#followcamfriday sprinting around with Noah Sears in Winter Park. Who knew that there were XC trails hiding in the woods near the bike park? #ionlyridepark

Wait a minute. So you are telling me that there is a perfectly good chairlift right over there, but we are going to pedal our enduro bikes around on flat XC trails in Winter Park. I feel like I don't even know you anymore, Noah Sears. All joking aside, I actually was unaware that there is a vast network of highly engaging, mostly jank, but very worthy "XC" trails located in close proximity to the chairlift. I learn something new, every day. 

The general rule of thumb is, if it looks like a meatball, it goes. Until it doesn't.... When you see a meatball, pull up and hope for the best. If you are a vegetarian, you might have to look extra hard to see the lines. Either way, this one left me hungry and desperately thirsty. I was in the mood for Italian. Later that night,  we ate pizza. 

Bonus points for wall-riding a meatball. This trail reminded me of playing Hungry Hungry Hippos as a child. A small reward, every couple of feet, on trail. Be careful not to miss any. The hippo needs to eat. Let the hippo eat. 

No jank XC trail is complete without some sketchy high-speed wooden features. This is par for the course. Too bad it wasn't raining, things may have gotten more scandalous. You can tell by the motion blur of the colorful aspens in this photo that we were not going at a low rate of speed. 

Jankzample number 2. This time we go slow. This time we survive the skinny. 1981 Canada, North Shore called, it wants its skinny back. If I am being honest, I actually have much love for the skinny. You can't not laugh while riding this beast. Amazing bit of trail history. Know your jank history.

This meatball is accessed via a jank plank that broke a bit as Noah bravely negotiated this technical section. This line is more dangerous than mentioning politics at the dinner table. That first plank seriously broke under Noah's amazing torque on the uphill. I was lucky to survive this one. 

I guess this will have to do. Hard on the eyes, the season they call, Autumn. Between the smoke in the air and the aspens peaking, this ride was pure fire. Get it? Always stunning, mother nature. Love your work. Now for some meatballs. 

#followcamfriday taking on what I would consider to be Sedona's most dangerous line with Lars Romig. 

Some things were never meant to be ridden on a bicycle. Cathedral Rock Trail definitely falls into that category. Although it is technically legal to ride, I certainly cannot recommend that you go and ride this one. Sedona has a great number of wonderful mountain bike trails to choose from. This is not on that list. 

Lars has been thinking about this one for many years and had ridden most of the sections, just never the crux. There is just something special about linking the entire "hard" part together in one go. The game of chess comes to mind. With one notable difference. It is relatively hard to die playing chess. 

Simon Bosman gets credit for the first descent of Cathedral in 2016.  His ride was so remarkable at the time that it ended up on the evening news. To our knowledge, no one has attempted the line since, and with good reason. It is highly dangerous. Lars is the second person to clean this beast of a line. To be clear, I still have one small section to ride before I can claim a clean on this bit. I rode the "crux", but couldn't quite get my head around a section at the top. I'll be back. 

The hard part, pictured here, is definitely a consequential maneuver. If you fall to the right, you will be taking a helicopter  ride, directly to the hospital. 

In order to pull this off, we got up at 5am and began our hike to the top. No, it is not rideable on the climb. Cathedral is one of the most popular hiking trails in Sedona and is normally riddled with tourists. This trail is absolutely impossible to ride with random people hiking all over it, so we got an early start and were rewarded for it. This short section of trail is a conga train for most of the day. Early bird gets the worm. 

The saddle of Cathedral has been in 1 million instagram posts and is basically the most cliche' shot in Arizona. People in today's society feel social validation from posting this sort of thing. It is almost a contest in these people's brains to post all of the iconic locations and make others feel jealous in the process. What a vain existence. Almost as bad as posting selfies every day. To be clear, we do this sort of thing for the challenge, and personal growth that comes from overcoming fear, not for the "summit shot" or to make our friends jealous on their cell phone. This is all about the mental challenge for us. Nothing more. 

