drive down from Blacksburg!

Also, if you go to www.citizen-times.com and click on the "featured photos" on the right, there's about 18 or so pics taken by a professional photog. I'm in number 18 on the far left, messing with my helmet...

 

[ShawnB]

Bonedoc
Thanks for posting up the photos and feeding us jellybelly's as we all went hypoglycemic. You should come down from Blacksburg soon and ride again. Corby,Israel, and myself are heading back up next Saturday. All this rain we are having will sponge things up. Peace