Ahh..The Southern Traverse

Where do I start…what an incredible day!! Joe, Jeff, Dennis and I headed to the mountains to tackle the Southern Traverse last weekend. All epic rides start super early and this one was no exception. What was an exception was riding the Sweet Bus to the mountains.

Took a little break on the way up to ensure the early morning bike strapping was working out. Everything looked to be in place so off we went.

We arrived a bit late to the trail head so we quickly got our kits on and unpacked the bikes. I was able to snag this photo of the bus at the trail head before hitting the trail. It was cool to look around and see such a large group of mountain bikers. There were 20 of us once it was all said and done with 4

members of DP Racing representing. I think it was a pretty good turnout for a chilly morning in November.

The Southern Traverse starts with a nice, mild climb up a fire road for around 3 miles. Jeff and Joe quickly made their way to the front of the pack and left the rest of us far behind.

Once we got to the top, it was nice to look around and see that most of the DP team hitting the top first.

The first real climb started when we left the fire road. As it turned out, this really separate the pack. After this several mile climb, the flowy singletrack started. It was amazing how many miles of trail they were able to string together at this elevation with relative little climbing. The trail had several sections of nice, challenging rock gardens stuffed in between moderate climbs and fast singletrack.

Of course this entire trail is put together to reach the downhill at the end. This is one sweet downhill and well worth any of the climbing we had done this day. The whole trail was covered in leave, sometimes up to a foot deep. Funny how almost the entire downhill was somewhat tacky with only a few leaves. Just made it perfect!

Sorry guys, no pics of the trail. Guess you will have to make it out on the next trip to check it out for yourself. Thanks to Jeff for snapping these photos. I was too busy enjoying myself and trying to track down Jeff and Joe to reach for the camera.

Wayne Goodman

As many of you know or have read on the cycling forums, Wayne Goodman had a serious cycling injury at Forest Hill Park.  Here is an excerpt from his website. 

The Crash

It's the kind of thing that could happen to any of us, or the guy walking through the parking lot or the girl riding in front of you. A simple error. Nothing more. Nothing less. Only it meant everything.
From the "mouth of Wayne", he was reaching back to adjust his pack as he rode on a grassy area next to the parking lot in Forest Hill Park. His wheel found a small indentation in the grass and Wayne was ejected head-first into the small stone wall on the edge of the parking lot. He was traveling no more than 5 miles per hour.
"It was lights out for my arms and legs," he recalls. His brain wasn't hurt, thanks to a helmet and no doubt his hard head. When he was in the ambulance he started to get some sensations in his extremities, but had no movement there.
Wayne, true to form was helping someone when the accident happened. He was riding with a new mountain biker, taking him on an outing. Thankfully he got fast medical help from his companions.


Please follow along with his progress and look for more information on how the team can help.  John Leino is directly involved, please forward any questions to him or the website.