Just got back from the new section on upper Mill Canyon. I’m a little torn. On the one hand, there is now a viable option to climb to the top of American Fork Canyon and pick your way down. On the other, I miss the elevator-shaft style downhill that it used to be. The new trail is certainly more sustainable, but will never be as fun to go down.
As it was, we started at the summit, and took Ridge Trail out to Mud Springs. Same ride we did last week. At top of the climb that looks at the back of Timp there was some attrition. Four of us decided that taking a right and heading over to South Fork would be a little less grueling, so they did. And they were right.
At the bottom of Mud Springs we crossed Tibble and connected over to Mill Canyon. This would be the first time I had seen the work since spending a Saturday digging on it with several hot chicks last fall. We settled into the climb and as most have reported, it’s basically a middle ring climb. Having not brought my A-game, I bobbled a couple of the switchbacks but purely out of bad bike handling, not because they were too technical. The trail is wearing in and is perfectly climbable. The length of the climb is up for debate, I am hearing reports of anywhere from four miles, to seven. I had no computer. Whatever the distance, it does seem long, bordering on arduous. And it definitely has that “line for Space Mountain” feel. But to a lesser degree than say….Ziggy.
After we finally popped out at the campground and made our way around to Ridge Trail, I could have sworn that we were in for a long downhill. Somehow that trail has magically transformed into a series of super technical climbs, followed by a quick, downhill to the four way. Once at the intersection, we ran into Bill and Sam, and eight or ten of the thousand or so moto’s we came across. Starting to feel the effects of all the climbing we had done, there was some debate as to whether or not we should drop down South Fork and have to climb back up to the summit. Burgi was feeling froggy so he jumped and we all followed suit. Burgi, myself, Skid, ZenMasterKenny, and Meg were all that was left. Retro Bill had left us for faster riders(Steve and Kris) and the others were probably home by now. I’m glad we did it though. Because you know what’s wrong with SFLDC?…Not a damn thing.
I did cave in and find the granny gear on the climb back up to the summit, but now I’ve got that pleasantly wrecked feeling. I think our total mileage from truck to truck was around 15 miles. And it felt like all of it was climbing. But you’ve got to have one of those every once in awhile. Good news is we’ve got another one Saturday. Blackhawk loop baby… bring it.
