TR: Sunday River, ME downhillin' 2007.10.08

**Natedogg** · 10-10-2007, 09:58 AM

Location: Sunday River Resort, Newry, Maine

Peeps: Natedogg, two non-mags: Smitty and Climo

Details/shoutouts: I got up to the condo Saturday night and it was POURING (after months of virtually no precip). Woke up Sunday to bluebird skies. Collegiate races Saturday and Sunday--met a couple of youngin' Lehigh Univ. bros who were racing. We also met up with a few SlapheadMofo team dudes and trail builders and got a special tour for the last run. We were on top of Locke mountain for sunset and I wanted to castrate myself for not bringing my camera. Unfortunately, not many bluebird photos (the limited photos from Sunday are on slides, and are not yet developed). Monday we woke up to fog and drizzle. I turn into a complete vag when faced with wet rocks and roots. Wet loam? = slipperyier (is that a word?) than hogsnot on a doorknob.

This was a new one for me... no hooks for the bikes on the chairs. I was a little sketched about loading and unloading. Trial by fire, but it worked out just fine. In fact, it's faster and better than having some liftie mashing your odd-shaped $4k bike onto a set of steel pegs on the back of the chair (no offense to lifties--I couldn't lift 45-lb bikes all day). Just gotta remember to keep the bike up so you don't rip your legs off during unloading...

Smitty and Climo on the smoothest 100 yards of singletrack on the mountain...

Climo, at the top, doin' a little camera look...

...riding the muck and gneiss.

Smitty, same section, pinning it with the old rig...

into the mud and fog.

Lots of little bedrock knobs/hips to pop

Climo takes to the woods...

Although Smitty psyched himself out thinking that he would eat shit because it's so wet, he pulls a wheelie on a bridge Wade Simmons style... He ate it farther down, but not too shabby nonetheless!

Deep, dank, thick, gnarly Maine woods with lotsa moss... 'Aiuh, just you wait til black fly season, bhub!'

Sketchy exit of upper Tombstone... onto and across work road/ski trail to lower Tombstone:

where Smitty drops in... (once again, pics never do these things justice--looking at this from the top makes my stomach turn--wondering what my body would look like and how they would get a helicopter in here to fly me out if my front wheel slipped off one of those rocks)

...but the slick rock has it's way with him. Luckily he bails off the bike before it goes over the edge.

Undaunted, he picks his bike up and rides off the other end of the rock... and eats shit again. But he keeps getting back up and riding faster. I've seen the kid throw monster 720's off the biggest jump in the park and eat shit hard, and he keeps going. Must be all the safety meetings he attends.

They got a few pics of the elusive Natedogg...

Ghostriders: me and Smitty rippin a little through the forest... Not many pictures of me, because, well, I guess I have a little bit more sense of self preservation than these dudes. They both kill it.

Group/mud shot

I guess Smitty shit himself several times--not sure if it was from going so fast or going big off sketchy drops...

Fin... until I can get some of these New England fools (maggots) to photoslut for me...

**Anby** · 10-10-2007, 10:09 AM

Nice New England TR!! Way to get after some Fall riding before the snow flies.

**Dromond** · 10-10-2007, 10:12 AM

Nice photos. I've never ridden up there but i remember how bummed all of the Maine DH riders were when they stopped running the lifts for bikes in the summer. Are they back doing it full time now or just for races?

**flowtron** · 10-10-2007, 10:27 AM

Niiiice, looks like some fun trails up theya.

**dfinn** · 10-10-2007, 10:36 AM

I guess you have no one to blame but yourself if your bike falls off the lift.

**Particle** · 10-10-2007, 12:03 PM

Awesome photos nated...love the mossy/foggy/wet/gnarliness.

**Hutch** · 10-10-2007, 04:35 PM

Some kickass photos in there!

All artsy and shit!

**MarsB** · 10-10-2007, 10:59 PM

Ah, love me some wet rocks. EC baby!

**mrryde** · 10-11-2007, 06:07 AM

looks a little like Snowshoe, i love east coast, wet mountain biking TR's

**SLSki** · 10-11-2007, 08:10 AM

Wow, cool looking trails...especially that boulder garden. I really like riding DH in the fall, not sure about those slick conditions though.

