Be Careful!

According to GJSentinel.com the Sheriff's Department had to "aid an injured mountain biker on Mary's Loop" on Tuesday. Most of Mary's is tame and a lot of fun, but there are some tricky spots where, if you're like me, one false move can leave you bloody or worse, seriously injured!

Be super careful around the first portage, with the "caution" sign. Even when walking your bike through there it's slippery and could lead to a nasty fall.

Of course, be careful on the 1/4 mile or so stretch of exposed trail leading west to Pizza Point!

Always always let someone know where you'll be and carry your cell phone. You can get reception almost anywhere out there and it could be the difference, literally, between life and death one day.

Have fun and stay safe and keep your fingers crossed for good riding weather soon!

Finally! Sun! And Blood.

Thanks to the guys at gjmountainbiking once again for their maps. The part in red shows the western side of Mary's Loop. The black part shows a great extension, known to some as just Steve's, to others as Steve's (to the cutoff) and Handcuffs (the extension of the extension).

My buddy Robbie and I headed out Sunday afternoon for a bike ride and, since we wanted a long ride, we opted to ride Mary's loop and then Steve's/Handcuffs. (the entire black section out past the cutoff and back around).

Round trip, including of course some stops for pictures and eating a bar of some sort, the ride is about 11 or 12 miles. We started from the main parking lot and headed south over the gravel hill and down to the Mary's Loop trail head. IF you ever just want to ride Steve's for a nice short ride, keep driving west down the frontage road for about another 2 miles until you cross the cattle guard. Right after that is a small parking area. Park here, ride up the hill and you'll be at the junction/trail head for Mary's, Steve's, Lion's, Mack Ridge, and Moore Fun. From here you can just drop down and out to Pizza Point (follow Mary's out to the river overlook and you'll be at the south entrance to steve's).

ANYWAY, Robbie and I headed up Mary's and even showed up a few people by passing them on the hill before they kicked our butts hopping up some ledges. We cruised down Mary's, past the Horsethief Bench cutoff, up puke hill and around to what I call "The Cliffy Death." It's an exposed portion of trail that is very narrow. Most people ride it with no problem. Not me. I ride portions, then I get off and walk because I don't want to fall down the hill and over the cliff to the river. I had gotten off to go down a rocky ledge and when I got back on for some reason I had no inertia! I couldn't move! So of course, I fell over. I don't have clip-in pedals, so my pedal scraped the hell out of my leg. I didn't realize it at the time, and by the time I got over to the lookout (Pizza Point) there was blood running all down my leg.

Of course, I had everything to repair a bike with, but nothing to repair a leg with. Hence, this genius homemade bandage of a piece of paper and some duct tape.

We dropped down onto Steve's and had a great ride all the way around, back up the ridge, and then back to the junction I mentioned earlier. From here we took the frontage road back to the main parking lot where we of course had a few beers before heading home.

This shot shows a portion of Steve's running around the edge of a canyon. After this it heads up a hill I've never seen anyone ride and cruises high on the ridge until dropping back down where it intersects with everything else.

ICK!

Rain and snow go away
Come again another day...
Or you know what, just stay gone awhile so I can go out and play!

Another Foot of Snow!

This was the webcam shot at Powderhorn ski resort this morning. It is an unparalled beautiful day up there! No fair that I am stuck at work! They've gotten 30 inches of snow this week according to the Powderhorn website. The BF is headed up there today to do some fabulous powder skiing--since I haven't quite mastered that yet I'm okay with just wishing I was there.

If you've never been up to Powderhorn let me just say it's a great little local ski resort! The instructors there are awesome and I can say that with certainty since I've taken classes there as have friends of mine and their children. There are 3 lifts--not including the very tame moving-sidewalk-like-lift called the "Magic Carpet." It's for beginners to practice and isn't even a lift at all...ANYWAY...the Take 4 is the main quad lift which leads you up to top of the mountain to blue and black runs. It has a midway stop as well. From the top of the quad you can head right to Equalizer (black) or Bill's or Maverick (blue). Bill's and Maverick are the main blue runs on this side of the mountain and they will lead you to others like Lower Equalizer, Dude, Whistle Pig, Looky-Looky and Lower Snowcloud. Taking Maverick over to Lower Snowcloud is the best way to get to the WEST END!

Going right off the quad lift takes you to other black runs like Yoo-Hoo, ShowDown, Wonderbump, Racer's Edge...

The West End has a 2 person lift and is home to a lot of black runs and a few steep blues. Tenderfoot is a blue run that will get you back over to the lodge and main lift, but it requires quite the cat walk to get to it! The other way to get back to the lodge from the west end is to go down Upper Snowcloud. It's a black run, but when it's groomed it's pretty sweet. I hate moguls myself so I stay away from it when it's NOT groomed...about 2/3 of the way down you'll be cruising and see up and to the right the sign for where you turned off to get to the west end in the first place. Head up that way and back down Lower Dude to the main lift area if you want. Otherwise, keep left and head back to the west end lift!

