Moo

A high stress work week, and an unstable mental state had me completely frazzled Saturday morning when it was time to head out for a ride on the Blackhawk Loop.   Contributing to a restless night’s sleep were things like the wheels that needed swapped on my bike, the fact that I hadn’t ridden Blackhawk in over a year, the fact that I wasn’t precisely sure of the route, and the fact that it was supposed to be 100 degrees and the AC in the old Ford is marginal at best.

Woke up at 5 and  tried to get the wheels swapped until I realized that my tires had stretched a little and were now nowhere near a tight enough fit for a successful tubeless setup.  Bagged that, and left the existing wheels on.  Got on the interwebs and printed a trail map to cover for my shotty memory.  I did manage to remember to throw in a spare tire to avoid a repeat of last summer’s blackhawk trip.   A little kiss and make-up session with the wife and I was almost late for the ride.

Historically this ride brings a pretty large group.  But as I pulled up to the shop at 7 there wasn’t a soul.  I knew a couple people would be meeting us at the trailhead, but I was amazed that there weren’t any takers.  Just then Zimm-the-Man pulled up in the newer, old Ford and I volunteered him to drive, as I knew his AC to be more reliable than mine.  We made Nick drive down alone from Provo so there would for sure be another  car to take us back up to the top of Bennie Creek.

At the Grotto Parking lot, Nate and Dave were waiting for us.  It seems Dave rides with the Velo Club occasionally and figured that he had missed us when nobody was at the shop before 7.  FYI I’m usually about five minutes late.

The original plan to park at the Loafer trailhead fell apart when it was packed with shuttle monkeys and hikers.  The new plan was to head up the road a little to the Rock Springs turnoff.    It’s only a little further up, there’s never anybody there, it’s where we would eventually be crossing the road again anyway, and best of all, it saved a little redundant climbing.  From now on when riding Blackhawk loop I will be parking at the Rock Springs turnoff.

Once things got sorted out, and we started riding, all was right with the world again.  Beautiful singletrack, rolling hills with no harsh climbs, a mild temperature(at least compared to the valley), and a relatively small group which made for a lot less regrouping.    To put it more succinctly, good trail.

Zimm-The-Man(Paul)

It looked like we missed the peak of the wildflowers by about a week, but there were still remnants of color.  Also, the summer heat hasn’t turned the lush green into crusty brown yet.

Dave,Nick, Paul, and Nate.

Initial estimates of the distance proved to be a little off.  We reached the campground much sooner than I had thought, and were soon grunting up to the summit.  It’s a middle ring climb but it does drag on.  However if you manage to look up from your front wheel for a second, it has it ’s rewards….

Soon we had reached the summit and crossed over to Frank Young Canyon.  I don’t know Frank, but I wager he’s a cattle man.  This portion of the trail is downright crowded with cows, and smells of the Cache Valley.  At one point there was a standoff.

Moo.

Most of our bovine friends scattered in fear once we got into their personal bubble, and luckily as an evolved prey animal there is rarely any aggression.    There was one incidence of a mother and her calf that would not turn off the trail.  Instead they ambled ahead of us, mooing and frightened.  Finally the mother turned off, but the calf kept going.  It was a low-speed chase, but after a quarter mile or so, we had to stop for fear of separating mother and child.  We finally got the calf off the trail and got down hill from it.  All of us except Nick.  After a longer  than reasonable wait we wondered if Nick had crashed or something.  Suddenly there was a litany of angry moos heading down the trail, and soon the mother came back into view with Nick riding his brakes right behind her.  I was laughing too hard to get a picture.

Soon we were back where we had started, and ready for the downhill dessert.  From Rock Springs we headed over the hill and into the meadows.  Soon we were barreling down a dusty but still fun to ride Bennie Creek Trail.  After all the reasonably smooth and mellow riding we had been doing all morning, the rough, steep downhill was a little jarring but the most fun I’d had all day.   I did manage to inhale a large biting bug which bit my tongue before I could hawk it out.  The weirdest thing about the ride was that we didn’t run into any other mountain bikes.  One pair of horsemen, two groups of hikers, and a herd of cows were it.  Actually we did see two people on WalMart  bikes, sans helmets, with three dogs at the very top of Bennie Creek, but I’m pretty sure they turned around.

All that fretting for nothing.  It was a beautiful day for Blackhawk.  And if you’ve never been to the Daley Freeze in Payson I highly recommend the Lime Freeze.  On a hot sweaty day, it’s life changing.