Last week I mentioned to my buddy and LBS owner Rick that I wanted to go
big on the SS over the weekend while we still could. The forecast looked
promising and the area we had in mind was still pretty dry.
We met at my place around noon, which let the temperature rise into the
40s before we set out. We had planned a big clockwise route that
included some classic singletrack at Hartman's and some newer,
lesser-known stuff beyond. Another guy, John, who's a really strong road
rider came along too. John rode his geared (GF 29er) bike, but he's
interested in singlespeeds. He wanted to ride with us to get a taste of
a good singlespeed ride, and to try and emulate the SS spin and grind by
matching our cadence when he could. I was the young guy for the day by
maybe 15 years, which gives me nothing but less experience with these two.
We started spinning pretty fast right away. The crisp air felt great
against my face and legs - just a little chilly, but if you worked hard
enough you could stay warm. Rick has always been a strong rider, but
since his coast to coast on his fixie he's taken it up another notch (or
several). Especially when it comes to spinning. So I'm working hard
right from my driveway to maintain contact and he spins along chatting
it up like we were just hanging out.
We powered it up Jack's at the front of Hartman's and quickly made our
way to Josh-O's. This has one of the longer sustained climbs for the
area, which was going to be the first of many for the day. Rick and I
put a bit of a gap on John for a while but he quickly closed it up
again. I felt relived to see everyone else looking red and sweaty at the
top of our first sizable climb, since that's how I was feeling too.
We kept that pace up and the trails just kept coming and going. We hit
Weinz's, Outback, Enchanted Forest, The Cabins, and then crossed the
creek to head up Arden's. This is where we're getting into the frontier
of trail building for the area. This particular route is an even longer
sustained climb than the last few with a occasional rocky technical
sections to keep you on your toes (and out of breath).
For one section the trail gets pretty dished out so it's hard to stay
centered enough not to hit pedals on the edges or get scratched up by
the overgrown sage. I got tangled with some sage and had to dab once and
while getting re-situated my foot slipped off the pedal before clipping
in, pounding my shin with my pedal pretty hard. Ouch. At the same time
Rick is pulling away from me like I'm going in reverse. My choice is to
stop and suffer with my bloody bruised shin or continue trying to keep
up, suffering in pursuit of my fast friend. I chose the latter, but he
still put a large gap on me before I caught him waiting for me at the
top of a pitch. I was glad he waited because he was so in the zone that
he'd missed the turn we were planning to take. This added a bit of
climbing to be able to get to him so we could double back and catch our
turn for the next (or continuation of) big climb.
The next bit is a semi-secret trail that gains maybe a thousand feet and
puts us at a fantastic overlook where we can see the continental divide
to the East, the San Juans to the Southwest, and the West Elks to the
North. The Southern view is blocked by the big mesa (incidentally called
Big Mesa) we were climbing and traversing. Sprawling below us is Blue
Mesa Reservoir, looking very full and sporting a particularly deep blue
color. The mountains are all capped with a thick blanket of snow and the
air is especially clear. The Rollercoaster trail across the mesa's North
side has a few snowy spots on it, but all all very ridable. Rick yields
to me to offer "fresh tracks" to the ski freak of the group.
After a lunch break while taking in the views we made our way down an
exposed ridgeline to a very technical trail called Tendinitis to finish
off the day's singletrack. We all walked one section that would have
been especially punishing if blown. I was pretty beat by this point and
didn't want to risk my ski season.
Once that trail hit the road, it was maybe another 6 or 7 Miles spinning
to get back home. As we passed a turn to get back into Hartman's Rick
turned to me and said "So, was that big enough? Do you need more than
four hours?" I barely choked out my answer back, "That was enough. I'm
beat."
I'd estimate we did about 35 Miles and 4000' Ft. For me on the SS, that
was plenty!
Matt