Ultimate Ride II

I promised more would come later. I was hoping it wouldn't be this much later but here it is all the same. On the second day of the Ultimate Ride we headed up to the Warm Springs Trail and although we couldn't do the upper part of the trail due to Elk calving, we had a great time on this perfectly built trail. Hats off to the group that built the trail it really was superb!

The highlight of the week for me was heading down to the Warm Springs Lodge on amazing single track following Gary Fisher with Keith Bontrager and Travis Brown somewhere behind me (not that either of them couldn't have been miles ahead of me, they just happend to be in the group behind me this time :) )

Keith Bontrager and Travis Brown

Some of the other dealers as we wait to regroup at the top of a climb.

Gary Fisher enjoying the day like only he can!

Some of the bikes I got to ride. The Trek EX9.5 and the Gary Fisher HiFi 29er. Both bikes that will be available in 2008.

A close up of the APB on the '08 Trek EX series of trail bikes. Coming soon to a dealer near you!

Here's a close up of the "Full Floater" which makes the EX feel like it has at least 6 inches of travel. (It only has 4 inches, but you'd never know it!)

A quick look at the 69er Top Fuel with the "Inverse Mullet" design. Party up front, business in the back!

Another look at the HiFi 29er. Probably the most stable bike I've ever ridden. Just point and shoot down just about any trail. Just make sure you keep your momentum up as you climb.

Sneak peak on this one. It wasn't ready to ride but I sure looked cool. This is the all new, all carbon Gary Fisher Supercaliber. It just looks fast doesn't it?

All in all it was a great week of riding and learning about the the '08 Trek Mountain Bike line up. The hardest thing for me to do was stay objective during the whole thing and not drink too much kool aid. I've ridden a lot of bikes (Rocky Mountain, Specialized, Santa Cruz, Cannondale, Ventana... the list goes on) and the new EX series stacks right up with the best of them. Like I said in my last post about this topic, Trek Mountain Bikes haven't been that exciting for the last few years (even they admitted it) but that will change in 2008. Look for Trek to be launch a serious challenge to the leading Mt. Bike brands.