Electronic shifting is worth it with the sublime shifting performance and ease of maintenance
You now have to ride down an asphalt trail and cut off onto a gravel trail before getting back to the old single track. 95% dry and/or grippy. A full suspension bike with 3+ inches of travel will greatly enhance your experience! The trail starts with a test- a skinny with a 2 ft. Long pedal up form town but best when shuttled to the top. Riders need to be at a decent skill level to attempt this trail. Then it is a gradual descent or flat on to the end of the trail at Hickory Mountain Road and Hickory Mountain Loop. Use some caution in the corners here. From there the trail stretches out and travels pretty fast into a big berm with a view out into the valley.
Brief passing showers are keeping it wet but the sun and wind are trying. If you keep your momentum you can charge up pretty much all the climbs and the descents are steep and tricky. Lost Lake starts at its namesake trailhead. Perfect flow day with hard moist dirt with only 1/2 bird baths along the way! The trails all run parallel to the Fountain Place paved road so they can be shuttled by car. Or with only moderate climbing involved these trails can keep almost anyone interested for hours. The start of the dirt road is marked on the Google Map directions on this page. 95% dry and/or grippy. There are actually three trails which make up the loop: Horse Creek-Cattle Creek-Lower Twin Lake.
Good tyres offer lower weight, faster rolling resistance and better grip
Two wheel drifting is likely if you have speed but are not riding the top few inches of the berms. Brief passing showers are keeping it wet but the sun and wind are trying.
Shedding just a few hundred grams on new wheels can make an appreciable difference
Fast transitions and high berms help with the turns. Trail is now covered in snow and you can only ride the packed areas from where sledders and shredders have packed out a trail.
Electronic shifting is worth it with the sublime shifting performance and ease of maintenance
Be careful of the rock stairs relatively close to the top of this portion; too much speed could doom your descent on these. Plenty of kick ups, jumps, drops, and huge berms.
Tidy up your tired stee with new wrap of bar tape
Ride to the top and then down and link it directly into Ridegeline