Susie in a downhill bike park

[Benjamin Park]

Thought folks might be interested in my recent experience taking my Susie to Deer Valley lift-serviced downhill bike park.  Overall it was highly enjoyable despite dealing with ridiculous bros.

Got a ton of looks and comments, ranging from very positive ("Right on!", "Old school!", "Love it!") to puzzled and dismissive ("good luck, buddy").

She handled great! I don't ride downhill hardly ever, but she was super balanced even on the black diamond stuff that the bros were tearing down. I was able to keep up with my friends who were basically riding soft dually suspended pillows. I found my Tosco bars to be perfect for the descents, and my 2.5" Terravail's at 10psi to be enough to absorb a lot of the bumps and grippy in tight corners.

I was a little nervous about how she would do on some fairly gnarly terrain and she was great.  Not looking to spend too much time at bike parks, but good to know she is up for the challenge if I do.

[Philip Williamson]

I would have loved to see that. 

I would subscribe to your YouTube channel!

Philip

Santa Rosa, Ca 

[Brady Smith]

That's awesome. I just bought a BMC La Cabra and have felt a tad bit conspicuous riding it on trails in the greater Salt Lake area. Glad to know there's someone else out there doing the rigid MTB thing. I'll be up in Park City during the day for the next couple weeks and can't wait to explore. I probably won't try lift parks, though...

[zem...@gmail.com]

This reminds me of the guy who took his Jones bike to a bike park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozEMnTtV7v0&t=3s

[Ashwath Akirekadu]

Yes, I too would have loved to see a video of this.

I enjoy riding my Susie on fire roads and such, but no downhill riding plans though.  This's bike is probably a little safer for such rides than a typical MTB, I think

[Robert Hakim]

Not to downplay your accomplishment at all- I always found the riding at Park City and Deer Valley to be pretty groomed. I used to get similar "Good Luck Buddie" comments riding my old ridged 29er there too, but never really found any trails in that immediate region that were uncomfortably challenging. 

If anything the bros are all completely overbiking the whole place, but such is the mountain biking culture in that area.

I hope you keep turning heads on all of the trails!

-Robert 

[Benjamin Park]

Yes Robert I agree, the bike park is all groomed berms and jumps. Many trails are surprisingly smooth that I could take nearly any bike down. Some of the black diamonds were fairly rough, however, but I suspect the expert rating was more due to the steepness than the technical nature.

While in Park City I did also take the Susie on the Wasatch Crest IMBA epic trail, which was much more technical and quite rocky. Got mostly positive comments by folks on this trail- many were incredulous that someone would do "the spine" on a rigid fork bike. What a great ride that was. I got a few "nice Rivendell!" comments too.

I agree with you Robert that the culture is very much on the "bro" side of things, but overbiking is such a thing everywhere these days, as far as I have seen.

-Ben