My Favorite DH in Southern Utah

More than just a shity 80's hair band. Spinal Tap in Richfield, Utah delivering the #followcamfriday DH feels with James Weingarten. 

Choosing between "best" anything is always a losing battle. There is no best tire, bike, trail, or jacket. There are many good options, and sentiment varies on the daily. Spinal Tap is really good. Is it my favorite? Hard to say. It's like choosing between children. I don't have any children, but that is what they tell me. 

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This trail has features that we actually had to stop and check out. That is a good indicator that the trail is legit. If we can just on-sight everything, first lap, something is clearly missing. We are looking for a bit of challenge with our riding. The utilization of natural terrain, mixed with a few man made kickers is absolutely next-level in here. Kudos to the builders that made sense of this rock puzzle. I have ridden many trails where the features fight against the natural terrain. Everything is working in harmony here. Nice work. 

The rock here is abrasive and full of grip. You can also take shelter in a hole if you see a storm, fast approaching. I am sure there are 1 million bonus lines that we missed on our first run. This is natural jank-double heaven. Once you get the flow figured out, jumping from square to square feels better than plowing through them. 

This blind step-down was worth a hike back up to hit properly. I hope the locals jump this one every lap, because it is so sweet. This is the perfect example of trail building with the big picture in mind. Fun for the brave intermediate to hit both drops, fun for the huckers to stack the entire thing. This is one of the cooler natural feature I have seen on a trail. These builders deserve a beer or 6. 

Always remember that everything is a jump, and just because you don't see the jump, doesn't actually mean that it is not there. My favorite aspect of riding is watching my friends make jumps out of nothing, on their first run ever, on any trail. The eyes of James are always impressive to witness first hand. 

This one was roughly a 1500ft descent. There are two upper sections planned to extend this one even more. I hope the upper bits maintain the same natural feel and character as this world-class section. If this was twice the length, it would be one of the best in the world, no question. I am looking forward to coming back and seeing what the future holds here.