Big Mountain Riding

The Giant Reign 1 is ready to aim and fire. Photo - BIKEMAGIC.COM

Review: Randy King

Photos & Video: Doug King and Randy King [Coming Soon]

We who live more than a day’s drive to Moab have a choice to make as we prepare for our pilgrimage: Ship the faithful rig that you know like an extension of yourself, or rent a dream machine / fun wagon while you’re in the mountain bike playground? My vote: rent the dream. On my last trip to Moab I rented a Giant Reign 1 for four days of tecchy riding on the rocks, sand and ledges – a.k.a. the gnarl.

Picking a bike built for the style of riding you’re seeking ups the fun factor. Back east I ride a trail bike, a Trek Fuel Ex 9. In Moab, my brother and I seek out the ledges and technical terrain and ride the rocks. We’re not big hucksters, but we do seek out rougher lines and push our personal limits on the gnarl. The Giant Reign 7 is purpose-built for those all-mountain kinds of days.

Friends, you do not want to realize too late that you brought a knife to a gunfight. Not two hours after my first pedal stroke in Moab, I questioned whether I was in over my head. We had climbed Amasa Back and then taken the extension out to Pothole Arch. From there we completed our loop via Rockstacker and Jackson trail.  Less than 200 yards into Rockstacker is when my serious questioning began. The trail dropped over a six-foot-high rock. I almost lost it trying slide down this beast with my bike. Dig dropped in on his older Reign, rolling down the grippy sandstone. Ah, I had brought a gun. I got back on the Reign and committed to be a worthy rider – or at least to remember that I had the firepower for the task at hand. We proceeded to tackle one of the most technically fun trails ever. Rockstacker and Jackson drop down the side of the Colorado River rim on the opposite side of the river from the infamous Portal Trail. Exposure, ledges and slots abound. The Reign was stable on serious steeps, and handles drops precisely – a key when dropping onto a narrow, exposed trail. The Fox suspension performed as I have come to expect of Fox, very competently.

The Reign 1 was competent and bold in the gnarl.

The Giant Reign 1 is a well-designed, well-kitted all-mountain rig. Hung with a Fox DHX Air 5 shock and a Float fork with through-axle, the bike can mix it up with the gnarl. However, it also climbs well for a beef-cake. Getting it up Amasa Back and Bartlett’s Wash was not as much of a chore as I had feared. In fact, it climbed well. The Maestro suspension design has aged well and is efficient under pedaling forces.

The Reign’s components and drivetrain held up well to a week of hard riding and less than tender loving care. Even after an almost total submersion in the creek at the bottom of the Jackson trail, a tumble or two on Killer B trail, and plenty of little ledges and hasty down shifts, the Reign remained in good working order. It did everything you’d expect of an all-mountain bike, and had that extra bit – it was a fun bike to ride.

The Reign is an all-round performer, which is just what I want in an all-mountain bike. Suspension platforms and design can hide heft and make riding a 6-inch (150MM) travel, 30-pound bike up the hill easier. And when the trail turns downhill and the rocks and ledges are coming fast, the Reign will make you happy that it is not too knife-like. It blasts through rough terrain. On the legendary Porcupine Rim descent I powered over the babyheads and off of small ledges, confident that the Reign could make up for minor mistakes on my part.

I liked the Reign. In Moab I loved the Reign. While I don’t know that I’d want to push the extra pounds around for every ride on the local trail system at home, I miss not having that firepower at my disposal when I’m out in the big mountains and it is time to go downhill. And when I go back to Moab, I’ll rent again … It may just be another Giant Reign.

© 2011 Big Mountain Riding

Review: Randy King
Photos: Courtesy of Redcloud Productions

The new mountain bike film, The Potential Inside, premiered in Lynchburg, Virginia on March 10, 2011. Liberty University’s Tower Theater hosted the premier of this inspirational film, and several hundred attended the red carpet event and the showing.

The singletrack of Candler's / Liberty Mountain played a pivotal role in the film. PHOTO: REDCLOUD PRODUCTIONS

The film is well produced, and shows off the Blue Ridge Mountains and Central Virginia’s trails and twisty mountain roads. For a local rider who built my riding skills in these hills, it was a joy to see how good The Potential Inside made this area look on the big screen.

The film has a strong faith-based message, and is a Christian film as much as it is a mountain bike film. Director Scotty Curlee, who also wrote the script and stars in the film, does a good job of showing (not telling), and the serious messages conveyed in the movie are not meted out with a heavy hand. I’d summarize it as being a movie about the challenges and ups and downs of both cycling and life, and how we can overcome.

Most who have spent a significant time aboard bikes know that there is a spiritual component to our pursuit – it’s one of the elements that warrant our obsession. The lessons learned striving for hard-to-achieve goals, suffering setbacks and overcoming trials mirror life and our spiritual journeys.

Rookie Jake gets lectured by veteran Chris. PHOTO: REDCLOUD PRODUCTIONS

The Potential Inside is also a cycling film, and features mountain and road riding, with extensive race scenes and in-depth physical performance testing with Hunter Allen.

The dynamic between Jake (Michael Cuddire), who is not young although he is a racing rookie, and Chris (Scotty Curlee), the veteran who is at a loss in how to handle a deep personal loss, is what makes this film standout. As Chris shares from his expertise to help Jake realize his full potential as a mountain bike racer, Jake is able to help Chris come to terms with his deep loss and move forward with his life. Jake’s age – which almost made Chris refuse to coach him – is what makes him believable as someone who has experienced and overcome tragedy in his own life. The dynamic is a well-executed example of Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

The bridges of Blackwater Creek Trail PHOTO: REDCLOUD PRODUCTIONS

I enjoyed watching The Potential Inside. While some of my enjoyment stemmed from seeing someone from my earliest days of mountain biking succeed in achieving their vision (Scotty Curlee was instrumental in LU’s mountain bike club when I attended), and from seeing the trails I know and love on the big screen, I also enjoyed The Potential Inside for its quality storytelling, production and mountain bike scenes. I’ll be picking up several copies of the film for those on my gift list when it goes on sale on April 19, 2011.

© 2011 Big Mountain Riding

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A familiar sight for riders from the Hill City - The Blackwater Creek Tunnel

Several years in the making, a film by one of our own about the sport we love and what drives us, premiers in Lynchburg, VA on Thursday, March 10 at 6 p.m. on Liberty University’s north campus, at the new Tower Theater. Filmed in part in Lynchburg, The Potential Inside features the terrain that define East Coast cycling – whether off-road or on.

The plot is one familiar in sports stories. A veteran, out of the sport, is brought back to the competition by personal tragedy and a budding rookie. A rocky coaching relationship follows.

Using cutting edge technology and scientific training methods, the retired racer Chris transforms Jake, the young prodigy, into a top contending cyclist; however, he struggles to teach Jake the most important lesson prominent in all champions, finding the true POTENTIAL INSIDE. The movie also features a big mountain riding star – Jeremiah Bishop.

Put on your red carpet duds, get a chauffeur to pilot the tandem and drop you off curbside, it’s Hollywood time in our little hill town. Learn more about the film, the premier and how to get tickets by visiting the premier site on Facebook. For those who cannot make it to the event, Big Mountain Riding will post a review following the premier. Read the review!

© 2011 Big Mountain Riding