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Trails we miss

SuspectDevice

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,174
383
Roanoke, VA
I really miss all of the original trails at Jiminy Peak that were lost due to the Mountain coaster, windmill and new ski trails. All of the existing trails are boned out from years of neglect and people straightlining singletrack in the woods. Such a bummer.
At least we have Catamount down in South Berkshire county that is getting pretty good, and the possibility of semi-regular lift access going here in Franklin Cty over the next few seasons.
Western Mass rocks.
 
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davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
ska todd said:
Close thread now. Truth has been spoken.

-ska todd
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I think we might be the only people who remember that one.... all the kids missed out.

in a sport that has risen by leaps and bounds in the last 5 years let alone the last 12, I can say without a doubt that that track would still be considered a world cup classic today.

what I would give to have a second crack at that course....
 
gemini2k

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
davetrump said:
I think we might be the only people who remember that one.... all the kids missed out.

in a sport that has risen by leaps and bounds in the last 5 years let alone the last 12, I can say without a doubt that that track would still be considered a world cup classic today.

what I would give to have a second crack at that course....
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Pics? Come on people, nothing to hide if these trails are gone now.
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,115
6,055
borcester rhymes
SuspectDevice said:
I really miss all of the original trails at Jiminy Peak
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With you on this. Last time I was there I couldn't even find my way around. There is some great singletrack there and some of those trails are just a blast to rip on...but it seemed like as soon as interest started to wane they just gave up.

davetrump said:
I think we might be the only people who remember that one.... all the kids missed out.
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I was never there but I saw plenty of photos and some crappy video....wish I got a chance to ride it.
 
SuspectDevice

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,174
383
Roanoke, VA
davetrump said:
I think we might be the only people who remember that one.... all the kids missed out.

in a sport that has risen by leaps and bounds in the last 5 years let alone the last 12, I can say without a doubt that that track would still be considered a world cup classic today.

what I would give to have a second crack at that course....
Click to expand...
I took somewhere around 50th in Jr X. that year.

I borrowed Chase's old DH bike from the infamous Beaker who re-inherited it after Aaron finally got a DH bike from Sobe.
XTR v's front and rear on a chopped SuperV with a blown vanilla and an o.g. Jr. T that I'd broken the uppers off of on Monday... Some of the old dualcrown Marz forks were simply two stanchions threaded together- I had no idea and dropped the fork for the slackest head angle. Apparently threads don't keep the stanchions together on their own!

At that point I think I'd done about 5 NCS downhills over the past 5 seasons. None of them were much more than flattish shortish xc style DH sprints on my hardtail.

Mt Snow that year was my first time on an FS bike, first time in a full-face or pads and straight up terrifying. If my fitness hadn't been peaked out for the XC race I am pretty sure I never would have been able to make it down the entire track in my race run! My 5'10" 135 body in bib tights and a t-shirt and a giant Moto helmet wasn't a pretty sight. My neck was barely strong enough to keep my head up and I was used to riding a 21 pound bike down 3 minute downhills, not the heaviest bike i'd ever ridden down nearly 6 minutes(or more iirc) of super demanding wide-open whooped out root and boulder filled glades and super fast open-slope trail with large consequence rollers and features.....

Killington on the other hand was always pretty good for a decent xc rider.
 
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davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
gemini2k said:
Pics? Come on people, nothing to hide if these trails are gone now.
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haha... yeah let me just upload all those digital pics that were taken 12 years ago. oh, wait, nevermind.

the course was used one time, just for that race.

However, it was shown prime time on ESPN 2. I wonder if there is any way to find an archive somewhere ?

this was also the race that Palmer cut his Moto pants into shorts... you all know what happened next.
 
Cant Climb

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
There was a blurb in BikeMag after that race where it mentioned Steve Peat smoked EC and Mike King his first run down that track. EC and King had a days practice under their belts....

