Diary of an Ol' Man

So Thurston666 and I took a drive north to check out the Bellingham Bike Jump Park. Easy to find and plenty of parking.

As soon as my door opened to get the bikes out of the car, WOOSH! The wind blowing from the north was fast and bitter cold.

"We ARE only a half-an-hour away from Canada, dude," Thurston said.

"Yeah," I replied, "but I didn't think I would ever need to wear long johns to dirt jump!"

Needless to say, it took a LONG while to get warmed up. But what is great about BBJP is the layout. Each line, from west to east, is set up to progress the rider to higher skill levels. The first run has some nice kickers that throw the rider into a pretty tight right-turn berm, but the rhythm section that follows gets the rider pumping pretty fast. Fast enough to pull a 180 up the start ramp! Not too shabby for an old guy.

The middle jump section proved to be just enough of a challenge with bigger launches and wider gaps. Still, after warming up on the first section, the middle was fun. Until I tried to launch a medium gap and a gust of wind about knocked me backwards. I am 6'5", 300 lbs., so imagine a 747 trying to land with a serious cross wind blowing. Yep... that was me on the jackyl. Ha!

Thurston666 and I decided to come try the rest of BBJP another day when frostbite wasn't such a threat. Yikes! Great trails, though, and highly recommended for anyone remotely in the area. And a short ride into town yields some excellent eats...

Until next time, PBers, here's to warmer weather a comin' and as always, RIDE SAFE!

G-Pa