7696 Ft Descent

Yes that is what we did last Sunday. Not bad, for a little island like Jamaica! Smorba Crew came over for a day of riding to Kingston. This time we hit the Queen Hill trail and the Bloxbourgh trail new for all the riders.

 Roshuan "Bushdawg" and Anthony (no nickname for him yet) were the new riders, Andy, Sanchez and myself  hit the trail at  close to 4000 ft.

 It looked like nothing can stop us until we got the first flat and the second etc.

4 tubes later back on the trail, rock gardens, switchbacks, super dry trail, skidding all over the place. I passed a donkey, he almost got a heart attack, next section lots of switchbacks no berms I was sliding all over the place but I had to keep ride hard, somebody was a few feet behind me. I could even hear his breath. He was riding well, super-smooth. I couldn't look back so I started to guess who could it be, who would ride so smooth, no skidding sound, no break sound. Damn he is riding well! Could it be Andy, Sanchez or one of the new guys. Eventually I found a good place to stop, my arms and legs were shivering from the intensity of the ride, a rest was due anyhow. When I looked back, a huge face was steering at me from 2 ft away. I don't know who was more shocked me or the donkey. We looked at each other for a second or two then he got to pass me and continue his run down the trail. Sanchez and Andy found me laughing, the donkey was trapped between  me and  them. Poor donkey had no escape! Further down the trail we met the donkey again, he continued his flight until the trail got wider, he eventually found escape in a wide corner.

From Queen Hill we took a trail to Dallas, as we proceed I warned everybody that this will be steep. I don't think they took it serious. The trail meanders through big threes, steeply down to a dirt road.Is a shortcut that farmers use. The soil is dark and loose, we all agreed that we have to go back and do some work on it, it has a good potential. This part was really intense, Anthony managed very well, It remind me why I love skiing.

We had a mandatory stop in Dallas at the Union Bar after which we rolled down to Cane River Falls. Our trusted friend Norval  and Tara was waiting for us there. I think we all felt that nothing can stop us the adrenalin was still pumping.

Not even the burning hill on the way to Bloxbourgh. We found our way through the tick smoke all the way to the top. At 3400 ft we were looking down over the beautiful Caribbean Sea, thats where we going.
The descent starts on a single track, quite fun, then we follow the main road until we reach the top of the quarry. Now, this is the fun part, roads are super wide, about 30 ft fairly smooth. Here, is all about speed, you roll at full speed, huge cloud of dust behind you and try  to make all the turns as fast as you can without crashing. Skidding is inevitable  and a must for a full experience.


We ended the ride with cold beers at Miss Fluffy's Bar.
Thank you all for coming I had a great time, I am looking forward to the next ride!

By Bogdan Simandan aka "Boogie"