2010 Spring Trip Report

All in all, I can’t complain.  Okay, I can complain, but it’s just because I’m an ungrateful jerk.  Had a great turnout and a great time in Dixie this last weekend.  Ignoring the weather and thinking positive seems to have worked out  pretty good.

Through some last minute wrangling everybody got their rides sorted out, and Ryan showed up at my house just a couple of minutes late despite the 45 mph top speed he was forced to drive by his classic car(VW diesel Rabbit).  We piled into my classic truck and headed for Nick’s house because he had the least P.O.S. vehicle to take on a road trip.   A quick few hours straight through and we were in scenic southern Utah.  The scenery was accented by the layer of snow covering Little Creek and Gooseberry Mesa.  This meant we would not be riding those trails.  We touched base with the local experts at Over The Edge in Hurricane and got some great info on what was dry and ridable.  While we were there we ran into Monte, aka STT Guy from the UMB Forum.  He lives in Virgin and is a Colonel in the Anti Erosion Army of the Hurricane scene.  We discussed trail options and solved the problems of the world over lunch at the Main Street Diner in Hurricane(Great food and attractive staff).

Monte had already met with Jake, Retro Bill, and Nate, and they were riding the race track.  We decided to get together to ride over in St George.  Chad and Noah were just rolling in from a round of golf (nerds) and Chad joined us for the ride.  Noah had the swine flu or something and spent the rest of the day sleeping it off at the hotel.  Despite the forecast, the skies were sunny and bright and we had a great ride on Barrel Roll.  There is an odd repetition in the names of the trails in the area.  Seems like most everything is some variation on the word “Rim”,”Barrel”, or “Rock”.  I  managed to set a world’s record for longest pee while another group of riders, mostly women, rode by  within several feet of me.  I swear I thought I was going to have time to finish before they got there.  I was wrong.

After Barrel Roll we hit “Rim Something or Other”(actual name) and some of us realized that we were more out of shape than we thought.  We also learned that Ryan is the king of the manual/wheelie.  I had leg cramps, and Ryan should have the respect of a nation.

After the ride we cleaned up and grabbed dinner so Chad could watch the Jazz game,(Noah was still suffering).  The rest of the crew was slowly filtering into town and the last of them didn’t roll into St George until Saturday Morning.  Gage and his brother actually left Orem at 3 am to join us for  Saturday’s rides.

With dark skies, and after much debate, we headed for Rockville and the Slickrock Swamp Trail.  27 riders by my count.

Unfortunately, with multiple intersections, an encounter with a large scout group, and some confusion about what was the legal way to access the trail we splintered into several groups.We did manage to reconnect towards the end and everybody made it back in one piece.  Also Noah recovered and got to ride with us before he and Chad started for home.

Broke for lunch intending to meet at two to ride again.  Then the blizzard began.  Luckily the Days Inn was sporting an indoor hot tub.  The weather broke up the ranks, and people headed their separate ways.   Gage and his brother went and rode Prospector despite the weather.  Jake and Retro Bill win the die-hard award.  At 3 pm they loaded up and headed for Bootleg Canyon.  They rode for 45 mins in the light, then for two hours with lights.  Hit the strip for a buffet on the way back and rolled in about 3 am.  Dedication.

The sane among us were dragged out to Prospector after the storm broke.  I was perfectly content to sit in the hot-tub until Sunday, but caved in to peer pressure.  A dozen or so of us hit the trail and while not terribly interesting, it turned out to be an enjoyable scenic ride.

After a long day, I was done.  Pounded some decent Prime Rib at the Sports Bar, and was done for the night.  Somewhere in the day we lost Fuzzy and Joe.  They drove around town looking for a place to camp until finally giving up and checking in to one of the hotels.  I’m afraid we may have lost them to a twelve pack and the JB’s Buffet.

Daylight Savings Time made for a scrambled and confusing Sunday morning.  Coupled with way too many chiefs and not nearly enough indians.  We had planned to ride Hurricane Rim minus upper J.E.M. until a little investigation found it was frozen, soon to be wet.  We took a poll and the consensus was to bag it and head west towards the Zen trail.  Fuzzy,Joe,Jake, and Retro Bill opted to tough it out in the interest of mileage.  According to Monte if J.E.M. was ever muddy, you just had to walk 300 yards to the dry stuff.  Later reports from Jake would dispute that fact, as would the three dollars it took at the car wash to clean Jake’s bike.  Here are some photos from Jake also a few from the side trip to Bootleg.

The rest of us followed Berge(aka Evil Kenny) and Ben(Local Legend) over to Zen and unloaded.  Honestly, I had my pout on due to the confusion of the morning.  But soon after we started pedaling I was grinning heavily.  The winds stopped, the sun was out, and the trail was great.  It ends up that riding with Berge and Ben is an adventure in itself.  I’ve never met anybody that mountain bikes in Utah County that doesn’t know Berge.  It was funny as we were driving down Ryan asked me if I knew Paul Berge.  My answer was, “Yeah we’re driving down to meet him.”  Then we ran into some random guys up on Zen and they all knew Berge.  Ben is the leader of “Team Sanchez” that had a hand in a lot of the trailbuilding that has happened in St George over the past few years.  The way I hear it they get a heroes welcome and VIP seating at the Pasta Factory.

But let’s talk about Zen.  It starts out as a grind up a dirt road, then it devolves into this rocky, technical, tantric trail.  The best way I can describe it is that it’s like Amasa Back in Moab, if it were built by mountain bikers.  Multiple lines, finesse moves, slickrock climbs that test the grip of your tires, and ledges and drops that test your testicular fortitude.  My favorite trail of the trip.

The only mechanical of the day was Ben’s hanger.  Luckily we had an aerospace engineer along to apply a fix that was pioneered on the Hubble Telescope.  We broke it off.

Chalk it up as a success.  I guess God loves everybody else more than he dislikes me.  We met a few new people, and hopefully we get to ride together again soon.  For future reference, Ryan Thompson has the dirtiest, most entertaining stories for a road trip, Magilla is the funnest to watch ride, and Team Sanchez and co. Have all the skills in the group.  I have video of Berge, Ben, Ryan, Riley,Brady, and Gard doing big lines, but since they make me look weak, I’ll keep them in the vault.

I finally managed to ride in St George without hitting Bearclaw Poppy.  In fact, every trail we rode was new to me which is awesome.

Thanks everybody for coming.  I had a ball.  Hope you did too.