Sun, Apr 1 2012 - Beginner: Blankets Creek Mtn Biking (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Colin S Participants: Colin S, Heidi W., CarlosJuan, Rich A., Debra

With this Sunday being part of Spring Break week, there a small group to test their skills on a beautiful day at Blankets.  I was joined by Heidi and Richard for this ride.  As both where new to riding fat tires on dirt, we spent some time going over Mountain Biking basics.  Pedaling, Braking and Balance.  

After the skills talk and some very good questions, we hit the Mosquito Flat trail.  Pedaling and balance soon come into use on a quick 3 foot “wall” that is fun and ridable but it is where you have to accelerate before the feature and use balance to shift your balance has you crest the “wall”.  Pass with flying colors!

We continued around the Mosquito Flat trail which is a loop.  On the 2^nd loop, we stopped where the trail is joined by another beginner trail, Mosquito Bite.  Mosquito Bite adds a curved boardwalk, climbs, bridges, and downhill.  While stopped, we discussed that as you are turning a corner, your back wheel will track a smaller radius than the front wheel.  This is important on the curved boardwalk, as the boardwalk is only about 3 feet wide and your back wheel can drop off if you are too close to the side.  First try, one made it and one needed to get it the next time.  Next, everyone did great on the climb and the turning downhill onto a bridge.  Then there was a long climb and very bumpy downhill with an off-camber turn.  Passed but a bit wobbly.  And we where back where we started for Mosquito Bite.

We picked up the pace a bit for another loop around Mosquito Flat and arrived back at the beginning of Mosquito Bite for another loop around Mosquito Flat.  This time everybody made it like they where going to turn pro.

We did a couple more Mosquito Bite/Flat combinations and called it a day.  Everyone was quite pleased with conquering the beginner trails at Blankets Creek.