Well, personal challenge, and the beautiful sunrise that we got to witness without hoards of Iphone wielding tourists, gawking about on the ridge. Just us, our bicycles, and the sunrise. What a way to start the day. The top of the saddle is definitely a special place and I definitely get the allure. I will say though that with 50 other people standing up there, it is hard to appreciate in the same way as standing up there alone. 

Pete looks nervous here. He can feel the energy. Pete is smarter than Lars and I, so he opted to stay in the Ranchero for this one. Be like Pete. Stay in your Ranchero. 

#followcamfriday speeder bikes through the aspen forest with James Weingarten. 

There is currently snow on this section of trail. The leaves are not quite turning yet. Hopefully the weight of the snow does not cause them to all fall off before they get to show their colors this year. Seasonal confusion is definitely setting in. I am never one to complain about the weather, but missing fall would be a bummer. There is just something about blasting through the golden aspens that does it for me. Call me crazy.

There is a chase scene in Star Wars when "speeder bikes" are being ridden at ridiculous speeds through the tight forest. Any time that I am traveling in excess of 30 mph through the aspens, this classic scene comes to mind. Now we just need electronic lazer shooters and lightsabers to go with our electronic drivetrains and seat posts. Technology is finally catching up to Star Wars. 

Green room in full effect. Just a couple more weeks and this will be blindingly yellow. I can only imagine how fast you could go if you actually knew this trail. The robust foliage keeps the speeds in check for the out of towners. 

It is advisable to come as close as possible to these posts in the trail. If you time things just right, as James did, you can actually air past each one, narrowly avoiding death in the process. Danger-man James is always keen to up the ante, and make an otherwise mediocre section of trail more dangerous than it should be. And that is why we love Mr. Weingarten. Legend. 

The aspen corridor on Game Creek rivals the tree sections on Doctor Park. The perfect pitch and amazing sight lines are conducive to speed. If you lay off the hooks for a few seconds, free speed is gained. You actually don't need a drivetrain for this one. My kind of trail. 2500ft down, 0ft climbed. 

Rumor has it that there is a new bike park near the bottom of this thing. Minturn just opened a brand new, public bike park in town. What a time to be alive. Maybe the snow will melt, the leaves will turn, and Fall will proceed as normal. It's not time to go skiing quite yet. 

#followcamfriday riding my favorite section of natural trail in Crested Butte with fellow Yeti Cycles athlete, Sarah Rawley

Between the amazingly dry trail conditions and the wildfires burning around the state, health levels are definitely diminishing. It turns out that riding for 6 or 7 hours in these conditions is suboptimal for my well-being. This ride was amazing, but it felt mostly like smoking a pack of darts. Health and vitality, yay. I am still coughing up dust from this one. It was worth it. 

Sarah Rawley works for RockShox in Colorado Springs. There is no better weekend getaway than a trip to CB to escape the city. This also happened to be her birthday weekend. Another trip around the sun. Another year wiser. Cake was eaten, wine was sipped upon, bikes were shredded. Perfect weekend. Minus the smoke. Sarah picked an ambitious ride, considering the conditions, but when your birthday occurs, you get to pick the route and sandbag everyone. Well played. 

As the saying goes, "if you ain't hiking, you ain't biking". I definitely cannot recommend that you climb Double Top to get to Waterfall. Truth be told, there is actually no easy way to get there. Perhaps that is why it this one is special somehow and stays so good. "Nothing worth doing is easy." Another appropriate saying that comes to mind when I think about riding Waterfall Creek. 

Soon enough this aspen forest will be glowing yellow. This is hands-down my favorite time to ride in Colorado. The temperatures cool, the tourists retreat, and the hills come alive with color. There is just something magical about the fall in CB. I always feel fortunate to be riding local when the trees are popping. This is mountain biking in its purest form to me, and what motivates me to ride the most. Stunning and humbling somehow. 

This was my first rip down Middle Cement Creek. Some recent trail work had this section running mint. Sarah fell down once, but after riding for 6 hours, that sort of thing starts to happen. 

Classic Crested Butte. Just another winding ribbon of singletrack, heading down-valley through the aspen forest. Trail Perfection. This is the stuff of dreams. We are very fortunate to have these experiences. Now, if it would just rain....