Days 4-5

*PICTURES ARE POSTED AT THE END OF THIS ENTRY AND THE LAST ONE!*

Ok, so I didn't post the pictures that go with the last post. I'm also not posting pictures this time too. I promise I've been really busy and so I haven't had the chance to actually get the pictures on here from Jason. I'll tell you why I've been so busy after I finish my chronology of my trip! So, tonight, I should be able to post the pics...there's nothing going on as far as I know.

Day 4: We will call this the "Epic Day". One of Jason's co-workers told him about a trail that we had to ride. It was called the "Old Rock Creek Trail" or something like that. He said that it was one of his favorite trails to ride...ever! So, we decided that we had to do it. Mike, Jason's co-worker said, "And maybe if you're lucky you can get your dad to pick you up at the end!" Jason took this to mean that if you wanted to go easy then you could have someone pick you up. What Mike should have said was, "You HAVE TO have someone pick you up at the end." So, naive and unprepared we started off on the trail.

There were three parts. The first part was so fast and beautiful. You rode on a little single track trail along a stream. It was so fun. Then we crossed a road and started out on the second part. That was the same...a fast, single track. It seemed to get a little technical toward the end but it was still super fun. Then we got to the third part. This part was by far the longest part and SUPER technical. More technical than anything I have ever ridden. All three of the parts were downhill. On the last part there were a ton of times that I had to get off and walk. Jason smashed his brand new bike in a couple of spots. I smashed my knee so bad that I had to get off the bike and grit my teeth together just to keep from screaming at the top of my lungs. When this happened Jason ended up running back up the trail after me because it seemed like I was taking too long to get to him. (He rides ahead of me and then stops periodically to make sure I catch up on the downhill). After what seemed like forever we finally made it out to the end of the trail. It was a very gnarly trail.

Upon exiting the trail though we realized that we didn't know how to get back. The original plan was to take a road back. When we saw the road though there were to ways to go...up or down. We didn't know which way. The end of the trail emptied out onto 3 houses and a closed diner. There were some construction guys there and we asked them what they thought was the best way to get back. What do you think he said? "Go back the way you came!" My heart sank. I was so tired already and to think of doing that same horrendous trail UPHILL was not what I had in mind to do. We had to though. It was Jason's mom's birthday and we were supposed to meet them. We didn't want to ruin her birthday or make them worry. I realized shortly after we started up the trail that I had very little water left. We hiked/ran our bikes up the third part. I got stung by a bee. We drenched ourselves in the river a few times to stay cool. Jason gave me the rest of his water too. We were in survival mode. 4 hours later we emerged tired, thirsty, and sunburned. We did it though!!! It was super hard and not all that fun at the time but it sort of felt like an adventure...a battle that we conquered. I felt kinda hard core! :-) We would do it again...no doubt. We would CERTAINLY have some one pick us up at the end though.

Day 5: I'm not quite certain how Jason managed to talk me into doing Mammoth Mountain again but he did it. I was so pooped and sore from the day before. On the Day 4 ride Jason's brakes starting pooping out. We ended up spending some time at Footloose Sports...a very cool store. We got to know some of the bike guys there. That was fun. Anyways, once we got to Mammoth we did some uphill at the beginning to feel like we got a little bit of a work out. Then after that it was all about the downhill. Some of the guys at Footloose recommended some trails. The signage was horrible on the mountain and so we ended up doing some trails we didn't want to do. We did one called Kamikaze. The trail is exactly what the name implies. You basically go down the trail as fast as humanly possible. Most of the black diamond trails were meant for dowhillers. I went down the trail but I felt so tossed around from it. My ankle joints and hands started to ache half way down. I just don't have that suspension to cushion the blows of all the bumps. Jason thoroughly enjoyed it though! He pretty much dive bombed down it...although he swears he was going "slow". :-) The day was great though. We found this trail called 7 Bridges and it was really cool. It was fast and there were all these rickety bridges to go over. Very fun!!! It was a great day.

To be cont.... :-)