Surely we need a permit for this amount of fun?

I’m just shy of 12 weeks out from a total hip replacement, I’ve been on and off the gravel bike since the start of the third week and got a few local, short mountain bike rides in a couple weeks ago. But this weekend was the first proper ride in three months. The Spousal Unit™ and I and a big group of friends, including one of my oldest friends who flew in from Atlanta, invaded Summit County for the weekend. We caught the band Cake at the Dillon Amphitheater on Friday night then just camped and ate and drank and pedaled for a couple days. On Saturday our big-ass group pedaled up A-Basin to ride the new-to-me Beavers Loop to Wheels Up trails. I’ve ridden up A-Basin more than a few times to ride Lenawee trail off the backside, but the trails on the ski hill itself are new enough I just hadn’t ridden them, nor had anyone else in our group of a baker’s dozen.

And I’ve said this before but it’s still true so many years later… I do love gettin’ high.

That ride was what my soul needed, and they did a great job with all the newer trails. The climbing trail on the upper half of the mountain is SO MUCH better than grunting/cursing/walking up the service road. I’m out of shape and we were legit pedaling at an elevation two miles higher than where my buddy from Atlanta normally sleeps, but we all got there in due time without any walking. And the descent exceeded everyone’s expectations, by quite a lot. I’d characterize it as “alpine flow”—you could tell it was purpose built for bikes, but in a really good way. Overall the tread felt much closer to singletrack than machine built, and while there are berms and man-made features it still kept a high alpine vibe. The turns were well laid out and not super tight, with just enough bank to keep your speed. The overall pitch was perfect for hauling ass, but not so steep you were always on the brakes looking to slow down. A few nice little gap jumps and rock hucks here and there, plus some rocky features to cycle the suspension through. Super engaging the entire way from top to bottom, you had to pay attention but there wasn’t anything stressful. Pure type 1 fun, the whole way down. I’d say our group ranged from solid advanced level riders up to high level expert (fitness and skills) and every single one of us had a freaking blast.

10/10 would bang again.

Partially cloudy skies and cool temps made the climbing pretty tolerable.

Is that a smile, or a grimace?

Definitely smiling!

The clouds would build throughout the afternoon, making for moody pictures.

The northern/out of bounds half of the East Wall at A-Basin takes up the left half of this pic. Far left you can see the Buttcrack behind and above the shoulder of Fleas. Then center left you can probably make out Dogleg, Dogshit Couloir, Shit for Brains, and maybe Mexican Hat if you know what you’re looking for.

If you look really closely you can see Ben from Atlanta in the center of the frame.

No pictures on the way down, all the pics above were taken by the Spousal Unit™ and I on the way up. She was awesome as hell hanging out with those of us in the back of the crew for the climb, making sure we were all good. My fitness is garbage from being more off the bike than on the last three months, but this ride has motivated me in a big way.

Speaking of garbage fitness, I did try out getting towed by an e-bike for a short bit of the climb. Surprisingly, not as sketchy as I thought it might be once I got the hang of being “on belay.” We even managed a bunch of tight switchbacks and a couple rocky drainages. And hilarious how fast we could move up the hill. I’m still way on the human-powered train myself, but I can’t say it wasn’t fun.