Brace yourselves. I'm in the US of A with five other blokes taking two weeks to drive from Denver to Los Angeles and riding the best trails we can find along the way. I'm not sure about the others but I'm jet lagged, tired, sore, hungry and have a splitting headache that I have tried to fix with thin mountain air, pills, beer, coffee, sugar, carbs, more pills, sleep and a spicy burrito. I'm not really in the best space to write up our first day so I'll do it with a few photos.
The first time we see our bikes is at Arapahoe Basin as we contemplate riding in air that is thinner than at the peak of New Zealands highest mountain, Mt.Cook.
Jeff and James put the power down on the 90 minute climb to the start of the Lenawee descent.
Meet the team. Simon, James, Tim, Stefan and Jeff. We are struggling to breathe and have to take the odd rest break.
A quick snack at the top and take in the calm before the storm. There's about an hour of descending which puts a smile on everyone's faces
Well simon was smiling that's for sure. I was just trying to breathe.
What a twat. I have to crash on the second corner. Hurt my wrist and ankle and banged my hip and shin. Photo: Jeff Carter.
Stefan gets through the minefield. Clip a pedal here and someone will be calling the medics.
The only bonus to me crashing was getting left behind to get this epic shot.
If you like singletrack, big rocks and flowing descents then you're in luck. Jeff Carter in the zone.
Jeff and I were fooling about taking pics so the others left us behind. There are so many boulders to pop off, it was a real shame we didn't have the time or the lungs to go back up for another run.
Not much to say....just Yeehah!. Photo: Jeff Carter.
There are gold workings littered through these hills.
I have a minor pickup truck fetish. Everything is big in the good ol' US of A.
Leadville, Colorado, USA. I hear banjos...
I was too scared to go in. Crap...Is that the time, must dash.
We're off to Salida now for a couple of days riding so stay tuned and I'll attempt to bring you more quality goods tomorrow. But I've just got to say...What the hell is Trump on about? It seems America is great already.
See y'all tomorrow.