JH Roll Call 2014!

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Seeing the other hubs of maggot bike enthusiasts starting to post conditions threads for 2014, so being the newly-arrived East Coast trustafarian jong to town, and thus the domineering expert and hub of biking knowledge and credibility, I thought I'd just go ahead and start the Jackson Hole thread.

Current conditions as of Tax Day 2014: everything is buried in snow. Lots of snow that probably will be here til July. However, the Victor Bike Park is good to go (sort of)!

Rode it for a little bit before being forced home by sideways grapple & lightning. Small & medium jump lines are shreddable, although everything, especially the pump track, needs some shovel love to get the flow back. Anyone know if/how dig days are organized there?

Also, Pocatello has been good to go for a long time. This was me on the infamous 911 trail back in March. Few people in the 'Hole seem to realize this is as good of a shoulder season option as it is.


More JH Stoke:




Pretty close to what the early riding might look like around here:


Horseshoe Canyon brings the Big Hole views...


At any rate, stoked for the first Freedom Rider build days, getting some dry trails to shred, getting last place at the local enduro races, and watching Whiteford pass me at 100 mph... whoop whoop!

[babybear]

Th bike paths are good to go too for some free-roading
Any been over pine creek pass lately? Pine creek bench usually melts out fairly early...if the rd out there is not too muddy

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Th bike paths are good to go too for some free-roading
Any been over pine creek pass lately? Pine creek bench usually melts out fairly early...if the rd out there is not too muddy

Could be a good move... it's been dry in Swan Valley since I drove to Pokey in March. Would you be down to investigate sometime?

[Tye 1on]

Think it might be a little early for PCP. The Links golf course in Driggs opened Saturday, barely. My yard still hasn't fully melted out in Victor either...

[babybear]

OK thanks for the heads up! Hopefully with some warmth it will be rideable soon.
Yes Ryan- hit me up if you want to head over there once it dries. We were thinking of heading down to vernal for the long easter w/e but Andrew extended his AK trip so now he doesn't get home until next week. Weather in Vernal looks good for riding though.
http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Vernal+UT+84078

[rideit]

Th bike paths are good to go too for some free-roading
Any been over pine creek pass lately? Pine creek bench usually melts out fairly early...if the rd out there is not too muddy

The first part and intitial downhill are postholey, once you get to the bench it is rideable with some snow in the deep elbows. It's a long drive for four miles of tread. Big hole's/horseshoe are not a go yet.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

OK thanks for the heads up! Hopefully with some warmth it will be rideable soon.
Yes Ryan- hit me up if you want to head over there once it dries. We were thinking of heading down to vernal for the long easter w/e but Andrew extended his AK trip so now he doesn't get home until next week. Weather in Vernal looks good for riding though.
http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Vernal+UT+84078

Right on. I think I'm sticking around for Targhee's final weekend this weekend but will be headed down to SLC to pick up my new used bike the following weekend. The girlfriend wants to do an IKEA run for our new place but perchance she'll be game to swing that way for one of the days. Looks like there's some good XC options there, which she'd be down for.

Rideit thanks for the beta... I'm in Victor til the end of the month, so a 30 min drive doesn't sound that bad...

[hoarhey]

Think it might be a little early for PCP. The Links golf course in Driggs opened Saturday, barely. My yard still hasn't fully melted out in Victor either...

Thanks for the golf beta, Tye.
Hadn't expected they'd get after it this fast, woah.

Sprocket Rocket/Golf forum intersection

[babybear]

Right on. I think I'm sticking around for Targhee's final weekend this weekend but will be headed down to SLC to pick up my new used bike the following weekend. The girlfriend wants to do an IKEA run for our new place but perchance she'll be game to swing that way for one of the days. Looks like there's some good XC options there, which she'd be down for.

Rideit thanks for the beta... I'm in Victor til the end of the month, so a 30 min drive doesn't sound that bad...

Oh don't say Ikea ....I might make you pick something up for me
Yea Vernal is bit out of the way from SLC but it's a really nice drive thru the flaming gorge with all the wind-y little roads. Altho I bet the riding around salt lake is decent too and no need to go out of the way. I street etc

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Oh don't say Ikea ....I might make you pick something up for me
Yea Vernal is bit out of the way from SLC but it's a really nice drive thru the flaming gorge with all the wind-y little roads. Altho I bet the riding around salt lake is decent too and no need to go out of the way. I street etc

Baby Bear, just was talking with the GF this am and she wants to tan in the desert and is super into doing a long weekend in Vernal next weekend. Gonna see if I can meet the guy with my bike mid-day Friday, do a quick ride there on something like Bobsled, possible Ikea run, maybe Bed Bath and Beyond (I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time!!) and then go over to Vernal either Friday night or Saturday am. Doesn't seem like there's much good video or TRs on Vernal so may have to steal some TGR cameras and make some sort of decent mtn bike edit... maybe if you guys are there too you could participate with some "acting"?"

[rideit]

BB, What do you need at Ikea? If it's small-ish, I could pick it up next week.

