R.I.P.

There is one trail that pops up in my mind as the trail that really got me into riding gnarly terrain well. It is also the trail that scared me every time I dropped in. It broke my first bone(s). It also was a playground for learning how to build downhill trails. Some ideas worked, some didn't last more than a couple weeks. One things for sure though, it went through some of the best terrain I have ever seen on a bike. Everywhere I go, I compare trails that I ride to this one. It is still at the top of my list as pretty much the best DH trail I have ever ridden. After riding it for a few days in a row, I would have the most confidence, and ride faster than ever.

In 2008, when the National Collegiate Championships were held at Sugar Mtn, I never practiced the race course during the weekend. It was raining harder than ever all day every day until Sunday when we raced. I had been practicing the track for a while before the race, getting ready. So I knew all the lines on the track. But the only thing that mattered, was that I was going to go ride Canyons the morning of the race, before I went to Sugar to do my race run on Sunday. It had been raining at Canyons too, so I figured that it would be in similar conditions. But the only difference is when Canyons is wet, it is straight up terrifying. I balled it up in one of the steep turns and ate shit, putting a huge gouge in my helmet from my pedal when the bike flipped over me. Rang my bell pretty good too. Thank god I did it there and not at Sugar, because I would have lost the race. The trail is so long that you can have a massive crash, keep riding and by the time you get to the end, everything is back to normal and you are feeling good again.

The trail is "closed" right now because the private land owner at the very top was unhappy of the obvious increase in usage over the past year or so. Seems like everyone else has gotten the word that it's a good trail too. When we went in to get it going again 5 years ago, you could barely even see the trail because the forest was trying to reclaim it. Maybe that will happen again and someone else can go in there in a few years and bring it back again. R.I.P. Canyons