Purple Mountains Majesty

Been too lazy to post for the last few days/rides.  But there have been some good rides.

Saturday I met up with Zimm-the-Man and the Somers family(Eric and Austin) and we did a good old fashioned shuttle up AF Canyon.  The holiday weekend didn’t seem to be causing too much of a rush on the canyon and we enjoyed cool temps, good trail conditions and a relatively uncrowded canyon.  Despite Austin pushing me up the climbs.

Later that day, I got a message from Fuzzy down in Price.  It seems some private/public land boundaries have recently been sorted out and he’s got his eye on Allrad Canyon to create a new loop.  I was invited to spend the 4th of July exploring the area and was told I’d be back to Price in time to be home in the early afternoon.  You may remember last 4th of July. Yeah this one went pretty much the same.  Only this one wasn’t my fault.  The description was that we’d ride up a canyon(dirt-road) and then cross a mesa and drop down another dirt road that was all torn up and rough.  Scoping out the new trail possibilities as we went.  We started spinning up a road that reminded me more of Hog’s Hollow than anything.  Middle ring, rough enough to keep you interested dirt road.  Several miles in, it started to get a little steeper.  Then it got a little steeper again.  Soon it was walk a few hundred yards, ride a few hundred yards.  Finally it just degraded into a harsh uphill push.  Honestly steep enough that you had to pick your line to walk your damn bike up.  Fuzzy commented several times that he’s glad I came because he would have turned around long ago.  Did I mention the wind?  Or the cold?  Yeah, it was windy and cold.  Finally we made it to the top and the meadow we had been looking for for two and a half hours now.  The best part was, Fuzzy was lost.  No idea where we went from there.  After some discussion we realized that we had just climbed the downhill section of this ride  and that Fuzzy’s judgement may, or may not have been impaired when last he rode this.  At this point, we aimed the bikes down and bombed the road.  The top was so steep that just getting on your bike was a challenge.  Having not dropped my seat, my right testicle(my favorite one) met with the back of the saddle  and I swear I heard the sound of a marker writing on a balloon.  Searing man-pain aside, we had a good time tearing down the mountain.  We started the climb just after 9am, and turned downhill around noon.  It took less than fifteen minutes to go down.  So at 3 hours 15 mins of ride time, and 3 hours of drive time, I came in just under the wire on ZenMasterKenny’s ride-time/drive-time acceptable ratio.  Didn’t manage to get any pictures, but Fuzzy did.

Monday morning, Zimm-The-Man wanted to ride to the summit of AF on the road bikes.  Being a holiday-ish we figured we better get a good early start.  Left the house at 6am for the canyon wearing nothing but the best roadie spandex.  I had grabbed some gloves, arm-warmers, and a vest for the downhill but had them all jammed in my jersey pockets.  Not sure what the actual temp was but it was cold enough that I had condensation on my chin stubble.  Hauling nearly two hundred pounds of all natural trans-fat free Crisco up that canyon road has not gotten any easier in the couple of years it’s been since I tried it.  But the three of us managed to make it and I broke into hypothermic convulsions at the top despite, or possibly because of, being drenched with sweat.  I threw on the extra clothing I had brought up the mountain but it fell miserably short of keeping me warm on the way down.  The wind whipped at my face leaving it red and stinging by the bottom and Jeff(my roadie life-partner) accurately stated that he had never been so happy to pedal when he got to the bottom.  A nice way to start a day off, and be home in time for waffles with the kids.  Later that day however I would realize that I was in no shape to be climbing canyons and Jeff and I spent early Tuesday morning explaining to all the other roadies that we were on a strict “recovery ride”.  Honest skinny little chick in the Park’s kit that blew our doors off.  We did a hard ride yesterday.

Which brings me to tonights ride.  Running late along with several other people we  eventually all made it to the Nukey trailhead and the group ride.  Eight of us set out towards Mud Springs and soon the dirt peloton was in chaos.  Wes and Ryan took a wrong turn at the Pine Hollow intersection, Jake had to hustle home to check the DVR and dragged Jeff along with him and the rest of us were just poking along.  Somehow the breakaway made it through the day and we never saw the three of them again.  But we did get a chance to ride Mud Springs.  As I explained on the ride, Mud Springs is the type of trail I imagine when I am considering what bike to buy.  Rocky, rooty,  steep, technical descending through thick forest.  If I was told I could only ever ride one area for the rest of my life, I think it would be the west face of the Ridge Trail.  Despite the crowds(we had one traffic jam that involved four moto’s, three horses, and the five of us)  it always leaves me with a smile on my face.  Good ride.