in Bikes and Gear

Please change title of the post.

You should consider this an opportunity, not a negative. Besides, if you want something easy and fast, go ride Military Ridge.

If it was a bigger size, I would be strongly interested in your RIP9. I was just looking at one last night with the purpose of riding it at QR!

Title changed.  Of course it's an opportunity, I love it what you guys have done.  I see it as an opportunity to learn to get airborne again - have had a mental issue since a couple bad crashes a few years ago.  The trails make me want to get over it.  I've been pretty much a xc race type rider and I am using the updated trails as my kicker to get more well rounded.   8)

Besides, if you want something easy and fast, go ride Military Ridge.

By the way I wouldnt call the strava record on the original sandy climb easy  :
I'm one of those guys that likes hard and technical as well as fast.  I'm just not good at getting back out of the air onto the ground in one piece.

kona process 134  FTW.  27.5" wheels.  Jeff at TRAIL THIS has a small in the shop!

Might go check it out.  Last night swapped a 100 -10 flipped stem for a 70 0 stem on the RIP9, a full bar diameter back.  Gonna give that a shot.

As previously mentioned, I'd try a remote actuated dropper post as well before dumping the bike.  They really are a piece of game changing equipment.  Now QR does not really have any long climbs or descents so the value is a bit limited but once adjusting the post becomes second nature it really adds confidence on downs and jumps. The Rockshox post is affordable and well regarded.  I have the Kindshock LEV and like it as well.

Also, big gnarly tires.

Now QR does not really have any long climbs or descents so the value is a bit limited

That used to be my stance on droppers in the midwest in general, but if you think about it they may be just as, if not more, useful here than in the mountains.  Yeah, it's more important to adjust the height before a several miles long climb or descent but it's also easier to justify hopping off real quick to do it manually when you'll be needing that position for quite a while.  Because our ups and downs are so short it's almost never worth taking the time to get off the bike to adjust the saddle so you are almost always riding a compromise, I think you can get more value out of one here than you would in a less vertically challenged region. 

I'm happy that it took almost a full 2 weeks before any backlash was heard about the Sandy Climb reroute. I asked a lot of people about changing it before actually doing it. Most comments can be summarized by saying the big rocks and sand pit are what's cool, not the rutted climb that everyone kept trying to make easier by riding along side the ditch. The reroute was done for drainage issues and it sure beats having two big rollers on an uphill like the alternate option that would have been built instead.

I'm excited for the progression and the new jumps can help teach a lot of people how to jump before hitting something big. Most of the old big jumps were missing a landing. We specifically built landings to make these features work for many people. If you come up short, it won't be as fun as going big, but at least you won't case it in a double...

There are definitely some landings that will get reshaped next year now that we know the trail speed and how the jump fits within the trail. Stay tuned for the next big workday with an excavator next spring!

Blackbike, what you need is a turquoise bike.  Yeti SB6c

I need something other than an aggressively stretched out 29er if I'm to learn to properly ride all this rowdy new stuff at quarry ridge. 

I'm kind of in the "suck it up and figure it out" camp.

I rode an undersized 26" hard tail for 9 years, up until the pedals sheared off and recently replaced with a niner frame jenson was clearing out.
I'm probably on the biggest frame niner makes - so my "problems", are only going to be worse.

I started riding quarry ridge before the trail work started on the 26", and then have only ridden the new stuff on the 29er frame.
I'm finding the differences for me are:
 - I have initiate turns sooner, and more deliberately
 - I have to pay more attention to speed (too much or not enough), especially on any features (So I don't either roll over on accident or 50/50 the transition.)
 - On smaller features I have to put a lot more into my hops (since the bike is heavier).

In short though - my "get there and figure it out" approach on the 26" isn't going work for me on the new ride, and in my case it's my only working bike.

I have to say, I really love all the changes at QR.  Loving the berms on the xc loop.  However, I am now going to have to push for a skills clinic, because I have no clue how to even attempt some of that stuff.  I did a great "stuntman being blown off the ground" impersonation off of the jump/table thingy at the end of the xc loop tonight. That new downhill line to the left of the jumps is wicked, but I am guessing you aren't suppossed to stall out on the ups and require new brake pads after every run.