A group of us from the Re:cycles bike shop went to Snowshoe, WV over Memorial Day weekend. This was my first trip to Snowshoe during the summer and I had heard tons of hype surrounding this place. I tried not to build up any major expectations or buy into the hype. I watched a few race videos and saw a few photos, but I kept hearing stories that painted a different idea than what the intarweb had to offer.
I had the pleasure of riding a ‘07 kona coiler deluxe. I did a little set up the night before swapping tires and setting suspension sag. There was a little rebound damping dialing left to do, but I had a good base set up until I rode on trail a bit, I thought anyway.
After arriving around midday Friday we set up the condo and geared up for our first run of the trip. The guys I went with had a tradition of running a certain two trails as the first descent on any Snowshoe trip. So far I had heard about an eight foot skinnie at the trail head, but that was pretty much it. So off we go on my first descent at Snowshoe.
The coiler felt awesome. More travel with better suspension than my dawg, plus a much more relaxed cockpit. I had (maybe) 30 minutes seat time with the coiler and was not too sure what to expect as far as trail conditions, but I was stoked none the less. So we get lift passes and head to a trial head on the basin side. The five of us gathered at the trailhead and someone said “here we go, A to H”. Then I notice the sign with the letter “A” and I followed there lead.
I will admit my first run at snowshoe pretty much put the fear in me! I will suggest that if you are new to gnarly DH, then riding A to H on the basin side is not the first run at Snowshoe you should make. The top of A was insanely steep and nothing like I had seen before… and that is really all I remember about that run. I made it, but whoa…
Anyway my fist descent at this place made for a run I’ll never forget. After I recovered from the shock of riding the craziest sh!t I’ve ever seen, I managed to find myself a little flow on some of the “mellower” trails. I was pretty stoked on trails like M, O and D and of course there is lots of good stuff on the west side.
So there are no photos from my first descent, but I did take some photos on the basin side and during other parts of the trip. Enjoy!
Wheeliemert showing a little excitement upon our arrival
a place we hung out and had a few beers throughout the trip
had a little urban sesh one evening
trekbro doing his thing… chillen
chris getting stylie on the hip at the top of the basin side
enjoying the views and the company
saw these guys when going for coffee one morning
gastro rippen a fun section of M on the basin side
gnarly sections of B
(the photos don’t do the steepness any justice)
couple of nice berms (still on B)
After this shot above and while standing at the top of G… the sky fell out. So it was a fast, haul ass down G to get to the shack at the base of the hill. I had the concern of keeping the photo gear from getting wet. I rode G faster than my first time, even with the added weight of my photo gear on my back. (I forgot to take any sort of rain gear out that day)
the rain stopped for a little bit while we were down by the basin
so then these four and i wondered back to the fire fox
for more beer
a few stories were swapped
some day dreaming went on
I was stoked I had new shades
Later we hit up a little more urban
[forest gump]I like this one alot[/forest gump]
This guy always looks good in front of the lens
Our last day of riding was muddy as hell due to the rains the day before. I made two runs down the west side and said some thing like ~screw this… :reaching for energy:… I’m too tired~.
I felt spoiled after riding for three days with dry conditions and the wet was just too crazy for my tired beat up body.
just something I saw through the window on the way home
self portrait
So… these are my ramblings and photos from a recent trip to ride bikes and… well… drink beer.
-robert seth
i've got to get up to SS sometime, looks like a blast.