Red Eye is the other blue on the West End and it's pretty darn steep for a blue! Challenging, but fun if you can make it down without falling! There's a lot of tree skiing to be had over here plus some fun places to just play around and jump.

Powderhorn offers condos and such for overnight stays, a Sunday worship service at the top of the beginner/green run lift (easy rider) and great food at both the Wildwood Restaurant and the lodge bar/grill. It's a great little resort!

Where I"d Rather Be

Oh I'm in a snit today. I don't know why. Well, possibly because it's cloudy and cold and gross outside and I want warm summer weather! Here's one of the many places I'd rather be...Avalanche Lake...or at least on the Avalanche Creek trail headed up to the lake...and that's saying a lot because in the last 2.5 miles you gain about 2000 feet! Switchbacks...but it's worth it because look at the view!

To get there, head up to Carbondale to the Avalanche Creek Campgrounds. The trail head is there and then you just follow the signs for 11 miles up and up and up. There's some good camping around mile 6...a nice big meadow and a shady tree area near the creek.

Often there are a lot of people at the lake...it's best to get there as early in the day as possible. We ended up with a tiny campsite at the very head of the lake but it turned out to be worth it because we had a great little kitchen area and no one near us!

Here's a link to wildernet.com's description of the trail and directions.
This is the meadow we camped in the first night...there was better camping just up the trail past the grove of aspen trees...but we managed!

Sunday at Lunch Loop

Until I find a better map, the gjmountainbiking.com one will have to do!
I hike out at Lunch Loop (Tabaguache) about 4 times a week. Until this weekend I had only biked there once. It's super technical and I felt it was over my head. This weekend I decided to try again. As John says, "You can ride anything as long as you're willing to walk some." So I was willing. Being familiar with the area, I felt a little better. We headed up the main trail west/southwest from the parking lot, and soon turned right onto Eagle's Tail. This soon makes a Y so you can head up Pet-Y-Kes. I've seen people go UP Eagle's Tail, but it doesn't look like much fun. This is a shot from about half way up Pet-Y-Kes looking back. It's single track and a little exposed, but there aren't many obstacles.

From here we headed over to Lemon Squeezer. You keep going down Pet-Y-Kes, take a right where the first "main trail" sign is. At the next junction, take a left. You'll end up at the base of Widowmaker Hill and you'll take the first left down a nice rolling single track for a few minutes. Then you'll get here:
From here the trail has some little ups and downs and takes you up onto the ridge above the canyon and parking lot.
There are a few hike-a-bike sections (or for me there were). This was not one of them :) Once on the ridge it's a super nice ride across and then down one rocky section before you come to a trail sign and junction. Take the right fork and head out Miramonte. This rolls you right along across another ridge, down some easy drops and then down into Miramonte Canyon. It's a nice pedal with the worst part being the sandy descent into the canyon itself. From here it's back up (you'll come to a fork and you can actually go either way. Left takes you back up to the ridge you came down and back down the main trail. This is what we did. If you go right, you come out further east on the original ridge and can go down some steep switchbacks--Kurt's Lane)
Even though I'm only a decent intermediate rider, I found this to be an awesome ride. You don't learn by only playing on the easy trails. You have to get out there and test yourself!
Here are some shots from Miramonte Canyon.

Looong dusty saturday ride

Saturday was beautiful. 70 degrees, sunny, not too windy...so we headed out to 18 Road in Fruita to try out Chutes and Ladders. This is the map the guys over at GJ Mountain Biking show. You can see Chutes and Ladders branching off of Prime Cut.

Prime Cut starts right across from the first parking lot. The lot itself is quite obvious. Right across the road you shoot down a hill and take a left to head up Prime Cut. Bear right at the Y junction. Left will take you up and across the road to Joe's Ridge. Follow the trail through the whoop-de-woos and watch out for the big ass boulder! After about 2.5 miles you come to a nice resting spot and another Y. To the left is the remainder of Prime Cut. This is a great way to go if you just want about an hour's ride. Go left, head across the road (angle left to the singletrack) and head down Kessel Run. Take a left back up the hill at the end and have a beer.

We went right at the Y. Right takes you up, up up. John was able to ride about half of the first three "ladders" but I walked it. Following this there's one more hill and then some nasty switchbacks...a few more hills...and I know, you're thinking, "This does NOT sound fun..." BUT soon it gets fun with a lot of super narrow single track, some ups and downs and finally...about a 2.5 mile bomb through a meadow filled with cows!

To be honest, some people don't like Chutes and Ladders. The "chutes" can sometimes be rutted from the cows walking down the trail in the rain or when it's wet. The ladders are quite dusty. But for me, I love the rolling downhill and I love Prime Cut, so I think that one mile of hell is worth it.