I went to Northstar for my first time this summer, and was much stoked to find out I had a chance to head back October 2nd. My first trip was extremely fun, my bike was a SC Heckler, and we had stayed off all the double blacks except sticks and stones. This time I was equipped with a Vp-free sporting an 888, and determined to hit as many trails as possible.
We got on the lift about 20 minutes after it started up, and chose to warm up on flameout. Unfortunately, the trail sucked on the vp-free, and the first timers I was riding with were disappointed at the trail quality. Second run was down Karpiel, and there frowns were turned upside down. We managed to hit all the trails we wanted, but a few technicals cheated us out of one last run. My rear thru-axle was toast after a crash on sticks and stone, so we had to borrow tools to tighten it for our last few runs. We also noticed that Joeys spokes were outrageously loose, and far from safe. But safe enough for one last run. The first days pictures were limited, due to wanting to ride as much as possible, but here they are. (Note: These pictures were taken by me, with a disposable camera, so don't expect anything fabulous)
Some random guy showed us how to do it right
Joey was close to follow
Joeys off the first drop on boondocks
Once again, its Joey, this time on a bridge
Sunday rolled around, and we decided we needed to do boondocks again to get some video and pictures. So we loaded up the bikes and drove up the fiberboard freeway, ready to do a nice climb to the top.
Waiting for the other guys to get ready
I actually enjoyed pedaling the 44 pound bike to the summit. The vp-free doesn't climb like a mountain goat, more like a sloth. It might not go very fast, but it will get you there.
At the summit
Now to the fun part.
Myself warming up (You cant trust other people to take photos)
I couldn't help but take a picture of this hot V10
Myself off the same drop (Why can't people friggin press the button at the right time?!)
This rock is highly overrated (Myself in picture)
Myself dropping the big one at the end of boondocks.
As always, a very fun trip. I can't wait until June.
We got on the lift about 20 minutes after it started up, and chose to warm up on flameout. Unfortunately, the trail sucked on the vp-free, and the first timers I was riding with were disappointed at the trail quality. Second run was down Karpiel, and there frowns were turned upside down. We managed to hit all the trails we wanted, but a few technicals cheated us out of one last run. My rear thru-axle was toast after a crash on sticks and stone, so we had to borrow tools to tighten it for our last few runs. We also noticed that Joeys spokes were outrageously loose, and far from safe. But safe enough for one last run. The first days pictures were limited, due to wanting to ride as much as possible, but here they are. (Note: These pictures were taken by me, with a disposable camera, so don't expect anything fabulous)
Some random guy showed us how to do it right
Joey was close to follow
Joeys off the first drop on boondocks
Once again, its Joey, this time on a bridge
Sunday rolled around, and we decided we needed to do boondocks again to get some video and pictures. So we loaded up the bikes and drove up the fiberboard freeway, ready to do a nice climb to the top.
Waiting for the other guys to get ready
I actually enjoyed pedaling the 44 pound bike to the summit. The vp-free doesn't climb like a mountain goat, more like a sloth. It might not go very fast, but it will get you there.
At the summit
Now to the fun part.
Myself warming up (You cant trust other people to take photos)
I couldn't help but take a picture of this hot V10
Myself off the same drop (Why can't people friggin press the button at the right time?!)
This rock is highly overrated (Myself in picture)
Myself dropping the big one at the end of boondocks.
As always, a very fun trip. I can't wait until June.
