Yup... took my little lady (a.k.a. my Traveling Companion, LBG, or Little Blonde Girl) to Keystone Bike Park for the first time, and she was stoked. She rides pretty wellshe ain't too scared of the gnar or the chunk, can climb strongly, and is generally all-around a solid rider. She's been riding DH bikes with me for quite a few years, and cut her DH teeth at SolVista Bike Park for a season or three, then we "moved on" to Trestle Bike Park the last couple of seasons. She's ridden plenty of other places like Angel Fire, Vail, Crested Butte, Steamboat, etc. but had never been to Keystone. Since she scored a gig that gets her a summer pass to the Vail Resorts, it seemed like the right time to introduce her to Keystone Bike Park. I was a little concerned that she wouldn't like it because the trails are a bit steeper, a bit rockier than anything except Angel Fire, and just a bit "bigger" feeling than most other places.
Even though I've griped about Keystone in the past, it's always held a special place in my heart as it's the first place I really ever rode true DH terrain or raced a DH race. It feels like a bigger mountain than SolVista, Winter Park, Vail, Northstar or many of the other places I've ridden downhill... probably because it is. Most trails average 4-1/2 to 5 miles in length and will net you ~2500' of descent, and most of 'em ain't smooth. Plenty of chunky rocks, jumps, wooden features, and tech. "Real" downhill, we like to say in 'round these parts, especially now that everything is getting so "bike parked out" everywhere. If this place had the blessing of it's owners and a little more moisture, it'd go off.
Anycrap, back to the trip report... a bit to my surprise and much to my pleasure, she really loved riding downhill at Keystone and was riding some of the techy bits by the end of day one. Turns out, she's not as much of a fan of the wider, machine built trails at other bike parks and prefers her downhill a little more au naturale. She would roll up on a thing, take a look, ask me if it went, then just hike back up and hit it. I was super impressed! She's still wicked scared of anything made of wood (I am too) and she's not much a jumper, but she did awesome in the steep techier stuff. Plus, she's got moar stuff to work on and progress with here than other places. Here's a couple pics I took with my phone:
Three-Step in Wild Thing, like a BOSS:
Entrance to Skelter, "Does it go?" she asked:
Otherwise, a trail report: everything seems to be riding really well. There is one trail (Paid in Full) that is closed for renovation, but everything else was open and ripping. Couple of muddy spots here and there but otherwise in KILLER shape. Every year people in Colorado whine or complaine about Keystone not doing any maintenance or something like that. And although that's been me in the past, this weekend I could see lots of little places where the bike park crew has spent some time making improvements, fixing lips, adding berms, and generally making the place Moar Awesome. I even ticked off a couple of features that have given me trouble in the past, and generally got my new(ish) bike riding really well with correct spring rates and compression adjustments.
So stoked for downhill season. Next mission with the girlfriend: Whistler.
Even though I've griped about Keystone in the past, it's always held a special place in my heart as it's the first place I really ever rode true DH terrain or raced a DH race. It feels like a bigger mountain than SolVista, Winter Park, Vail, Northstar or many of the other places I've ridden downhill... probably because it is. Most trails average 4-1/2 to 5 miles in length and will net you ~2500' of descent, and most of 'em ain't smooth. Plenty of chunky rocks, jumps, wooden features, and tech. "Real" downhill, we like to say in 'round these parts, especially now that everything is getting so "bike parked out" everywhere. If this place had the blessing of it's owners and a little more moisture, it'd go off.
Anycrap, back to the trip report... a bit to my surprise and much to my pleasure, she really loved riding downhill at Keystone and was riding some of the techy bits by the end of day one. Turns out, she's not as much of a fan of the wider, machine built trails at other bike parks and prefers her downhill a little more au naturale. She would roll up on a thing, take a look, ask me if it went, then just hike back up and hit it. I was super impressed! She's still wicked scared of anything made of wood (I am too) and she's not much a jumper, but she did awesome in the steep techier stuff. Plus, she's got moar stuff to work on and progress with here than other places. Here's a couple pics I took with my phone:
Three-Step in Wild Thing, like a BOSS:
Entrance to Skelter, "Does it go?" she asked:
Otherwise, a trail report: everything seems to be riding really well. There is one trail (Paid in Full) that is closed for renovation, but everything else was open and ripping. Couple of muddy spots here and there but otherwise in KILLER shape. Every year people in Colorado whine or complaine about Keystone not doing any maintenance or something like that. And although that's been me in the past, this weekend I could see lots of little places where the bike park crew has spent some time making improvements, fixing lips, adding berms, and generally making the place Moar Awesome. I even ticked off a couple of features that have given me trouble in the past, and generally got my new(ish) bike riding really well with correct spring rates and compression adjustments.
So stoked for downhill season. Next mission with the girlfriend: Whistler.