**Squirrel99** · 10-11-2007, 10:39 AM

I got to bike Sunday River about 6 years ago - that place blew me away. The "slickrock" / granite on the ridgetop trails toward White Heat was a great surprise. I was definitely impressed.

So are they running lifts again for bikes? I hope they are back on track because they had a huge bike park and tons of great trails. One of the best days I ever had riding was at the River followed by beers at the Brew Pub.

**BenWA** · 10-11-2007, 06:05 PM

What in fuck? How exactly do you hold onto your bike on the lift?? Is it just hangin by the bars on your thighs???? Doesn't that cut off the circulation to ur feet?? Was that a mole??

"Naw, it cahn't be!"

Sick pix! Place looks like it's got some fun $hite to ride. Nice wheelie logride thingy.

Rocks look slicker'n dogshit. Even before I saw the pic after this one:

....I was expecting the next shot to be of smitty gettin his ass handed to him, just by the slimey sheen of the rock. Guess I was right.

**Dromond** · 10-11-2007, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by BenWA

What in fuck? How exactly do you hold onto your bike on the lift?? Is it just hangin by the bars on your thighs???? Doesn't that cut off the circulation to ur feet?? Was that a mole??

"Naw, it cahn't be!"

Sick pix! Place looks like it's got some fun $hite to ride. Nice wheelie logride thingy.

Rocks look slicker'n dogshit. Even before I saw the pic after this one:

....I was expecting the next shot to be of smitty gettin his ass handed to him, just by the look of the rock. Guess I was right.

I also like the slick as hell snowmaking pipe in the background. Nothing like an unexpected greased 12" diameter steel pipe to liven up the your riding!

**Skipig25** · 10-11-2007, 10:42 PM

real sick for sure. I'll have to ride that next summer, but hopefully on a warm sunny day

**Natedogg** · 10-12-2007, 07:07 AM

Thanks, fellas!

Originally Posted by Squirrel99

So are they running lifts again for bikes? I hope they are back on track because they had a huge bike park and tons of great trails.

Yeah, the slickrock is cool. The till is so thin, the glacially polished bedrock gets exposed easily--there's tons of sections of 'slickrock' around. The new owners (same as Crystal Mtn!) opened the bike park in August after they closed the deal buying SR, so it was a short season, but the trail builders were hard at work. The park isn't huge, and the trails don't really vary much in difficulty or style, but I think they are working on that. I think Boyne is going to be good for SR and Sugarloaf...

Originally Posted by BenWA

What in fuck? How exactly do you hold onto your bike on the lift?? Is it just hangin by the bars on your thighs???? Doesn't that cut off the circulation to ur feet?? Was that a mole?? "Naw, it cahn't be!" Place looks like it's got some fun $hite to ride. Nice wheelie logride thingy.

WASTHAT A MOLE?? THAT TRUCK JUST HAD A LOT OF DOGTHS ON IT!

Yeah, you wheelie the bike onto the rear tire at the bottom terminal, and then either rest the saddle on the seat or lock the brake and hold the rear tire with your feet. Then when you clear the terminal, lower the pup down and rest the bar on your knees. Its actually pretty comfy, no cut-off circulation or nuthin. The toughest part is getting the damn thing back up to offload!

BTW, if you had got your ass back out here, we could've ridden! Oh wait, I forgot, you gave up knobbies for slicks and shaved legs.

Originally Posted by Dromond

I also like the slick as hell snowmaking pipe in the background. Nothing like an unexpected greased 12" diameter steel pipe to liven up the your riding!

You got that right. There are so many pipe crossings, and several at odd angles... I've bitten it so many times on those I usually put a foot down now. Even when its dry, a little bit of soil moisture on your rubbers will make you go down. Jesus, I'm setting myself up with that sentence...

**trainnvain** · 10-12-2007, 10:02 AM

Nice pics. The boys up there did some good work in short time.
It figures that the first Sunday I get off since being un-gimped is this weekend. Uggg! Next year.