Quoted message said:"You're going the wrong way"
What is the right way? Society dictates the "right way" in many
aspects of
our daily lives, whether we wish to follow this direction, or not. How
many
lives have been lost at the cost of dictated notions that imply what
may be
the right or wrong way? Who made these decisions? Are they common
sense,
or traditional directions? Sure, driving on the wrong side of the road
is
obviously a common sense issue, but who made the decision as to which
side is
driven on in the first place? What about the age-old debate as to
which
religion is right? Do extremists on any side of the multi-faceted coin
of
religion think the others are going the right way?
By now you're probably asking, "What the hell does this have to do with
mountain biking?" Some trails are actually dictated as directional and
sometimes for good reason. In almost all cases of directional
multi-use
trails, the trails are signed as such. Most trails are
multi-directional
though and in these cases, there is no "right way", only a preferred
direction based on one's own preconcieved notion. This is where trail
direction
issues can become almost theological in magnitude. All that is needed
for this
to be an issue would be a few zealots who have a certain notion of "the
right way",
based on their own skill and experience (or lack thereof).
The Mojave Desert was not its scorching self this past weekend, relying
on
high clouds and a little Pacific moisture to make it so. Riding
conditions
don't get much better in any desert. Saturday's ride used up the full
100oz
of water in my pack and though Sunday's ride was shorter, I expected to
use
it all again because of the nature of the trail.
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Technical climbing is an acquired taste that differs from person to
person.
Some like to quaff large quantities of it like a frat boy at a beer
bust,
while others may enjoy sipping it like a fine wine in similar fashion
to a
pretentious yuppie acting the part in Wolfgang Puck's. The out and
back
route we had chosen was rife with beer bust proportions of technical
climbing and Kevin was crowding the keg with me right there and Gary
visiting often enough to not be the designated driver. We didn't
render
a drunken rendition of "Louie, Louie" though.
While the climb was very difficult at times and there were occasions to
portage some of the more nasty portions, quite a bit was ridden and was
done
so with relish. A couple of miles into the trail it began to level out
more, giving more opportunities to challenge individual technical moves
with
good running starts at them. Gary was stepping up to the proverbial
keg
more often now and Kevin and I were attacking everything at this point.
We
were definitely dictating our own brand of fun.
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In one flat before the trail began to undulate more than climb, two
riders
approached from the other direction. We had paused momentarily to gain
back
a little steam, so yielding the trail was easy. The first thing out of
the
lead rider's mouth was, "You guys are going the wrong way." Kevin was
up
front and decided to continue in the conversation despite its
pretentious
beginning. Gary and I remained reticent, which was made easy by the
ten
yards or so that separated us from Kevin. After a few minutes, Gary
and I
decided that the combination of perspiration from the climb and cool
breeze
dictated continuing on. Kevin needed a little nudge and we exchanged
pleasantries, then continued in our chosen direction. There were two
other
riders with the first two, but they were spread out quite a ways behind
the
leaders. Both of these other riders also eagerly informed us that we
were
going the wrong way as well. We understood their view, but didn't
share it.
One larger drop and gain in the undulation of the track yielded some
great
switchbacks in the descent. The following climb out started steeply,
but
leveled out quickly into another series of relatively flat sections
with
short pitches with tight turns and/or rock moves. In one particularly
tight
squeeze, there was an excessively spiny bush growing all of the way
across
the trail. It was obvious that this was being portaged around, so
Kevin
whipped his saw out and we cleared it out enough to ride through
without
feeling like you were a block of cheddar that was just run through a
grater
at Taco Bell.
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Topping out one last time before the turnaround dropped us into a
cruiser
downhill that ran all of the way to a large wash. There was no waiting
around as each of us enjoyed every twist and turn to the waiting sand
pit.
The Sun was wanting to come out while we ate and surveyed our
surroundings,
but it only seemed to peek through the gray layer of altocumulus on
occasion. That was alright with me because we had to climb to get back
to
the apex of the trail before dropping back the way we came.
Gary led the charge on the way out. He was climbing so rapidly that
Kevin
started to think that he was a trail horse headed back to the barn.
Kevin
is so Colorado sometimes and this is definitely not a bad thing. At
the
apex, Kevin told Gary to lead on and he led until the low point below
the
aforementioned switchbacks. It was there that Gary had one of those
"DOH!"
crashes while going up a large and relatively flat granite slab. Only
parking lot crashes are worse than that. He did lead on from there and
Kevin and I had to challenge the switchbacks for one last hurrah
sustained
technical climb. Kevin tanked the exit of a right-hand switchback, but
got
back on and was pedaling before I motored through it. The rest of the
tough
part, Kevin slowly increased the gap until I finally conceded after
finishing the worst of it all.
Gary had stopped at the last high point before the trail turned mostly
downhill. We all dropped our saddles at this point and I decided to
put
some sleeves on because the Sun looked like it was done, even with its
occasional peeking out from behind the gray curtain. Gary led again
and I
followed with Kevin in tow as we made our way to the rocky and narrow
lower
reaches. The first steep section had me thinking there was a little
too
much air pressure in my front tire, especially after endoing in a
relatively
easy place. It was a non-injury OTB, though righting myself was made
easier
by Kevin lifting my bike off of me. Being upside-down and wedged in a
narrow rock chute can be difficult to escape. Not being shaken and
knowing
one of the most difficult series of moves was right there, I mounted up
and
cleaned the whole banana. Kevin was shaking his head and calling me a
freak
as he walked the nastiest part of the series and then rode the last
turns of it.
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For the rest of the trail we decided to go pretty much series to
series,
taking photos and just having fun with it all. The tighest switchback
in
the whole trail stumped all of us. It was at the end of a series of
four
switchbacks and was very tight with a large rock on the inside that
made it
difficult to cut without being a wheelstopper. Kevin and I each
cleaned it
after a couple of tries while Gary snapped away and then it was on to
the
double-s switchbacks. The double-s switchbacks are so close together,
you
might run into yourself if you go too slowly. Kevin took a few whirls
at it
and cleaned it, then I hopped on and did a somewhat fugly job of
cleaning it
as well. The last real challenge was a series of five switchbacks in a
particularly rocky and loose section of trail. Gary, Mr
Icantrideswitchbacks did really well in light of his self-professed
distaste
for right-hand switchbacks. Kevin was...well, Kevin by completing most
of
the section, including a couple of great stalls while in the apexes of
the
turns. I had to follow suit, using the stall while exiting one
left-hander
and getting a clean pedal out of it.
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The last "move" on the trail was a good sized ledge that I wanted to
air out
on the Cha. It's one of those Hollywood type jumps with a simple
takeoff
and clean runout. Being the camera [censored] that I can be, I waited for
them
to get set up and then just did it. That bike likes to fly and I want
to
learn how to pilot it a little better and take it more towards its
limits. I tested
that with an impromptu wheelie drop into the wash where the trail had
been
cut away by last Winter's rains and stuck the landing. Practice makes
perfect, right?
Back at the trailhead we spoke about the trail and ride over beers. It
seemed somewhat ridiculous that those other riders all thought that
we were going the wrong way. We had an excellent day, riding a
fantastic
route with good friends. The notion that we had gone the wrong way was
just
plain silly.
"People say you are going the wrong way when it is simply a way of your
own." - Angelina Jolie
JD
Cross posting is killing the format, BJ.
