A tale of Mexican gnar.
No phone, no help, no health care, no buddies, and no beta. Just me and esta lÃnea I found two trips ago. It dictates a methodical approach to risk. It also requires I not be hungover in Rocky Point.
The line has 9 jumps, and at first all but the smaller bottom three looked sketchy. I’m in awe of guys who can manufacture vertical and distance, as I am not one of them. I’ve seen riders fly level to the roof of the cruiser shop at Rage on a tabletop I can barely clear. Even with my Firebird, full-face, and stormtrooper pads I was skeered and stupefied with where to begin.
I picked the 5th jump, since unlike the four jumps above it, it could be approached outside of the track to build speed, and offered the easiest landing.
The approach was the puzzle. All the ‘trail’ sections between jumps were powdery, with a combination of embedded rocks and shattered glass.
It took three tries til I found the sweet spot of speed and pedaling position enough to commit, and was rewarded with a soothing baritone rumble of my wheels on plywood, a brief silence, then a bass reply.
The next jump, number 6, hid a view of the bottom until you were committed.
and it looked intimidating to a bad jumper (sideview).
other sideview
It was in fact easy if I snuck a quick pedal on the approach, the soft landing was a more delicate problem.
It took til my 4th or 5th rep to stick it without sliding sideways. It gave me little time to recover for this natural jump with a nasty lip, that after 10 tries I could not hit smoothly.
The bottom two were fuuuuuuunnnn.
#8
#9
A good start for my first session. With a 30 min beach-town pedal to get there, and 30 min back, this would somewhat balance no fluids but coffee and beer.
I worked up the top half of the hill. Big no on this one.
deteriorating lip, long gap, exposed landing…
and soup to build speed in! Bypassing the jump made it a fun bit of techy singletrack to end the top section and transition to the lower five.
I wanted this one badly (#3), but plushy big bike much harder to toss around than my Malice.
and I didn’t like the soft bump at the entrance or the ramp’s wiggle. Still kicking myself, the Firebird could have handled it, but Mexican gnar requires a different sort of humility.
Number 2 was awesomesauce, everything just mild enough that the powder didn’t dampen my aggressiveness. I kept thinking I was gonna case it, and kept going far enough. OMG, *confidence*, quite powerful stuff.
oh yeah!
The top jump looked ugly just like #4.
The dropin was fun
all about finesse
and another single track approach
A few more runs, and I had plenty of candy and contemplation til I came back in 2 days for another great session. I was ready to try the top jump with a tow-in, and would have had #3 on my next run. I found an alternate entrance that had some hard jumps and a fun ~150 yard technical approach.
I hope it lasts til our next trip. It needs some attention, and its doomed without water. There is a new water tower on top of the hill, construction started about when the line appeared, and now the water tank is done. Irony. Maybe its crew rides dh bikes? Don’t snicker. Two different Border Patrol Agents knew the FatBike by name when they saw it taking up the other side of the rack. I find my 2-wheeled passion in odd corners too.