BuckNasty44904

@xciscool: Absolutely agreed. Back in the old days, we just weren't shredding downhill like we do today. But now, I feel like the rule should be reversed. It's often hard or impossible to stop safely (or without skidding) to let an uphill rider through if you're going at a pace that's fun. And for the uphill rider, stopping is so much easier and safer. It's a question of which one has the most kinetic energy to suddenly reel in. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely not shredding 2-way trails like I would on dedicated DH trails, but I don't want to have to creep down anything for fear I would have to stop suddenly around every bend. And also, I pick my spots. If I'm coming down something and a climber is about to tackle a tough techy bit, and it's easy enough for me to stop, I stop. I don't want to harsh anyone's buzz. I just wish the rule was made more sensibly given the way we ride now.

I think of blues as fun with less risk, and that allows me to go faster. I have kids to feed, and I'm not young and invincible anymore, so a lot of black or double black trails just feel too risky to enjoy. Any time a trail sort of forces you to get more than about 3 feet off the ground, whether drops or jumps, I just find myself lacking the commitment to send it, and as a result I don't enjoy it as much. There are great blues at the bike parks here in CO, which have features like rollers that could be doubled if you have the speed or pull up hard, but I tend to keep things low, and often I feel like pumping those instead of jumping is just as fast.

100% agree that you can go fast and have fun on all of them. Even a green trail, like Roly Poly at Trestle is fun if you ride it fast enough. I would agree that Trestle has good blue trails, but I wouldn't say they are the best even in CO. I rate the blues at Snowmass and Vail higher personally. Vail especially because the dirt is sooooooooo much better there. Even Steamboat has better blues in my opinion, but their problem is they just need more variety. Trestle's blues can be a bit too flat in places. I mean, even Trestle DH has weirdly flat parts too, but the blues could stand to be a bit steeper overall. I suppose that makes them a little more accessible or uninitimidating.

@Mtbdialed: Trestle definitely doesn't have anything steep and tech enough to justify a DH bike. There are bits and pieces of the Trestle DH trail that are almost there, but most of it is too flat to carry the speed you want on a DH bike. I go to most of the bike parks in CO and the only place that has more than one or two trails that really work for a DH bike is probably Granby Ranch. That place has a lot less vertical overall, but there is some serious chunk in there. Keystone probably has some decent DH bike terrain too. Vail has a couple of steep tech trails, as do Snowmass and Crested Butte. But if you want to sample more than just one or two trails at each of them, I would for sure recommend a decent enduro bike as that would be much more versatile and fun.

This is an interesting topic to me. Over the course of the last year I went from a 33lb Sentinel Carbon with "trail" tires and air suspension to a 39lb Spire Alloy with DH tires. During that time I swapped in a coil shock, a much heavier link, Cushcore in the rear, and did a coil conversion on the Sentinel, and it was about 37lbs. I ran that setup basically through most of the summer and did fine with it. I got the Spire and actually swapped pretty much all of the parts over from the Sentinel, but also upgraded to the DH tires to make it roughly 39lbs, maybe even closer to 40. I rode the Spire a few times like that, and I couldn't believe how much heavier it felt. I then got some carbon hoops and swapped the coil shock and fork to air at both ends, and that got it down to about 38lbs. I was admittedly in off season shape when I did my one and only test ride in that setup, but it still felt remarkably heavy. So here is the conclusion I came to: Weight matters, but I think there are thresholds where it goes beyond what I can accept. Couple that with perhaps going too far on frame reach, and the result is a bike that is just too heavy for all-around use. I've since sold the Spire frame and gone back to my old Sentinel, which is sitting at about 35lbs now with carbon rims, air fork and shock, and DH tires. I haven't had a chance to ride it yet because of snow and injury, but I think I'll be back in the zone where the weight isn't a noticeable factor. I think there is definitely merit in considering the ratio of sprung to unsprung mass, so wheel, tire, cassette, and derailleur weight is the most impactful overall. But even that said, sacrificing durability or grip easily negates weight savings in those areas, so there has to be careful consideration depending on the type of riding you do.