Monarch Crest

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
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Sweet! Looks familiar.

Greg

On 2005-07-11, MattB penned:

Quoted message said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Youch! Whose leg is that and what happened? Bike attack?

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

MattB said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Alright. I was nodding off as I posted that last night. Here's the RR:

After talking to GDub about going for a ride last weekend my friend
(and LBS owner) Rick mentioned a group was going to be riding the Crest
Sunday. The wife and I hadn't finalized the weekend plans yet, so I gave
her dibs on the Crest since she hadn't ridden it as much as me. But she
declined because she wanted to take our boy to a horse show so it was
game on for me!

We met at 7:30 behind the shop. I had another friend, Keith joining us
who is getting back into riding after a two year work and baby stint
that didn't leave him much opportunity to ride. When I saw Gary, I could
tell he wasn't feeling right. He looked stiff. He told me about his back
being out for a couple of days and it made me worry. I didn't think it
was a good ride for a questionable back. As I was thinking about a good
way to tell him he shouldn't go, Gary said "I don't think I'm going to
go." which was a relief to hear. A wise choice, but too bad he couldn't
experience this fantastic ride.

So we got going, ran shuttle, and got prepped in the parking lot at the
summit of Monarch pass. It was a beautiful, clear, crisp morning and
there was excitement in the air.

Once we were all organized, we began the initial climb at a pretty good
pace. We had a group of nine, most of whom are pretty fast and
compatible. One guy who was a friend of some of the others was on an old
GT Avalanche with a RS Quadra. Haven't seen one of those in a while! He
mentioned he hasn't ridden much in a while and he hopes he can hang.

Although the climbing vertical in relation to the descending isn't big,
it's mostly at pretty high altitude where you definitely feel it more.
With the climbing starting at 11,3000 we quickly found ourselves well
over 12,000 Ft.. Everyone was doing pretty well and I took a lot of
photos (as requested by Gary). The guy on the old hardtail was doing
pretty well but looking tired.

We crossed a couple of big snow drifts up high but both were short and
pretty easy to traverse. The trail was in good shape. Slightly dusty out
in the open sunny areas but super tacky and fast in the trees. The
downhills on this trail are the best. They seem to go on forever, with
swoopy turns and and high speed straightaways on ridgetops you might
expect to see the VonTrapp's to be singing from.

Once we hit the lower section after crossing Marshall Pass I started to
remember all these climbs late in the ride that I always seem to forget
about until I'm on them. This is where the less experienced riders
always seem to start hurting. Our guy Steve (not my usual Steve) was
looking pretty haggard, but kept on moving. He had to fix a flat and
fell way behind. Then we met up with three riders who had wanted to join
us from the start but didn't make the meeting at the shop. Due to all of
our flats (four by this point, I think) they were able to catch up.

I hit the next DH section with the other two guys who ride singlespeeds.
We were all on geared bikes today, but I think our SS conditioning set
us apart (ahead) of the group. We flew down the entire (several Miles
worth) Silver Creek Trail DH together at high speed. The bike was
running well and I felt like I could rail any turn with ease. This
section goes from open and fast packed trail to crossing a huge scree
field and dropping into this weird gravel surface that can be very
difficult to ride on. The sensation of that surface is like a
malfunctioning bike. I kept thinking I had a flat, blown shock, or loose
wheel but it was just the shifting of the loose rocks (from pea to
softball sized) shifting the bike around. For the last little section of
this stuff, I was following Rodney, who is a highly skilled rider (and
SSer). We were cruising along and something weird happened with my front
wheel, making it jump across the trail sideways and I almost biffed but
recovered. I slowed and was watching the trail when I saw a big dust
cloud up ahead. I looked and saw Rodney's feet disappearing off toward
the creek as he tumbled headfirst into aspens and scree.

