I cant believe this took me 2 years to ride. It is across the street from Casa V and has taunted me from Day 1 when i only had the Blur and my DH’ing skills were far inferior. Then i was facing it without the security of the Heckler or pads, and alone never to be found if I crashed, and with only Mexican hospitals within 3 hours, having never seen anyone else ride it, and odds are good i was drunk.

It looks steeper in person.

It was so terribly anti-climatic and downright easy when i finally rode it. I guess that means I waited til the right time to nut-up.

My ability to drop my ass back behind the seat and handle big aggressive trial moves has been slowly improving. When you are in a long descent, you settle into that comfort zone, but transitioning to a quick steep drop takes more immediate focus in navigating the sharp change from horizontal to vertical and back again. My last two rides on National, this skill has been about the only redeeming quality of the rides. I’ve ridden National 5 times in the last 3 months, after practically once a week for 6 months, and my sloppiness climbing and hitting staircases has been showing – I slid all over 24th St. the first time I’d ridden it in 3 months. Tomorrow will be the first time I’ve hit National 2 weeks in a row since pads in the summer became an unbearable prospect.

So with some confidence and a whole lotta frustration over my recent National rides, I planned from the get-go to end my Rocky Point ride on this trial. My 2 hour, 20 mile RP route just keeps getting better, with minor alterations to avoid traffic and pick up little trials at the new condo complexes and through town. And I’ve found a reliable track out to a good beer spot overlooking the estuary 20 minutes from the end of the ride.