RR: Walker Ranch

Monique says:

<snip-de-dip>

Get some rest.... And let Eric get some, too. ;-)

Steve "sounded like fun"

Monique Y. Mudama said:

- Hubby saying, "Wow, I love how I can see your quad muscles moving"
as I walked my bike up the top of a climb

Is that love or what? ;-)

Quoted message said:

..

Quoted message said:

- Somehow (guardian angel?) not falling after fishtailing in some
loose soil. I felt my rear tire slide out farther than I would
imagine it could go to the left, then the right, but I just kept
pedalling and it somehow recovered.

I love the feeling of a good save. It's an indicator that you are getting
more relaxed as a rider, a little looser, more willing to trust your bike.
Some times I still get surprised when that happens. Wow, I **didnt'** go
down right there!!

Penny

Monique Y. Mudama said:

I now know how Walker Ranch got its name.

Estimate: I rode 1/3 (mostly downhill), walked 1/3 because I couldn't
hack it technically, and walked 1/3 because I was so bonked that even
granny gear couldn't save me. I tried gel for the first time, which
maybe explains why I was able to walk my bike for the last few miles
rather than just lying down on the trail and waiting for the wildlife
to come get me.

Intro to Epic 101. Passing grade = surviving. 🙂

Quoted message said:

It's really beautiful -- I've never ridden alongside a rushing
mountain stream before -- and there's some incredibly fun
singletrack, but man oh man; there are other places where I can work
on my technical and aerobic abilities without bruising my ego quite
as badly.

We did Noble Canyon yesterday. I picked some "interesting" lines...WALKING!
Danger to myself and others...

{snips}

Quoted message said:

- Hubby saying, "Wow, I love how I can see your quad muscles moving"
as I walked my bike up the top of a climb

Ah, the old "I admire your quads" ruse. You don't need me to translate, I'm
sure.

Bill "very nice RR, M" S.

On 2004-07-04, Stephen Baker penned:

Quoted message said:

Monique says:

<snip-de-dip>

Get some rest.... And let Eric get some, too. ;-)

Steve "sounded like fun"

It's one of those things that's much more fun to reminisce about over
cold ones than to do =)

I'm sure I'll be back ... not tomorrow or the next day, though.

--
monique

On 2004-07-04, pas penned:

Quoted message said:

Monique Y. Mudama said:

- Hubby saying, "Wow, I love how I can see your quad muscles moving"
as I walked my bike up the top of a climb

Is that love or what? ;-)

It's simply an observation of the clear fact that I'm a beast =P

Quoted message said:

I love the feeling of a good save. It's an indicator that you are
getting more relaxed as a rider, a little looser, more willing to
trust your bike. Some times I still get surprised when that happens.
Wow, I **didnt'** go down right there!!

Exactly. It would have been a suck spot to go down; lots of pain and
then no momentum to help me up the 4,125th steep climb.

--
monique

On 2004-07-04, S o r n i penned:

Quoted message said:

Intro to Epic 101. Passing grade = surviving. 🙂

*grin*

I don't think it technically fit the definition of Epic -- it was only
three hours. Felt like years, though.

Quoted message said:

We did Noble Canyon yesterday. I picked some "interesting"
lines...WALKING! Danger to myself and others...

Eric used to have the shoes with the stiff plastic soles, and has
recently switched to the more normal-shoe-like rubber tread. After
yesterday, he swears by them. I gotta tell ya, I was missing my hiking
boots while carrying my bike down steep stone staircases. I've honestly
never been as scared of anything bike-related in my life as I was of
carrying my bike down the "Danger: Cliffs ahead" sections.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

- Hubby saying, "Wow, I love how I can see your quad muscles moving"
as I walked my bike up the top of a climb

Ah, the old "I admire your quads" ruse. You don't need me to
translate, I'm sure.

I took it at face value ... was I wrong?

Quoted message said:

Bill "very nice RR, M" S.

Thank you =)

--
monique

Monique Y. Mudama said:

I now know how Walker Ranch got its name.

