Seven Springs Recon #1: Ursus Americanus

Headed up the mountain this morning. Damn I love going up there. I wish I had more opportunities to ride there. I've always said there are "mountain people" and "beach people". 98% of me is a "mountain person". The 2% "beach" part of me is just the part of going to the beach where I get an eye full of hot women in bikinis. I can do without the sand, ocean, crowds, cheezy boardwalks, and fat men in Speedos. A beach in the middle of nowhere, now that's something to think about, Better yet a cool mountain lake, surrounded by peaks and near some sweet single track. Now THAT is something to think about!

Anyway, I'm way off topic here. I love riding up on the mountain. When you ride there you become a better rider, there's no doubt. The Seven Springs race course could be the best at throwing you a kick ass loop that really shows off a multitude of PA terrain. I really have to ride there more. It's only about an hour from my house. Most of the local trail systems near my house take me 30+ minutes to get to. The added half hour just might be worth it to get my mountain fix on.

It was nice to be back on the Dos Niner. I missed it. I love the geometry of this frame. It's my fave Salsa I've had for sure. I will say that about 3/4 into my first lap I couldn't help but think how kick ass the new Big Mama will rock terrain like this. The thing with riding in place like this is that even when you get out of the single track and hit a steady double track climb, it's pretty much all rock.

The Dos Niner's 1" takes the edge off, and it's light weight is great for climbing, but I still found myself bouncing around and thinking the Big Mama's 100 mm will eat this shit up!! Don't get me wrong I KNOW there are guys that will fly around this course on a hard tail. I've done it myself. But after 2 laps the back is screaming for some cush. Sadly the Big Mama will not arrive until fall and won't get to taste '08 Seven Springs single track. Although there is rumor of a Salsa demo ride happening later this summer via the Goat. If it happens they MUST choose Seven Springs for the ride. Folks could ride the course and then hit the down hill park. Just my 2¢.

Back to the ride- I cruised the first lap pretty well, stopping for a couple pics and find my barrings for the course. They added in another new section of single track that dumps you out just before the climb pictured above. The new trail eliminates some energy sucking trail that has been part of the course the past couple years. I will say if it's a mud fest in '08 like it was in '06, the fresher trail is going to be ssssssssssslow going. Let's just hope it's nice and dry.

The new trails were titz and a nice change. Soon the trails hook up with the old stuff and before you know it it's time for the grassy climb across the ski slopes. I assume this is still part of the 2008 course. I pray it's not because it sucks harder than a hooker in a Navy ship yard. But I have the odd feeling that eliminating climbs in a mountain bike race is not on God's "to do" list. Oh well, It couldn't hurt to ask.

The pic above is when the climb actually gets out of the freaking granny gear, energy sucking grass. The good news is there's only about 300 yards of the ski slope left. The bad news is. NOW you have to granny gear it (if you're me) up the rocky, exposed climb. It's a gravel road, but the pieces of gravel are roughly the size of your fist or bigger.

A few minutes later you're back up to the second half of the course. Cruise on the flatish grass that is the pit area come race time. Under the lifts you go and see all the down hill riders taking the easy way up the mountain, so they can bomb back down it on their 45 lb. rigs.

I like to earn my down hills with a good taint rubbing climb. Off to the second part of the course and some nice rock gardens. This is where I think the 29er shines. The wheels fill in the gaps in the rocks and the Fox set at 100mm sucks up the mistakes, and I make many. I had some good success in the rock gardens today and only f*cked up a couple times.

My second lap was good for few reasons. I was feeling more at ease on the rocks, knew the better lines, and was just enjoying riding in the mountains. About 7 or 8 miles into my second lap I met Mr. Ursus Americanus, A.K.A. Rectus Openus Feecus Evacuateus, Or in layman's terms... A F*CKING BLACK BEAR!!!!!

This pic lifted off the Net shows about what it looked like. He/she was about 25 yards away from me on a section of double track. When I rounded the corner my first thought was "hey, a bear" then 1 second later I was like "F*CKING BEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Oddly it's reaction was about the same as mine. It was walking along, looked up, and almost had this look of "hey, a human.... F*CKING HUMAN!!" And then romped off into the woods. He was close enough that I could hear his paws hitting the ground when he ran. Nice. I have to say I was still less scared seeing a bear, than I would have been if I saw rattle snake. This now marks the THIRD bear I've seen in the PA mountains, but the first ever up around Seven Springs. It was pretty cool. Mountains rock!

After that it was some loud whistling for a few hundred feet to make sure there were no others or cubs around. Then off to the dreaded climb and the second half of the course. In the end I got 2 laps in and called it a day. The computer shit the bed due to a wire issue but I rode about 3.5 hours and put in what must have been about 23ish miles of riding. Anxious to get back up there. I'd like to get up for some night laps in couple weeks.

Once home Wifey and I exchanged our anniversary gifts. She got diamonds and I got something better....

So what more could I ask for from a Saturday? Kick ass trails, great weather, top notch beers and crime fighting with my #1 crime fighter.

Looks like the WVMBA race is a no go tomorrow for me, but I hope to get out on the road bike for a while. After today's rocky 23 miles, 40 on the road should feel damn easy. Not as fun, but easier! ;)

Later. I gotz beers to drink!