RR: High mountain madness (McCall revisited)
Paladin
gutbuster ride Thursday, (claiming I'd tamed the dominatrix--ha!), I
was ready for more. That meant the high country.
So I join Adam (anybody remember him and the "shy one" from the AM-B
NW epic in June?), to ride his favorite trail, 20-Mile Creek to Duck
Lake. He claimed it was far better than even Loon Lake. He just had a
birthday, mine is soon, so we tell the wives & kids that the next few
days are birthday presents to ourselves.
We get to the trailhead around 3pm just as these tanned, 40-something
Sun Valley types are finishing up with those giant, oh-so-recognizable
grins of the happy, well-ridden compadres. We chat a bit, they give
me some water and off we go.
It's a pine forest with *lots* of rock-beds interspersed with fairly
fast loamy track in between. I keep my seat and gears LOW... Starts
out with a narrow track along a hill, with a little exposure to
stretch the concentration and esercise the pucker muscle. So far so
good. But at 6,000 feet, it's half an hour before I acclimate and
stop wheezing.
There were a couple crazy tough climbs up and over rocks where the
freerider Adam lost traction due to the weight of his bike, and his
rear shock compressing. I plowed right past him, on the
ever-impressive power transferring wonderboy hardtail. I couldn't
believe it! I climbed through and over stuff that if I had stopped to
look at it, I would have walked for sure. But seeing old Adam stopped
halfway up on his long-travel boinger spurred me on! heheheh...
So after the last outrageous climb over small boulders about 7 miles
in, we crest out at a huge grassy meadow. I found a soft spot to fall
over and started laughing. Now I can die a happy man. If I can make
it back in one piece, then, this trail will rate in my top 5 of all
time, which includes of course, Fisher/Williams in the Whiteclouds
north of Sun Valley, Amasaback in Moab, and now 20-Mile Creek.
I'm so in the groove that I'm yelling, laughing, hoppin & poppin over
granite, hitting some banked turns just right, jumping the uglier
stuff to nail the landings, it's all happening. The freeriding dude
is way out ahead, flying over the rock gardens at heart-stopping
speed, while I'm carefully picking my way through, letting momentum,
weight allocation, and a trick here and there pull me through. A
hardtail has to choose a line now and then, ya know?
I finally get back to the trailhead, and Adam's got his bike loaded,
and he's halfway into a nap. Rub it in, you turkey. But I got the
drop on him going up a few times, he he he.
The next day, we rode (horseback, this time) the new trail he's
cutting into West Mountain just above his house, which is an old pack
trail for hunters. He's customizing it for mtnbiking, and he's got
about 5 miles rideable so far. And boys and girls, it's gonna be
GRRRRREEAATT!!
Paladin
JD
<snip the NW GOODS>
You creep.
JD
penny s
"JD" <CKA...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:bff73eaa.02092...@posting.google.com...
I know, they didn't invite me either.
ps
Gman
> Howdy. After my insane escape from the confines of my office and
> gutbuster ride Thursday, (claiming I'd tamed the dominatrix--ha!), I
> was ready for more. That meant the high country.
>
Not fair man, you're gettin' ALL the good riding
in around here!
--
Gman
Paladin
I'm in that panic mode of riding AMAP before weather slows me down.
Paladin
Paladin
Just sacrificing myself for the group, doing some advance work for our
next invitational epic. And that's the thanks I get????
This one was a tad longer & more technical than Loon Lake, but without
the river or lake views. Not as sociable a ride, since it required
more concentration, but boy was that fun.
Paladin
BB
> This one was a tad longer & more technical than Loon Lake, but without
> the river or lake views. Not as sociable a ride, since it required
> more concentration, but boy was that fun.
And without the "maybe if we cross the river here, we won't get swept away
by the current...no, I think its not as deep over THERE" part too, I
imagine. ;-)
(for those who weren't there, we spent quite awhile contemplating how to
cross a big river that, as it turned out, we didn't actually need to
cross)
--
-BB-
To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)
penny s
"BB" <bbauer...@hopethey.servebeer.com> wrote in message
news:up1ashc...@corp.supernews.com...
> On 24 Sep 2002 10:40:26 -0700, Paladin wrote:
>
> > This one was a tad longer & more technical than Loon Lake, but without
> > the river or lake views. Not as sociable a ride, since it required
> > more concentration, but boy was that fun.
>
> And without the "maybe if we cross the river here, we won't get swept away
> by the current...no, I think its not as deep over THERE" part too, I
> imagine. ;-)
>
> (for those who weren't there, we spent quite awhile contemplating how to
> cross a big river that, as it turned out, we didn't actually need to
> cross)
>
you mean, "there must be a trail around here somewhere?"
Where have you been? Nice to see ya!!
Penny
BB
>
> you mean, "there must be a trail around here somewhere?"
Hehe, until we realized the trail was *behind* us!
> Where have you been? Nice to see ya!!
Just busy...not riding, unfortunately. :-(
JD
>
> > This one was a tad longer & more technical than Loon Lake, but without
> > the river or lake views. Not as sociable a ride, since it required
> > more concentration, but boy was that fun.
>
> And without the "maybe if we cross the river here, we won't get swept away
> by the current...no, I think its not as deep over THERE" part too, I
> imagine. ;-)
> (for those who weren't there, we spent quite awhile contemplating how to
> cross a big river that, as it turned out, we didn't actually need to
> cross)
Damn that map. Been riding much?
JD
BB
>> (for those who weren't there, we spent quite awhile contemplating how to
>> cross a big river that, as it turned out, we didn't actually need to
>> cross)
>
> Damn that map. Been riding much?
*sigh* Not really.
JD
> On 24 Sep 2002 18:03:03 -0700, JD wrote:
>
> >> (for those who weren't there, we spent quite awhile contemplating how to
> >> cross a big river that, as it turned out, we didn't actually need to
> >> cross)
> >
> > Damn that map. Been riding much?
>
> *sigh* Not really.
If you need a vacation, you still need to get on over here. Maybe
come out with CDB later this Fall?
JD