Estimate: I rode 1/3 (mostly downhill), walked 1/3 because I couldn't
hack it technically, and walked 1/3 because I was so bonked that even
granny gear couldn't save me. I tried gel for the first time, which
maybe explains why I was able to walk my bike for the last few miles
rather than just lying down on the trail and waiting for the wildlife to
come get me.

It's really beautiful -- I've never ridden alongside a rushing mountain
stream before -- and there's some incredibly fun singletrack, but man oh
man; there are other places where I can work on my technical and aerobic
abilities without bruising my ego quite as badly.

Hilights:

- I did get up a lot of technical spots I never thought I'd make, or got
further up some of them than others in my group

- Hubby saying, "Wow, I love how I can see your quad muscles moving" as
I walked my bike up the top of a climb

- Hubby saying, "Wow, that was awesome. You were fearless" when I rode
right down a rock lip, then endo'd on the root just after it. He was
referring to my riding the rock, not endoing =P

- Getting up a bunch of switchbacks. I've gotten a lot better at the
slow-motion hairpin turn this year.

- Somehow (guardian angel?) not falling after fishtailing in some loose
soil. I felt my rear tire slide out farther than I would imagine it
could go to the left, then the right, but I just kept pedalling and it
somehow recovered.

To be honest, the ride was only one part of an epic day. Eric and I got
up at 5am to ride our motorcycles (my second time riding a motorcycle on
real streets ever) to a balloon launch site. We helped our friends set
up and flew in a balloon for a while, then swapped passengers and were
part of the chase crew for a while. Our friends made chocolate chip
pancakes, bacon, and lattes right out on the field afterward -- mm. A
siesta, then Walker Ranch, then some absolutely mouth-watering teriyaki
steak kabobs and daquiris. Talk about a busy day.

I could never warm up to Walk-a-lot. Too bad, a lot of the riding
around Salida is that sketchy sandy stuff too. :-)
Have you been to White Ranch yet (most of the way to Golden off of Hwy
93)? Its more ridable than Walker, but still lots of climbing.

Shawn

On 2004-07-05, Shawn Curry penned:

Quoted message said:

I could never warm up to Walk-a-lot. Too bad, a lot of the riding
around Salida is that sketchy sandy stuff too. :-) Have you been to
White Ranch yet (most of the way to Golden off of Hwy 93)? Its more
ridable than Walker, but still lots of climbing.

Odd; people talk about White Ranch like it's the ultimate in terror.

I was there a few months ago for a mtb clinic; we rode Maverick and I
came away with a bloody elbow that's turned into a nice
conversation-piece type scar. Also a huge bruise on the hip that's
still tender. I did manage the section, though, the third (or was it
fourth?) try. It hadn't occured to me to go back, because everyone
talks about how hard it is.

--
monique

Monique Y. Mudama said:

Eric used to have the shoes with the stiff plastic soles, and has
recently switched to the more normal-shoe-like rubber tread. After
yesterday, he swears by them. I gotta tell ya, I was missing my hiking
boots while carrying my bike down steep stone staircases. I've honestly
never been as scared of anything bike-related in my life as I was of
carrying my bike down the "Danger: Cliffs ahead" sections.

While I road Walker Ranch for years in the counter-clockwise direction
(down the cliffs), I eventually prefered clockswise.
You get more downhill riding, can avoid the long tough climb up
Columbine trail and up the old double track, and the climb after the
cliffs is not all that bad in nice scenery.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado
(remove ".nospam" to reply)

On 2004-07-06, Craig Brossman penned:

Quoted message said:

While I road Walker Ranch for years in the counter-clockwise direction
(down the cliffs), I eventually prefered clockswise. You get more
downhill riding, can avoid the long tough climb up Columbine trail and
up the old double track, and the climb after the cliffs is not all
that bad in nice scenery.

Yeah; I had heard there was a "preferred" way to ride it, but couldn't
remember which way. If I ever go back, I'll try the other direction.

As Eric said today, "I'd rather hike up and bike down than vice versa."

--
monique