RD, if you are looking for good XC near SLC, ride in Draper (same exit as Ikea), it's a much better network than the SLC bench trails, IMO.
Although Bobsled is way fun.

[babybear]

Thanks Rideit- I probably don't need anymore items for my house, but I always want more
Yea RD- we were hoping to get to vernal or moab for some riding as we lv May 1 for a euro trip and will be riding bikes there so would be nice to get in the saddle a couple times before then! I'll keep you posted as it wd be fun to get a little camping posse (JeffreyJim was asking us about a camp/bike w/e too)
I'm sure Andrew also has some video footage of vernal trails too so will try to get some put up. I'm surprised that he never did post any vernal footage but looking at his vimeo I guess he never has

The Altitude cycles facebook pg also has some trail updates and things look good. woop woop for biking season!

[rideit]

I kinda figure you were kidding, but I'll bring you some 4 day old Swedish meatballs.
Ryan, I don't know if you are a Downhiller, but i just heard about this, the Bountiful 'B' trail...

[babybear]

I actually do like those meatballs despite the 'meat' potentially being horse

[WaistDeepGroomers]

BB - I'd also be available to pick something small. And rideit, thanks for the Draper tip. Looking into it now. Is that 'B' trail in Vernal? Getting more into DH with this new bike but am still sans-full face moto mask, so gotta temper the aggro stuff for now. but yeah BB, would be fun to get a little posse together. The woman wants to rent a cabin so the dogs are barking at everything that moves outside the tent, but that's up for debate...

[babybear]

Cool- I'll keep in touch about plans
I've never tried anything but camping in Vernal but you may not find many choices aside from a couple hotels in town (flanked by huge dinosaurs!)
Aside from good riding trails/camping it's kind of a shit hole. It has some big boxes like a Home Depot, but it's been tough in the past when we would try to find good food/ breakfast etc.

[rideit]

RD, the B trail is near Bountiful, about 1/2 an hour or so north of SLC.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Thanks for the ikea and bountiful tips folks. Forty what are you thinking about vernal?

[HVskier]

Getting the itch to head to the desert now. Looking at heading to fruita this weekend for the festival there. Still seems to be some cheap lodging left in Grand junction.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Hey everyone! Bike season is sort of on in JH! Despite the pow this weekend I was too excited to bike to want to put on ski boots again. Went to SLC on Friday to pick up my Slayer and rode that sweet Bobsled trail before getting totally shacked at IKEA. Too bad the slip cover doesn't fit on the couch and we got rained out of our trip to Vernal . HVSkier went to the festival in Fruita so I'm sure he got some great rides. I took a chance to check out Cache Creek and am very very happy to report that the trail is dry and rideable from the Nelson trailhead lot up to the first trail intersection that goes down to Cache Creek Road - maybe the first 2 or 3 miles of that trail? Only one or two brief muddy spots and it rode well even though plenty of dog walkers have been potholing it up when it's been muddy.

Made a quick edit from the ride. Hey everyone - come see how good I look!

[Franz]

I'll check in to this thread. New to town, dig riding bikes, gonna be doing it probably every day once the trails get cranking and the skiing stops being quite so awesome. Live in Jackson so I'm a short pedal to cache/ snow king trails. Totally down for some afternoon recon missions to figure out where dirt line is

[Crystal_Mt_Dreamin]

How's June in that area? Was originally planning on spending a month in a Tundra w/ camper but as the chick hasn't bought one yet thinking about trying to VRBO a house on the cheap (does that exist?) in the area and working remotely while mtn biking and fly fishing my nuts off.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

How's June in that area? Was originally planning on spending a month in a Tundra w/ camper but as the chick hasn't bought one yet thinking about trying to VRBO a house on the cheap (does that exist?) in the area and working remotely while mtn biking and fly fishing my nuts off.

This year id assume there'd still be a few turns on the skis left but summer is notorious for being the most difficult season to find housing. Tourist traffic goes way up for Yellowstone et al national park traffic. That's what I've heard as a first year newbie Jong though. Jackson's a little different as I've heard visitorship is 3x winter traffic. Any actual locals want to weigh in?

[Crystal_Mt_Dreamin]

I was hoping to stay in the Victor/Driggs area over Jackson for cost reasons but yeah, forgot about the Yellowstone factor

[babybear]

June is not quite as busy as far as vrbo/hotels/rentals. The real fun/craziness starts more towards the end of the June/July 4th weekend but yea the southern college kids tend to have booked any rentals by June, but I'd bet you could negotiate a decent deal on a place given that June is still somewhat slow/ ramping up and then you'll be gone by the time the real busy time hits.
All of the valley trails should be melted out by then, and there's tons of good riding but we often mark my bf Andrew's birthday on July 5th by riding Lithium, upper teton pass trails for the first time. The lower pass trails- Parallel etc melt out a lot earlier but the trails up higher and in the trees still carry snow for awhile.
Not to deter you though- now that we have so many more trails there will be plenty to ride. The victor side will melt out a bit quicker too.