This days ride promised to be a lung buster. The trail book said it was
15.7 miles (wrong, it ended up being just under 17) with two tough climbs.
We started from the same parking area as the previous day, except we started
out by climbing Schultz Creek. The first 3.5 miles of the climb were pretty
easy, we were getting used to all the boulders and marbles. We went from
7,200 feet to just under 8,000 on this section.
We then turned onto Little Gnarly for more fun technical climbing, gaining
another 400 feet in about a mile. The wide open meadow of Dry Lake was a
beautiful sight, but more climbing was in our immediate future.
We hung a left on Upper Brookbank for the final push of the first climb of
the day. In that 1.5 miles we gained another 600 feet. It doesn't seem
like alot, but when you throw in the technical aspect of the trail you are
paying for every inch.
After a short descent down Sunset Trail, we turned onto Little Bear for 4
miles of downhill fun. Switchbacks, more boulders, scary exposure and very
loose shale kept our concentration at a peak. The day was not to be blood
free. As I was traversing a very loose, shale covered section of the trail
(did I forget to mention exposed) my front tire decided to take a little
excursion down the hill without me. The left side of my body came down like
a ton of bricks, leaving my leg and arm a bloody mess. I even got a bit of
a raspberry under my shorts and three days later the bruising is a nice
shade of blue.
We did make it to the bottom intact and made another left onto Little Elden
for the just over two mile climb up to Sunset Trail parking lot. We had
tried to video the previous descents but were unsuccesful due to technical
difficulties. I made sure the camera was rolling for this final descent of
the day.
We rejoined Schultz Creek for the 4 mile descent. More twisting, turning,
jumping technical fun was had by all. As I was videoing I tried staying
behind my buds for most of the ride, but I was tempted to pass a few times
to get some good speed. The fates were not good to me on one of these
passes. I had the chance to get ahead of Mike on a sweeping left hand turn,
which I did without a problem. What I didn't count on was the sandy section
that led into a right turn. My front tire washed out on me and down I went
again, on the same side as my previous fall. It looks pretty hilarious in
the video: Picture perfect pass, dirt, tires passing within inches of my
head.
We made it back, tired and happy. I will be back to Flagstaff for more fun
very soon.
Total ride time: 3 hours, 8 minutes. Total elevation gain: 4,600 feet