Then next year was when YardSale was introduced and Zapata said it was the high watermark in the American DH race scene. I think he was right....that was the year all the Aussies hit the scene.

'98 course was my first DH race. Sport class did the bottom of the pro course. Racers were scared to death. That was before the knew their whinging could cause change. People just sucked it up and gave it a go. I did my first run on 4 inch xc bike with seat jacked up......so it wasn't that bad. It was really a super cool course that highlighted the beauty of those woods, that's why i think it was so popular. The top Pro section was gnarlier though. Huge roots and the wierd plywood snow pipe huck. Then there was the section that ran down below the lift that looked super fast but was fraught with sucker holes....

The course also had that 15 foot high bridge like 2/3rd's down......i remember all the pro's completely crushing their headtubes on the flat ground landing....
 
Hesh To Steel

Hesh To Steel

Monkey
Dec 12, 2007
661
1
Hell's Kitchen
Nothing really as epic as the courses some of you guys are describing, but I really miss "Utah" at Diablo. Not even for the fast bermy section at the end, but the tech rocky part at the beginning. I guess i could just go poach it and come out on the old entrance that drops into the fireroad, but honestly, getting under that rope is just a little too much work for me, haha.

I would love to see pics of that mount snow course. I'm sure someone's got some scans stowed away.
 
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dw

Wiffle Ball ninja
Sep 10, 2001
2,943
0
MV
I miss the original "Bow Ridge" trail in Lynn Woods. It used to be the toughest trail in Lynn, and if you cleaned it all, it was an accomplishment. Now, most of it is the backyard for some crappy McMansions.. So sad.

Also I miss the old Attitash race course where I had one of the funniest crashes ever in 2000 or so (in my race run of course) and Slim Hamel caught the whole thing on tape. We laughed about that one for years.

Trail 66 dual slalom? Oh man, the best. For some reason Garrity and I always ended up racing each other at some point. hah
 
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dw

Wiffle Ball ninja
Sep 10, 2001
2,943
0
MV
Cant Climb said:
There was a blurb in BikeMag after that race where it mentioned Steve Peat smoked EC and Mike King his first run down that track. EC and King had a days practice under their belts....

Then next year was when YardSale was introduced and Zapata said it was the high watermark in the American DH race scene. I think he was right....that was the year all the Aussies hit the scene.

'98 course was my first DH race. Sport class did the bottom of the pro course. Racers were scared to death. That was before the knew their whinging could cause change. People just sucked it up and gave it a go. I did my first run on 4 inch xc bike with seat jacked up......so it wasn't that bad. It was really a super cool course that highlighted the beauty of those woods, that's why i think it was so popular. The top Pro section was gnarlier though. Huge roots and the wierd plywood snow pipe huck. Then there was the section that ran down below the lift that looked super fast but was fraught with sucker holes....

The course also had that 15 foot high bridge like 2/3rd's down......i remember all the pro's completely crushing their headtubes on the flat ground landing....
Click to expand...
Yeah that was an awesome race man. I remember standing at Yardsale and Peaty was the first rider I saw hit that thing at about Mach 2. I think his wheels touched down about 3 times, I was havinga hard time walking up it.. That was just about the moment where I decided, I need to do this. Soon after I was already immersed in researching and sketching bikes, Evil was born 9 months later. Good ol' days.
 
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dw

Wiffle Ball ninja
Sep 10, 2001
2,943
0
MV
Jester said:
Bostons Fenway trails
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HELL YES!!!

I spent literally hundreds of hours there digging starting when there was only 1 jump. It expended to a whole load of lines. WOW I can't believe I forgot to mention that.
 
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davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
G30RG3ryan said:
I have a VHS tape with the ESPN coverage that I recorded late one night. Somewhere at my parents house with probably the whole '98 season on that tape.
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same here.... even if I did find it at my parents place I would **** outta luck trying to play it.

probably have to go down to the local salvation army and pick up a sweet VHS player
 
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