"Blog This!"

Photo Credit: Silvermt.com

As you may of heard or read from my previous post about my new bike I have gotten big into mountain biking this year.  I was convinced to try it by a good friend of mine and I haven't looked back since.  This weekend was Silver Mountain's opening weekend for summer operations, my friends and I already avid skiers and snowboarders at Silver Mountain had gotten the early bird passes for the winter, we also opted to take the summer on for just $40 extra, you can't beat it.

We ended up going both days and made two runs each day leaving Coeur d'Alene at about 9am and returning home by 2 o'clock that same afternoon.  We don't have pictures from the first day which turned out to be a very nice day despite the thunder storms in the forecast.  The real story begins on Sunday.  The three of us, Matt (or one of the Matts), Spencer and myself had such a blast on Saturday we knew almost immediately we couldn't pass up on Sunday.

After going to bed to thunderstorms I jumped out of bed at about 8 o'clock in the morning only to look outside and see nothing but fog, drizzle, and clouds in the sky threatening to do the same.  Optimistic that the day wouldn't be too wet since we spend a lot of the time in dense trees we pressed on anyway.  As we got closer and closer to the mountain the weather got nicer and nicer, it was on.

The first day we ended up off the beaten path as we find ourselves quite often exploring for those unconventional trails and features that others often race past.  One of the gems we ended up finding is this little patch full of 'skinnies' as we were told they are called.  We simply just referred to them as 'north shore features'.  The skinny above was in bad shape when we found, once a long platform carving through and around trees with a ramp out now was missing a section right before the end ramp and had no entrance what so ever.  Luckily all the pieces were still there and with little to no effort we were able to easily prop up enough wood and logs to make both an entrance and an exit.

With the skinny now fixed, it was time to try it out.  Some other riders even showed up after their curiosity peaked seeing us riding the now resurrected feature.  We'll be taking more images and hopefully spending more time reviving this part of the mountain but there are many features that once extended through a large portion of the top of the mountain.  There are features for a beginner level rider to an advanced level rider with optional lines on some features.

The exit was easily made from part of the old corner.

The 'hidden' section even featured a teeter-totter which everyone in the group immediately admitted,

"I haven't ever done one of those before, but I always wanted and it was assume!"

There are at least 7 to 10 features after these, many of which I personally did not attempt.  There is clearly a lot on this mountain for everyone and I hope to build myself up the more I ride this summer.

Spencer ended up conquering this guy whose very steep landing and the support missing in the ramp giving it 'mean gangster lean' quickly scared the Matts out of an attempt.

Whether you have never seen or done anything like downhill mountain biking, or you a seasoned pro Silver Mountain has something for you.  Don't let this gem go to waste, go to the mountain and support them.  For more information please visit Silver Mountain's website.