... it would be illegal...
... after a pretty good ride last Saturday during which we found some cool single-track downhill winding from the ridge top, and which we weren't previously aware of, the plan was to go out again on Sunday... unfortunately, 'brother Howie' was headin' out of town for the week, so it looked like a solo flight...
... got to thinkin'... hey!... hadn't seen this guy for a while...
... decided to conjure up 'Ghostrider'!...
... a few of the right chants and... Poof!!... and... whoa!!... added a bit too much hot 'Ghost Pepper' to the potion (but definitely will remember it for later, though)...
... got it right the second time - and what's this!? - he's straddlin' one of those new 'Fatbikes' - a 'Specialized Fatboy SE' to be exact - black on black, stock 26x4.6 'Ground Control' tires (60TPI, wire bead w/tubes), mechanical disc brakes, aluminum frame, alloy fork, 2x10 drivetrain > 11-36 cassette > 36/22 crank... pretty nice... and he's amped to give it a go...
... thought a few times about pickin' one up myself, but "...where ya' gonna ride it? Those things are only made for sand and snow... you'll blow the tires ridin' on rocks!" was the comment I'd always get from others... with that in consideration, we decided to give it an easy break in on a pretty tame "cruiser" route...
... after a few miles and up to this point that thing had been handlin' pretty well - including some steep rocky terrain which 'Ghostrider' (GR) cruised - those oversized tires really glided over the rocks while additionally providing excellent grip and "tracking" on the steep - in fact, crawling over large rocks seemed to be what that thing excelled at... the low gearing more than made up for the little bit of extra weight...
... it was a bit cold and frosty morning - the first thin coating of ice we'd seen this year on this water hole situated at higher elevation...
... definitely a whole new experience - that thing was a real rock crawler running those large low pressure tires - had 'em inflated to 10psi - got to the point that was all he started lookin' for - ...
... decided to head into an area which we knew had a few sparsely scattered, larger low boulders...
... brilliant!...
... spent about a half hour doin' laps around this dry creek bed rolling over the boulders and droppin' the shallow banks for fun... almost like a rocky 'halfpipe'...
... had been out about two hours by now, so decided to head another two or three miles up to the local overlook before callin' it a day - there were usually a few decent mudholes on the way... had stopped to take a few photos on the way up when we heard somethin' big makin' it's way thru the brush and saw a large black coyote approaching, which got to within' thirty feet before he spotted us and stopped dead in his tracks - I was really rushin' to reset the camera setting for a photo or two - this single image was the best I could manage under the circumstances before he booked - he's pretty well camouflaged (inside the red circle)...
... a few preceding days of high winds had really open up the tree canopy...
... fat tracks and a size 11 for scale...
... the popular and often photographed 'Lookout Point'... that's an orienteering/adventure race control marker hangin' low on that tree limb - first time we ever encountered one in these parts - don't know who set it... a flock of those guys should be wary runnin' around this neck of "FayetteNam" while standing out in those flashy-lookin' racing duds (especially this close to Thanksgiving) - the "Hills Have Eyes"...
"... Looky Pa!!... Turkeys!!!"...
"... I see's 'em boy!!!...
... anyway, all joking aside, it was soon time for 'GR' to return to his world, so we made our way back to the trailhead...
... been around ridin' MTB's since the first commercially available machines - first impression is that 'Fat Tire' bikes are a whole different way of experiencing the backwoods... in our opinion the manufacturers are actually doin' themselves a disservice - should be marketing those things as 'RockCrawlers'...
... true mountain bikes...
