This weekend Stefan, Dan, and I drove out to Moab for a little event on Saturday and plans for another big ride on Sunday. We camped along Kane Springs road ($8 for a walk-in campsite with no picnic tables and no trash cans sounds a little pricey, doesn't it? At least the outhouse smelled pleasant.) and got up at 4 am on Saturday to temps in the mid-20s. By shortly after 5 we were at the start, and by 5:45 the group was rolling. After much complaining about the cold and a circus-like proceeding on some difficult-to-follow-in-the-dark slickrock, the sun gradually rose above the beautiful desert backdrop and warmed things up and helped us find our way.
After maybe 3ish hours and 25 miles, I slowly rode away from the group I was with and spent the next 8 hours following a lone set of tire tracks (except for the one section they veered off course and shortcut an entire mesa). For the first 75 miles, I was able to keep eating and felt pretty good. The legs were a bit sluggish on the climbs, but I was able to crank away on the flats and less steep terrain. The course was much to my liking until the last 10 miles of rock...Gold Bar Rim and Poison Spider kicked my butt. Having never ridden any of the course before, I underestimated the effort it would take to ride the last section, didn't eat enough, and got pretty damn frustrated with what I was trying to ride up/down/through. But eventually I made it to the final descent, dropped down to the river, and limped back into town, coming in a few minutes over 11 hours (a mile or two shy of 100 and a bit short of 10k feet of climbing). Josh Tostado came in around 90 minutes ahead of me, and Stefan rolled in alone around 20 minutes after me. The rest of the riders trickled in over the next few hours. Kudos to Fred for inviting us all out for the ride on a demanding but generally enjoyable course!
On Sunday the plan was to ride the White Rim, but 50+ mph wind gusts and periodic clouds of sand blowing through town changed our minds. Instead we rode up Sand Flats Road, met Fred and Dave at the Porcupine Rim trailhead, and then battled the wind all the way back down to the bottom of the Porc Rim trail. What a fun descent that was, especially with being able to follow Fred's lines down the techy sections and not having to worry about the uncertainty of just what was below the next drop. If Fred rode it, all was good. If Fred crashed in the sand at the bottom, you should probably avoid what he just tried to ride. And if Fred says the wind on the next section across a non-technical narrow ridge might be bad, then the wind will be bad, and the non-technical narrow ridge will probably include a series of drops covered by loose crap. I don't think my definition of "technical" jives with his. I guess that's what comes from living in Moab for as long as he has. But any way you look at it, it was a very enjoyable ride and I'm glad I had another opportunity to spend an afternoon riding with these guys.
After maybe 3ish hours and 25 miles, I slowly rode away from the group I was with and spent the next 8 hours following a lone set of tire tracks (except for the one section they veered off course and shortcut an entire mesa). For the first 75 miles, I was able to keep eating and felt pretty good. The legs were a bit sluggish on the climbs, but I was able to crank away on the flats and less steep terrain. The course was much to my liking until the last 10 miles of rock...Gold Bar Rim and Poison Spider kicked my butt. Having never ridden any of the course before, I underestimated the effort it would take to ride the last section, didn't eat enough, and got pretty damn frustrated with what I was trying to ride up/down/through. But eventually I made it to the final descent, dropped down to the river, and limped back into town, coming in a few minutes over 11 hours (a mile or two shy of 100 and a bit short of 10k feet of climbing). Josh Tostado came in around 90 minutes ahead of me, and Stefan rolled in alone around 20 minutes after me. The rest of the riders trickled in over the next few hours. Kudos to Fred for inviting us all out for the ride on a demanding but generally enjoyable course!
On Sunday the plan was to ride the White Rim, but 50+ mph wind gusts and periodic clouds of sand blowing through town changed our minds. Instead we rode up Sand Flats Road, met Fred and Dave at the Porcupine Rim trailhead, and then battled the wind all the way back down to the bottom of the Porc Rim trail. What a fun descent that was, especially with being able to follow Fred's lines down the techy sections and not having to worry about the uncertainty of just what was below the next drop. If Fred rode it, all was good. If Fred crashed in the sand at the bottom, you should probably avoid what he just tried to ride. And if Fred says the wind on the next section across a non-technical narrow ridge might be bad, then the wind will be bad, and the non-technical narrow ridge will probably include a series of drops covered by loose crap. I don't think my definition of "technical" jives with his. I guess that's what comes from living in Moab for as long as he has. But any way you look at it, it was a very enjoyable ride and I'm glad I had another opportunity to spend an afternoon riding with these guys.
These trails don't let you go terribly fast
This trail was just challenging to find
Gold Bar Rim. Jeep for scale waaay down at the bottom
Riding up Sand Flats Road
Stefan, Fred, and Dave climbing Porcupine Rim
The views were great until the trail got technical. Then tunnel vision set in.Now I'm back home, starting to think about the AZT300, which is no longer even two weeks distant. And the guys down at Pearl Izumi are hooking me up with some great new gear, and I couldn't be happier to have them helping out. The prototype hike-a-bike-friendly shoe I've been testing recently for Pearl are absolutely stellar. 11 hours in them on Saturday and not a single bit of discomfort. They're onto something with these.
Time to try to get my GPS replaced. It's still shutting off all the time on rough trails, Garmin refuses to admit it's a recurring problem, and I'm not pleased about the situation.
3 comments:
Why is there no Pearl logo/link on the side of your page? You should fix that.
Great pictures!
Nice work at the rim ride!
Post a Comment