Northstar

I wasn't really looking forward to Northstar. The downhill part didn't worry me too much, I figured I would ride what I could and walk the rest. No worries there. No, what had me worried the most; what scared the heck out of me was not the downhill. It was the chairlifts.


The appeal of Northstar to the downhill crowd are the lifts that take you to the top of the mountain. You go up on the lifts and ride down on the bike trails as many times as you can. Over and over and over again. Unless your me, in which case going up once on the Gondalas would be plenty. Here I am employing the ever popular "if my eyes are closed this is really not happening" theory.


This is not happening, this is not happening...this is totally not happening...


Oh crap, this is definitley happening...

I really wanted to love Northstar. Whenever you mention Northstar in the company of mountain bikers they get this dreamy look on their face, and start to drool a bit. It's like mountain biking mecca. A downhillers dream. So I really, really wanted to love Northstar. Finally we got off the chairlift and hit our first trail and I learned the truth about Northstar. It's like an extended version of Santa Teresa, and I really, really did not love Northstar.






There were rocks. Lots and lots of rocks on the trail. And everything was loose and off camber. I felt like a bobble head riding down the trail. The first day I rode twelve miles before I had to call it quits. My neck and arms and legs were sore from all the bouncing, my hands were sore from the braking, and I reached my tolerance level for riding up the chair lift. It takes a lot of concentration to ride the chair lift as it was only by my sheer willpower of concentration that we were able to reach the top safely. Something that Brian did not understand as he would just kick back, and take in the view and actually take his hand off the safety rail to point something out . Men. Geesh.


But Brian likes to live dangerously.





The second day of Northstar things got a little better.

I
I found a few more trails that I like, and even went down a short advanced trail. And the view from the top might even be worth the gondola ride...maybe.

Tomorrow is my birthday.

We're leaving the fullface and body armor behind to do a little cross country riding in South Lake Tahoe. Now that's my kind of riding.