I haven't ridden trails in a good couple of months. It's been too dry for our place, and I've been occupying myself with racing and riding the track instead. Though after a little bit of rain last week I thought it was about time for some trails action...I miss it! So Ross, Jonny, Scoob and I headed over to visit our friends at Gate 23.

The trails are pretty sandy over there so it's tough to keep them going in the dry, but they were looking as good as ever, really smooth! Both Ross and I were a little apprehensive after not riding trails for a while and spending a lot of time on the big bikes... but it seems we shouldn't have worried, one run and it all came flooding back!



Scoob was testing out his new red Profile mini hubs for the first time, Jonny seemed to like them a little too much.

We were all loving the left hand hip on the main line, Jonny was pulling some sweet turndowns, I was getting the hang of snapping in the old faithful tables and Ross was whipping out on it so smooth and fast MX style I cannot explain. Watching him do that made me smile every time. Brrraaap!

There's a new bigger line running at the moment, though not many people are jumping it. It's a bit like climbing up to the high diving board, as the start is higher up than the rest of the lines. One of the locals stepped up to it and was riding it smooth, so of course Ross couldn't help himself. He hit it a couple of times and all was good, I was tempted as the hip looked good, but the landing looked so steep you'd have to be on the button or you'd be landing flat before you knew it. Just as Jonny and I decided to give it a shot, Ross missed the landing nose in and then reappeared launching out the side or the next lip seperated from bike. Yeah, that's what I meant! With that Ross knocked that line on the head and so did we. Thanks Ross, you took that one for the team!

Big thanks to the Gate 23 locals for having us, was an awesome day, the trails were running so good and you lot are always good to ride with!

Photos, above: Joey on the hip, Jonny getting acquainted with with Scoob's bike
Below, top row: Scoobs, Ross getting sideways
Below, bottom row: Jonny, Joey & Jonny again






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