My first trip to Diablo
Last Thursday I went to Diablo with two friends. One of them had some mtb experience but had not been on a ride (xc or otherwise) in years, never to any kind of lift assist mountain. The other guy is a yacht captain whose only experience on a bike is running to the store for beer and groceries on a folding bike. My experience is all xc.
We did the rental deal, went with the Iron Horse 7 Points, they set you up with all the pads and a helmet. Super cool staff, the mechanic, Matt was super helpful with pointing out which runs to hit first and what to expect.
Expect a lot of fun on the Green trails. All kinds of features, but easily rideable. After a few runs on these we started to peice in parts of the black diamond trails on the right side of the mountain. Man the fun just kept coming at a faster rate then ever...more rocks, more ramps, berms, just more of everything coming at you faster and faster.
We had a couple of crashes, a couple of walk arounds and a lot of staring at a feature, waiting for the courage to arrive, or someone else to hit it first. This would usually mean a crash was about to happen. more fun...
Took a break around 2 for lunch, had a badly burned hotdog. Then it started to rain. We went over to the store/office and hung out waiting for the rain to stop, watching the mass exodus of obese families evacuate the water park next door.
Talked for a while with 2 guys from Beechwood Bikes, and some French guys from Harlem who only ride there. Great conversations, learned a lot about the trails and where to go. Very friendly people there, everyone huddled on this porch waiting for the rain and lighning to stop.
They opened the lift back up at five and we hit the trails to the left. We were looking for Tempest which everyone had reccomended, but ended up on some other ones, saw some unreal rock gardens that just left us staring, trying to figure out how anyone could ride thru it. One looked like a 70 degree drop down a rock face about 16 feet tall into a pile of Flintstone sized boulders. Another was down a few car sized boulders and then a sick looking rock staircase.
Our last ride of the day and some guys visiting from Virginia showed us to Tempest and we were able to hit most of that, laughing all the way down.
Granted there were very few people there so we didnt have much worry of getting run over by faster riders, but the flipside of that is that I felt like I missed getting to see some better riders and better technique on the parts that I couldnt do.
We dropped off the bikes, headed to the Vernon Inn for some beers and to plot our next trip to Diablo. One of the best days in recent memory for sure. Lots of laughs, lots of accomplishment. Lots of great riding and very little pedaling.
Next day...soreness in the arms, shoulders, legs...cant stop thinking about going back...keep imagining the trails rushing forward...keep trying to figure out how to grow a set of bigger balls and hit one of those drops...already plotting another day off to get back up there.
My friends told me they were thinking the same thoughts.
Its a great place for a beginner that wants to progress. It is NOT a place to bring your GF on her first ride. That said, I did go with a complete novice who has done a lot of extreme diving and such and he did fine...The pads help with the crashes a lot. It is very fast, and the consequences of things not going right are to be considered.
I want to go back and learn how to do the drops and the tabletop jumps. I have a fear of heights and need to get over it.
2 days later I went to Ithaca NY and rode a place called Shindagin Hollow. It was a total blast, like Six Mile on a mountain with stream crossings, some little downhills and more varied flora and terrain...but in the back of my mind I couldn't stop thinking about Diablo.
Going to try to get up to the races there this weekend...and the all girl AC/DC band...