steeper than...

i think i mentioned something about 'clearing technical lines' while in moab. it occurs to me that not everyone is a mountain biker and so not everyone will really appreciate what i mean by that. the term 'technical', when talking about bike trails, generally refers to the level of difficulty and by default the likelyhood of a rider navigating the trail without falling and/or getting hurt. on the east-coast, technical trails often have sections that are off-camber, choked with gnarled tree roots, loose rocks, or some combination of those. out here in the rockies and out on the colorado plateau, 'technical' can mean something different. i've gone from riding a hardtail (rigid) frame back east, to a full suspension bike with 6" of travel on both wheels... just so i can actually ride trails here without getting off my bike every 50 feet.

one particular obstacle on the trail 'behind the rocks' in moab is call 'nose dive hill'. it is steep. it is rocky. more accurately, it is bedrock and i suppose you could describe it as a cliff of sorts. our group of riders came upon nose dive at the same time that several "jeepers" (4WD off-roaders) did... both groups, one fueled by cafe lattes and power bars, the other by beef jerky, beer and gasoline, stopped at the top to scout the descent. each group tried sizing the other up and summarily decided the other had a snowball's chance in hell of actually making it down in one piece.

looking up the outcrop at nosedive. notice
where the guy in the foreground is standing...

dropping in from the top

...remember that last drop-off the guy was standing on?
in the picture it's directly above my head and it's what
i just had to ride off of to exit the line.

clean.

~t