I couldn't stop that quickly without risking a crash myself, so I slowed
and asked if he was OK. He said yes so I proceeded to the flat section
next to a bridged creek crossing just below and stopped there. Rodney
came riding down looking pretty OK for just having taken a header off
the trail. That is, until he showed me his shin. It had a big,
double-gash that was starting to swell up. Ouch. Looked painful, but not
too serious as these things go. We cleaned him up and waited for the
rest of the group. We waited a long time. And then we waited some more.

Finally Steve, the guy who probably working the hardest arrives and he
had gotten another flat. He also said that two of the three people who
joined us mid-ride had gotten flats up higher and discovered both of
their pumps were not working and they didn't have spare tubes due to
previous flats. So after much discussion, we decided to split the groups
again and leave the third person from their group with extra donated
tubes to wait and help them work out their mechanicals. Riding back up
the scree field wasn't really an option and hiking the couple of Miles
back up would take a really long time.

We continued down the Rainbow Trail, which crossed many little creeks
for a few Miles. This made for lots of steep ups and downs, with wet
crossings in the middle, separated by fast contour trails that are just
an absolute blast. We sent Steve down a jeep road to avoid the last few
grunts since he was about done and we didn't want to kill him. The last
couple of climbs were pretty hot as we had lost most of the nice cooling
elevation by then. I felt a great surge of late-ride strength and after
trading the lead with the other two SSers a few times, took it for the
rest of the ride and had to wait for them a few times (which is a nice
change). Of course, Rick did a road century the day before, but being
able to stay ahead of Rodney was a new experience. Finally we made it
out to the highway and spun back to the cars where Steve was already
waiting for us.

Overall a fantastic ride, despite the rash of flats the group
experienced. I can't wait to do it again!

Matt

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Good shots, but pardon me for saying so, but that trail looks kinda
sterile...not very tecnical looking from these pics

Maybe you just didn't get any shots of the more technical aspect of it,
concentration being needed just to ride and all.

But any ride with friends is a good ride!!

Dave (thanks for sharing)

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

MattB said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Alright. I was nodding off as I posted that last night. Here's the RR:

After talking to GDub about going for a ride last weekend my friend (and
LBS owner) Rick mentioned a group was going to be riding the Crest Sunday.
The wife and I hadn't finalized the weekend plans yet, so I gave her dibs
on the Crest since she hadn't ridden it as much as me. But she declined
because she wanted to take our boy to a horse show so it was game on for
me!

We met at 7:30 behind the shop. I had another friend, Keith joining us who
is getting back into riding after a two year work and baby stint that
didn't leave him much opportunity to ride. When I saw Gary, I could tell
he wasn't feeling right. He looked stiff. He told me about his back being
out for a couple of days and it made me worry. I didn't think it was a
good ride for a questionable back. As I was thinking about a good way to
tell him he shouldn't go, Gary said "I don't think I'm going to go." which
was a relief to hear. A wise choice, but too bad he couldn't experience
this fantastic ride.

So we got going, ran shuttle, and got prepped in the parking lot at the
summit of Monarch pass. It was a beautiful, clear, crisp morning and there
was excitement in the air.

Once we were all organized, we began the initial climb at a pretty good
pace. We had a group of nine, most of whom are pretty fast and compatible.
One guy who was a friend of some of the others was on an old GT Avalanche
with a RS Quadra. Haven't seen one of those in a while! He mentioned he
hasn't ridden much in a while and he hopes he can hang.

Although the climbing vertical in relation to the descending isn't big,
it's mostly at pretty high altitude where you definitely feel it more.
With the climbing starting at 11,3000 we quickly found ourselves well over
12,000 Ft.. Everyone was doing pretty well and I took a lot of photos (as
requested by Gary). The guy on the old hardtail was doing pretty well but
looking tired.

We crossed a couple of big snow drifts up high but both were short and
pretty easy to traverse. The trail was in good shape. Slightly dusty out
in the open sunny areas but super tacky and fast in the trees. The
downhills on this trail are the best. They seem to go on forever, with
swoopy turns and and high speed straightaways on ridgetops you might
expect to see the VonTrapp's to be singing from.

