Down Country

There are many terms for types of riding; road, cross country, downhill and cyclo-cross to mention just a few, but these do not adequately describe the true nature of the variety of bikes and terrain available. Freeride was a term coined not too long ago to describe what - non competitive, aggressive semi-downhill, or heavy duty xc? and into this equation we enter shuttling.

For those purists out there who say "we don't shuttle", I say pooh pooh. When headed to a remote location to start a ride at a trail-head or a distant town, surely you load your car and shuttle your bike over there. And when during a heavy spell of training one is tired and not really looking for a physically demanding ride, but still one requires some 'good times' then perhaps we can consider Down Country as a viable option.

Down Country: to drive to a trail-head that enables more down than up, but does not exclude all the climbing. A route that maximizes enjoyment over physical activity, but is not exclusionary of effort.

So it was that following the Sea Otter Classic April 14-17, I found myself in Santa Cruz Ca. with some other burnt-out industry folk. After a trade show; standing all day, drinking beers all night and talking bike, thinking bike and generally doing everything bike but riding one we all were in need of some bike excitement, but it needed to be time efficient and conscientious of our fragile bodies and minds.

Down Country has one other amazing quality, it enables less fit riders to participate and the group to stay cohesive. Uphills are what put big gaps into groups, generally on the down gaps are kept to a minimum.

I headed to Santa Cruz to meet our group, upon arrival there was some confusion as to what our route and type of ride would be. It was concluded that a Down Country sortie was the best for everyone present. Bikes ranged from DH rigs to 29 XC's and encompassed everything in between. We totaled 10 as we loaded the bikes into two rigs and headed to the trail-head. It sounds like a normal XC ride, except that the premise of Down Country is to lessen the climbing and increase the singletrack. Up, Up we drove knocking off a one hour road effort.

The DC route included several lung busting climbs in addition to the uphill roll to the start. The extra energy saved was clearly funneled directly into the shred factor and shred we did. For over an hour and a half we careened down the mountain over the ridges and blew out the cobwebs of the weekend, it was exactly what was needed.

Other terms for discussion; Freeride- Lite, All-Mountain, Heavy Duty XC, Trail, it's the beauty of this day and age - don't let anyone tell you how to ride your bike.

Get out and shred
Dre