Wow, did I have a fantastic day! I went to a place called Challenge Park Xtreme in Joliet, Illinois that has north shore mountain bike riding. I went with 2 mountain biking friends of mine. I have never done north shore riding or off-roading this extreme before so I didn’t know what to expect. I surprised myself, and rode the majority of the whole north shore course! (not the enormous jumps). There were teeter-totters, skinnies, drops, gaps, corkscrews, everything! I rode on my Summit, and it was great, even though I bet a 24" Muni would be better for going over some bumps I had trouble with and gaining more speed. For all of you who haven’t tried north shore riding, try it! It is incredible, and better than any roller coaster. The bikers were very friendly and very impressed with my riding. My friend didn’t bring his camera so we didn’t get any footage, however one of the guys from Team Sally, the mountain biking club that maintains the place, got some good footage of me, and it will most likely be up on that site soon. Here are pics of the stuff I rode.
http://www.challengepark.com/gallery_mountain.asp
(I did the smaller jump to the ramp, below the enormous jump in the top 3 pics. I did everything in the bottom 4 pics except the log garden, but I did do the skinny next to it.)
(This was one of the coolest most difficult things I did. It took me a while, but I rode up it, rode the skinny, and landed the drop.
(I made this gap on a rolling hop, nearly every time and rode the corkscrew out of it.
(I rode this fun teeter and log.)
(This was the biggest drop I did. Did it from a stationary hop.
P.S. One of the guys who maintains the place said that two guys from Lombard have tried it on unicycles. Contact me if you’re reading this. Or, if anyone else in the area wants to ride here with me or has rode here, contact me!