Preparing to Enter Cold Springs in Santa Barbara

Preparing to Enter Cold Springs in Santa Barbara
Originally uploaded by launch_racing.

The calm before the storm. We have just parked the car a couple miles up the road for a shuttle down Cold Springs. A little road riding and some big dirt burms to feel the bike out and make sure everything is good for the trail, and here is a picture of me as I am about to enter the trail. It is pretty crazy how much gear we wear these days. Not sure if that means we are smarter, or just older, but nevertheless it sure is nice to crash and just get up unscathed. I have my bike set up a little more XC here with smaller/lighter pedals and some 2.25 tires, so keeping up with my friends rigs that are running full DH tires is a little more difficult. I think my next run I am going to revert my bike to DH. The weight saving is not worth the control loss. At any rate this trail is amazing, and has high speed and technical parts, with some jumps. All and all one of the best out there. So if you ever get the chance look it up in SB. But as always use a bell and be kind to the Hikers, as they are the ones with all the money who are trying to shut the trails down to MTBing.