Once we hit the lower section after crossing Marshall Pass I started to
remember all these climbs late in the ride that I always seem to forget
about until I'm on them. This is where the less experienced riders always
seem to start hurting. Our guy Steve (not my usual Steve) was looking
pretty haggard, but kept on moving. He had to fix a flat and fell way
behind. Then we met up with three riders who had wanted to join us from
the start but didn't make the meeting at the shop. Due to all of our flats
(four by this point, I think) they were able to catch up.

I hit the next DH section with the other two guys who ride singlespeeds.
We were all on geared bikes today, but I think our SS conditioning set us
apart (ahead) of the group. We flew down the entire (several Miles worth)
Silver Creek Trail DH together at high speed. The bike was running well
and I felt like I could rail any turn with ease. This section goes from
open and fast packed trail to crossing a huge scree field and dropping
into this weird gravel surface that can be very difficult to ride on. The
sensation of that surface is like a malfunctioning bike. I kept thinking I
had a flat, blown shock, or loose wheel but it was just the shifting of
the loose rocks (from pea to softball sized) shifting the bike around. For
the last little section of this stuff, I was following Rodney, who is a
highly skilled rider (and SSer). We were cruising along and something
weird happened with my front wheel, making it jump across the trail
sideways and I almost biffed but recovered. I slowed and was watching the
trail when I saw a big dust cloud up ahead. I looked and saw Rodney's feet
disappearing off toward the creek as he tumbled headfirst into aspens and
scree.

I couldn't stop that quickly without risking a crash myself, so I slowed
and asked if he was OK. He said yes so I proceeded to the flat section
next to a bridged creek crossing just below and stopped there. Rodney came
riding down looking pretty OK for just having taken a header off the
trail. That is, until he showed me his shin. It had a big, double-gash
that was starting to swell up. Ouch. Looked painful, but not too serious
as these things go. We cleaned him up and waited for the rest of the
group. We waited a long time. And then we waited some more.

Finally Steve, the guy who probably working the hardest arrives and he had
gotten another flat. He also said that two of the three people who joined
us mid-ride had gotten flats up higher and discovered both of their pumps
were not working and they didn't have spare tubes due to previous flats.
So after much discussion, we decided to split the groups again and leave
the third person from their group with extra donated tubes to wait and
help them work out their mechanicals. Riding back up the scree field
wasn't really an option and hiking the couple of Miles back up would take
a really long time.

We continued down the Rainbow Trail, which crossed many little creeks for
a few Miles. This made for lots of steep ups and downs, with wet crossings
in the middle, separated by fast contour trails that are just an absolute
blast. We sent Steve down a jeep road to avoid the last few grunts since
he was about done and we didn't want to kill him. The last couple of
climbs were pretty hot as we had lost most of the nice cooling elevation
by then. I felt a great surge of late-ride strength and after trading the
lead with the other two SSers a few times, took it for the rest of the
ride and had to wait for them a few times (which is a nice change). Of
course, Rick did a road century the day before, but being able to stay
ahead of Rodney was a new experience. Finally we made it out to the
highway and spun back to the cars where Steve was already waiting for us.

Overall a fantastic ride, despite the rash of flats the group experienced.
I can't wait to do it again!

Matt

Oh. So this trail is more about speed, than tech?? That;s what I get out of
your RR. Cool report..

Speed is good!!

Dave W said:

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Good shots, but pardon me for saying so, but that trail looks kinda
sterile...not very tecnical looking from these pics

Maybe you just didn't get any shots of the more technical aspect of it,
concentration being needed just to ride and all.

But any ride with friends is a good ride!!

Dave (thanks for sharing)

It is more about speed than technical, but that doesn't mean there
wasn't any. I was busy during the technical sections!
It's a trail to be careful on because it could be a long way out if you
get hurt or break your bike.

Matt

MattB said:

It is more about speed than technical, but that doesn't mean there
wasn't any. I was busy during the technical sections!
It's a trail to be careful on because it could be a long way out if you
get hurt or break your bike.

Ignorance is bliss, eh? I wonder if the a-technical nature of the
Crest is what was responsible for all of those flats? Maybe the scree
and talus fields you described wasn't plain enough for some to
understand?

