Larch Mountain - training ground extraordinaire

I thought it might be time to post something about Larch ...

Larch is where I spend a considerable amount of my mountain biking training time. That is to say, when i am on my mountain bike, chances are that I am at Larch!! Larch is absolutely amazing. Over 100 miles of single-track which criss-crosses 1000's of miles of forest roads makes for any kind of riding you want... as long as you don't mind climbing.

At larch you are either going up or down; and if you are on the single-track (which is where I spend most of my time); it is a technical up or down. There are rocks, roots and small drops/up and overs -- which make it fun. Picture Fortune on steroids with the climb option being single-track and the climb taking 4 hours to the very top; followed by the craziest funnest downhill ever .... then repeat that one more time and you've done a loop at Larch mountain.

I've found a small one hour 'loop' (not really a loop as most of it is out and back) at Larch that I've been using to train for the 24 hour events ... to practice pit stops, eating, and ridng! This loop is 6.5 miles long, has 1200 ft of climbing and takes about an hour; depending on trail conditions. It is 6.5 miles of 100% single-track where you have to think about eating, drinking, and staying relaxed. It's loads of fun to ride and I am hopeing it will prepare me well for Worlds.

The Faze is the perfect bike at Larch ... I wouldn't want to do a long ride there on a hard-tail!!!