Legendhairy!: Sasquatch Scan-yon Day 6: Trails

So, I guess this entry is just about me and if nostalgia makes you nauseous then this isn't the site for you, at least not this week.

I started off just riding trails and the older I get the more I realize I will probably end the same way. Tons of amazing feelings on a bike, but if I could only pick one it would be flying through a set of jumps with friends.

I love this first picture that Dave Reuss took because it does a great job capturing this certain feeling you get when you are riding into a new (or old) set of trails. Sometimes getting to trails can be as exciting as riding them. While looking for trails in Oregon we found a homeless encampment that had swept walkways, fences made of scrap wood and a TV that ran off a car battery. The residents were friendly and gave us directions to the jumps. The trails in this photo were at one end of a county fishing park and it was a really fun pedal through a marshy field lined with cottonwoods. I had never been there before and I can remember the blur of anticipation I got sprinting out there for the jam that was going on. What's funny is I think my ankle was too wrecked to actually ride that day.

Dave Reuss (who took this photo as well) has a few catch phrases but the one you hear the most is "givin' er", and that is exactly what you were doing everytime you hit the rollercoaster @ Woodward West.

I hope nothing ever happens to change these jumps too drastically because you really don't need much more than a foam pit and a resi to train for dew tour dirt and I know kids get stoked on actual trails every time they ride there. But things change. Prepping the trails before another perfect evening session. That's Freddy Chulo watering behind me. Sweet.

Mike and I recently had one of those conversations that goes something like "if you could keep one trick, blah, blah, blah"...I said one footed tables, but after looking at these next two I might have to take it back. Actually , I could fill a whole post with just terrible one footers, but I still love doing em. This was taken in the waning days of De La Veaga in 2004. Polaroid.

Calabazus. Cali has probably existed since the 70's (feel free to jump in here, Squirrel) and has been through a ton of changes. When I was a super grom my mom would drop my friend Max and I off there on summer mornings at 8am. We would ride all day, hydrating with soda only and taking laps around the place. Max had an awesome philosophy about riding, that I still endorse today. "If you can't go high then it's not worth jumping". Right after Max did his first ever x-up (really high) over cave step he took another run, pulled up even harder, nosed cased and stacked so hard we couldn't find one of his shoes for a few minutes. This was taken in later years, when Calabazus was at its finest, 2003ish.

Ryan Fowler took this one of me riding Fort Ord in late 2006. Fort Ord had some of the biggest sets I had ridden at the time (and to this day).

This looks like it is from the same era as the one above it. Probably 2007 or so. Watsonville will always be one of my favorite places to ride. Mike went down there recently and decided it will probably never be resurrected but part of me thinks that will be okay. We had our time. Thanks to Mike and Jay for building one hell of a spot. Toboggan, third set in creekside. Photo: Ryan Fowler.