Good writeup, dudeus.

JD flatted on the MC b4

JD said:

MattB said:

It is more about speed than technical, but that doesn't mean there
wasn't any. I was busy during the technical sections!
It's a trail to be careful on because it could be a long way out if you
get hurt or break your bike.

Ignorance is bliss, eh? I wonder if the a-technical nature of the
Crest is what was responsible for all of those flats? Maybe the scree
and talus fields you described wasn't plain enough for some to
understand?

Good writeup, dudeus.

JD flatted on the MC b4

Thanks.
It was weird. This was a group who would normally ride well enough to
not get so many flats. We also saw quite a few other people from other
groups with flats too. Maybe there was some factor that I couldn't spot
that was making tires go flat. We had some flats in the scree, and
others on buttery singletrack. WTF?
I had a clean ride though. It was one of those days where I felt I could
do no wrong.

Matt

MattB said:

Thanks.
It was weird. This was a group who would normally ride well enough to
not get so many flats. We also saw quite a few other people from other
groups with flats too. Maybe there was some factor that I couldn't spot
that was making tires go flat. We had some flats in the scree, and
others on buttery singletrack. WTF?
I had a clean ride though. It was one of those days where I felt I could
do no wrong.

Matt

While passing through Salida last spring, I complained at Absolute Bikes
about all the pinch flats I was getting. They turned me onto Geax
Sturdys, 2.25 as their local recommendation. The trails there are not
unlike the Durango area. These tires have tons of volume.

I have 2 pinch flats since then in a fair amount of miles, maybe they
knew something?
--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado

"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation."
Edward R. Murrow

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dave W said:

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Good shots, but pardon me for saying so, but that trail looks kinda
sterile...not very tecnical looking from these pics

Maybe you just didn't get any shots of the more technical aspect of it,
concentration being needed just to ride and all.

But any ride with friends is a good ride!!

Dave (thanks for sharing)

It is more about speed than technical, but that doesn't mean there wasn't
any. I was busy during the technical sections!

That's what I figured...both hands on the wheel...

Quoted message said:

It's a trail to be careful on because it could be a long way out if you
get hurt or break your bike.

Matt

That speaks volumes right there....

"Craig Brossman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

MattB said:

Thanks.
It was weird. This was a group who would normally ride well enough to
not get so many flats. We also saw quite a few other people from other
groups with flats too. Maybe there was some factor that I couldn't spot
that was making tires go flat. We had some flats in the scree, and
others on buttery singletrack. WTF?
I had a clean ride though. It was one of those days where I felt I could
do no wrong.

Matt

While passing through Salida last spring, I complained at Absolute Bikes
about all the pinch flats I was getting. They turned me onto Geax
Sturdys, 2.25 as their local recommendation. The trails there are not
unlike the Durango area. These tires have tons of volume.

Motoraptor 2.4s. No pinch flats in years. The Sturdy looks good, too, it's
about the only Geax model I would try.

Greg

Craig Brossman said:

MattB said:

Thanks.
It was weird. This was a group who would normally ride well enough to
not get so many flats. We also saw quite a few other people from other
groups with flats too. Maybe there was some factor that I couldn't
spot that was making tires go flat. We had some flats in the scree,
and others on buttery singletrack. WTF?
I had a clean ride though. It was one of those days where I felt I
could do no wrong.

Matt

While passing through Salida last spring, I complained at Absolute Bikes
about all the pinch flats I was getting. They turned me onto Geax
Sturdys, 2.25 as their local recommendation. The trails there are not
unlike the Durango area. These tires have tons of volume.

I have 2 pinch flats since then in a fair amount of miles, maybe they
knew something?

I have a feeling my tire choice helped me avoid them (as well as rider
skill, of course!). I have some Intense somethingorothers that say 2.25
but look bigger than some of the 2.3s I've seen. I love these tires. I
need to remember which ones they are!

