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