Hello all, tomorrow is a HUGE day in the history of Colorado mountain
unicyclists everywhere... 🙂
Well, maybe I shouldn't have put that smiley up just yet, but basically,
here is the scoop on ski resorts and their policies.
So far, after doing muni demonstrations, me and my friends Zac and Mike
have gotten to ride the gondola at Steamboat Springs resort, as well as
(just recently) Keystone resort (Keystone has a nice little trials
course at the bottom of the hill, makes the day well worth it.)
However, we went up to Vail last week, and were completely rejected.
They wouldn't let any unicyclists up, not even ones with hand brakes.
We don't have handbrakes, but that has never stopped us before. It took
some arguing, but Zac and I were finally able to meet in person with the
CEO of Vail resorts, and we began hammering out the deal that might
allow unicyclists to ride up the gondola there once and for all.
Basically, he told us that for ANY progress to be made, we would have to
come back before the resort opened to the public (8 a.m. tomorrow
morning, wednesday the 21st.) We would have to do a full demonstration
of A) our equipment, and B) our recommended safety gear. The bottom
line is, we have to spend 3 or so hours determining in depth every
aspect of safety and skill on the mountain that we can in order to
convince Vail to allow unicyclists on their downhill trails. Obviously,
we are both nervous as hell, although the actual muni shouldn't be that
tough. Furthermore, we have to go down the expert trails separately
from the beginner trails, so, it will probably be a fairly long day of
riding. Hopefully, we will open this resort to those that come after
us, so here's wishing the best, and wish us luck! We'll post the
results of the day tomorrow, but we hope this will be a big step in
gaining acceptance at mountains across colorado. By the way, if you
want to hear about Keystone mountain, and the trails there, keep
reading. If not, then quit while you still can!!!
Keystone:
Keystone has some really awesome downhill trails for many skill types.
Zac and I went down the only way we knew how, the double-diamond black
trails all the way! It was awesome, and quite difficult with manmade
objects along the way that resembled the bridges from northshore videos
I've seen. There were many 2-3ft drops on the trail, and some parts
that could NEVER be ridden over, although hopping seemed to do the
trick. It was cool to get through tough spots that bikers were walking
over 🙂 and overall it was a good size ride at about 5 or so miles. If
anyone is looking for some real technical downhill, you should
definitely check out keystone!
That's all for now, more tomorrow, when I'll be too sore to stand!
--
cybeross - All Wheel Drive
-Ross
Listen to and review my music at: http://www.acipdlanet.com/aeros/
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