I took Bryn to the Northstar Bike Park so he could see what downhill mountain biking is all about. I took him down Flame Out, one of the easier black diamond runs, since I figured with his background of dirt-biking and bicycling, and being on a plush 8” bike, it would be no problem.

Uh, problems.

He went over the handlebars twice, broke a bolt on the rear brake mount, cut a finger, and experienced repeated bouts of dizzyness because he was too gripped to breathe.

Here he is about to negotiate a loose hairpin turn (unsuccessfully) on Deerpath, a lower, easier trail.

Nancy came out after work to get in a couple of runs. She just got a new full-face DH bike helmet (thank you eBay!).

We took a second run up Vista, and Bryn started to get the hang of it and figure out what the bike can handle. Nancy led us down some smoother trails with lots of whoop-de-doos and banked turns.

Here he is on the Playground trail.

Bryn makes the Big Red Pig (our Santa Cruz VP-Free) look like the Little Red Piglet. I guess a bike that’s the right size would help things a bit.

Looking at Martis Valley from the Tryumph trail. You can barely see Boca Reservoir in the trees directly above his right hand.

After surviving the bike park, we squeezed in nine holes of golf at the Ponderosa Golf Course in Truckee.