Matt

MattB said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Wanna do it again in a couple of weeks? I'm in Santa Fe for the next
couple of weeks, but the wife and I will be headed up to Colorado after
that. Monarch Crest and Hermosa Creek are two that are on the list for
rides. I'll be in touch out of band.

Any of the Durango crew going to be around?

CC

Corvus Corvax said:

MattB said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Wanna do it again in a couple of weeks? I'm in Santa Fe for the next
couple of weeks, but the wife and I will be headed up to Colorado after
that. Monarch Crest and Hermosa Creek are two that are on the list for
rides. I'll be in touch out of band.

Any of the Durango crew going to be around?

CC

Sure. There are others of similar caliber nearby so we have options too.
But if you're set on the Crest I could probably force myself to ride it
one more time. 😉

Matt

MattB said:

Corvus Corvax said:

MattB said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Wanna do it again in a couple of weeks? I'm in Santa Fe for the next
couple of weeks, but the wife and I will be headed up to Colorado
after that. Monarch Crest and Hermosa Creek are two that are on the
list for rides. I'll be in touch out of band.

Any of the Durango crew going to be around?

CC

Sure. There are others of similar caliber nearby so we have options
too. But if you're set on the Crest I could probably force myself to
ride it one more time. 😉

Matt

This reminds a whole of the brand new Seven Summits trail they've built in
Rossland.
I can't wait to ride it, 30 km ( 18 miles) of ridgeline trail following the
Rossland and record ridge north to south. There's very little info out on
it yet, it's been open for all of two weeks so far.

penny

Corvus Corvax said:

MattB said:

Kinda tired. Photos here:
mattb.netpics.aspxOpen ↗

More later...

Matt

Wanna do it again in a couple of weeks? I'm in Santa Fe for the next
couple of weeks, but the wife and I will be headed up to Colorado after
that. Monarch Crest and Hermosa Creek are two that are on the list for
rides. I'll be in touch out of band.

Any of the Durango crew going to be around?

CC

Drop me an email, my schedule is pretty flexible and I once lived in NY,
Binghamton that is.

"brossman" at "durango" dot "net"

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado

"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation."
Edward R. Murrow

Dave W said:

Good shots, but pardon me for saying so, but that trail looks
kinda sterile...not very tecnical looking from these pics

Something about the Crest, and the other trails in the area:
the really pretty sections are, well, pretty. In between the
postcards, there are all these piles of rocks. People don't take
pictures of the bits that they pinch flat on. Those sections
aren't pretty. They just look like rocks and dust and valve caps.

Matt, that Rainbow section at the end really does rock. It's
one of the funnest trails around here. It stays open lots later
than the super high elevation stuff on the Continental Divide Trail.
It can be really fun to ride just by itself--with fresh legs you can
really rail.

Today I rode it, totally deserted. I went up to Marshall Pass, then
down the CDT south to Silver Creek, down Silver, and down the Rainbow.
Riding from town is a no-gasoline way to go, and the 3.5 hour climb
(only an hour of pavement!) is a powerful intoxicant. I will sleep
well tonight.

I rode the Crest on the 4th, with the whole shebang afterword. So
I just saw that rocky section at the end of the Silver Creek Trail
one week ago. It had gotten enough rockier by noon today that it
had me nearly bucked off the pony a time or two. It was nuts!

Big friggin' meats is what we recommend for not pinch flatting
on our pretty-in-photos-but-rocky-and-bumpy-in-person trails.
Guess you could call it false advertising. But don't.
That wouldn't be nice.

Let me know if y'all are going to ride the Crest, or if you want
info about other local things.
--
Tom Purvis - http://www.arkansasvalley.net/tpurvis/
Salida, CO
"The more you drive the less intelligent you are." -Miller, Repo Man.

Sure....now I see the RR and pictures after asking about them. Damn, I
missed a hell of a ride.....

Gary (pouting)

GeeDubb said:

Sure....now I see the RR and pictures after asking about them. Damn, I
missed a hell of a ride.....

Gary (pouting)

Eh. It was alright.

Matt