Well, Eric and I were going to go riding today, but he
wasn't in the mood despite a great deal of cajoling,
guilting, and otherwise begging on my part, so I packed up
the car and headed out solo. With all the rain we've been
having lately (what is *up* with that?), I decided to try
Rabbit Mountain -- it has the most sun exposure of the fun
trails I know, so I figured it might have dried out best.
First, let me describe the typical ride. Here's a map, if
anyone's interested:
< co.boulder.co.uspublic pOpen ↗
arks/parks_pdfs/web_rabbit.pdf >
The trailhead gives you two options: a steep, smooth dirt
road to the right or a rocky doubletrack with some
switchbacks and whatnot to the left. Going up the
doubletrack, which is the most technically challenging
section of the ride, you eventually get to a split. To the
left is a rocky climb; you get to the top of the climb, then
follow a mellow trail up and down to what I believe is
Little Thompson Overlook, with a really gorgeous view of the
surrounding area. If you take a right at the split instead,
you get a short connector that leads you across the
aforementioned dirt road, where the climb up to Eagle Wind
Loop begins. The loop itself is a fun up and down with a
variety of terrain types: loose gravel (mostly packed down
or scattered now, though), rocks, dirt, big flat embedded
rock, some roots ... all good stuff.
Okay, on to the ride. One of my big weaknesses in writing is
switching tenses, so I'm going to try to stick to present
tense here.
Riding this trail alone for the first time, I resolve to
take it easy. That will also give me time to deal with any
mud puddles I might encounter. After the first switchback,
the rocks come out in force, and I end up walking a couple
of short stretches where a rock stopped me cold and I can't
manage to get started in place. I'm starting to wonder if
maybe riding alone wasn't the greatest idea in the world,
but I quiet that part of my brain and decide to head up the
rocky climb toward Little Thompson anyway. The lack of
people coming down as I'm climbing up is almost creepy --
it's never this empty! Anyway, this is the kind of rocky
trail where you can pretty much just keep pedalling and get
over anything in your way, especially if you choose your
line with even a modicum of care. Nevertheless, I always
seem to find spots where a rock stops me cold. Today is no
exception; I get stopped three times. Not outstanding, but
not bad. I know that I could clean this section if just ...
I don't know what, but I know I could. I get stopped in
different places every time.
Here's a picture from last year. It's the plain-dirt section
between the intro rocky climb and the start of little
thompson overlook.
< bounceswoosh.org2003.07.13Open ↗
eagle_wind_trail/01-sunflowers.jpg >
You can see the trail leading up to eagle wind on the left
side of the picture.
Anyway, I nibble on a few bits of trail mix and head out to
the overlook proper. On the way is a "bridge" a few feet
wide and long made up of large, loose rocks. Maybe a foot
square or so, I'd guess. It's also, naturally, right in a
turn. For the first time ever, I ignore my fear and cross
it. All right! Keep on pedalling to the overlook. Now, if
you just take this place at face value, the view is obscured
by a whole bunch of bushes. If you know where to walk,
though, you can follow an almost-invisible trail just a
handful of feet to a huge boulder ledge that affords a
breathtaking view of the valley. A mom and her kid are at
the overlook and clearly have never been before; I show them
the "secret" boulderlook. The mom is impressed; the kid is
much more interested in the puddles that have formed in the
rock crevasses. Naturally. I enjoy the view for a moment,
then head out again. On the way back, I manage the rock
bridge again, even though it's a bit scarier from this
direction.
At the top, just before the descent to the fork, I see a
couple of guys clearly attempting to do *something* to some
pedals. I ask if they need any tools; my Alien comes in
handy for its wrenches. This is the third ride in a row
where the tools I carry have helped out someone on the
trail; that makes me feel good. I pack up my gear again and
descend. This is the ... third? time I've done this descent,
and it's no longer a terrifying, death-defying ride ... it's
still good fun, though. I have a feeling I should be riding
it a lot faster than I do, but oh well. There are lots of
deep, embedded rock surfaces on the right, and lots of loose
rock chunks on the left. I tend to weave left and right,
left when I'm comfortable with the speed, right when I want
to brake on a solid surface. Good fun.
Cross the dirt road and start the trail up to Eagle Wind. I
quickly find puddles of a more serious variety than the
handful I've seen today. Fortunately, they all seem to have
rocks just to the outside, so I can ride through without
causing damage. Just before the loop, there's a park bench.
I see a green bicycle and stop to chat with its owner, who
is having a quick bite. Turns out he's a park employee, just
checking things out before heading to Heil for some trail
education. We talk a bit about his job and about how to get
jerk riders to behave (he doesn't have any advice for this,
sadly). After a few minutes, I'm feeling the need to get
going again, so I head out.
Riding this loop is so much more fun than it was last year;
I'm strong enough to do a lot of it in my middle ring; not
all of it, but enough that I don't feel like I'm constantly
shifting. As I ride, I find a lot more puddles, most of
which have nice little rock options along the left edge. It
was kind of neat to ride these rocks rather than the easy
dirt path I would normally find. Muddy enough, though, that
when I finished the loop, I didn't turn around and take it
clockwise as I normally would. Enough mud. I never quite
know what to do -- ride through, ride around if the puddle's
narrower than the path, pick up the bike? What if the puddle
catches you by surprise after a turn? Eh. No need to risk
damaging the trail any more than I might have.
Here are some panoramas from last year on Eagle Wind:
< bounceswoosh.org2003.07.13Open ↗
eagle_wind_trail/04-full_panorama.jpg > < bounceswoosh.org2003.07.13Open ↗
eagle_wind_trail/06-full_panorama.jpg >
Heading down from eagle wind, I had my only really close
call. A big fat puddle; I rode the rocks on the right edge,
only to somehow get stopped by the rocks just after. My body
fell forward, but I was out of my pedals (as I was for
almost all of this ride), so I just put my feet down and got
started again.
Connect back with the technical descent to the trailhead.
For the first time ever, I attempt and clean every last
little bit of this section. Wahoo! Sure, my hands are sore
from braking by the time I get to the parking lot, but I'm
feeling good about the ride.
Pack up and head home, where Eric makes us some yummy
burgers for lunch. A great ending to a fun ride.
--
monique