First was a bit of muni beside the river this morning. I usually seem to try to ride as far as I can in whatever time I have available but today decided to work on a rocky section of trail that I always come off on. It is fun as a climb and as a decent and I managed to get up and down it after about 10 tries (and many falls). As always its a bit steeper and rockier than it looks in the photo.
Second ride was on the 36er MT_High lent me to try. Just a short roll to get used to the bigger wheel. Loving it so far but way different to what I expected. The photo is my 29er and Matt’s 36er before I headed off.
Tough to tell from a picture but come across this tree on the trail and it’s obvious to see that it grew a limp dick just above it’s gaping vagina. Perhaps I should get my mind out of the gutter but it does make you wonder: If a tree fucks itself in the woods, does anyone hear it orgasm?
One week after Unicon DH competition I decided to take another go in a MTB event. It was my first time this year, but after all week of riding at Unicon and some additional training during last week I felt quite strong.
The ride started on basically flat road so all the bikers went ahead, then the climb started and I got them back into sight. When I passed first two of them I was happy that I’m back in game, but it turned out they’re not in competition. Just riding after the crowd. But finally we got off the paved road and I started to catch the slowest bikers. I remembered from last year that the climb is long, but the beginning was quite wide and even so I planned to ride quite a bit. Unfortunately I hit some rock very early and then I had some trouble mounting on the uphill. Then there was again a ridable bit and then I got off the uni much earlier than I planned. This way quite a long climb on foot started, which was much worse than riding, but it was so hard to breathe and I knew that I still have two downhill sections and one more climb ahead so I decided not to waste too much energy on mounting attempts. Fortunately I was not alone as most bikers were walking there (at least the ones at the end). Out of the map it seemed that the ascent is shorter this year so I hoped that it will end my pain quickly, but it turned out that we got all the hill up and then we got a new way down. It was quite rocky, but it was somewhere between the normal and expert track of Unicon’s DH, so I was suprised by the number of bikers walking down on this rocks. I managed to ride most of it, skipping some parts that promised just a few meters of ride before you get into heavy rocks again. Then the path got into the village and we had a buffet.
I spend quite a time there eating watermelons, drinking and trying to cool myself down because I knew that another ascent is just in front of us. It turned out to be paved for quite a long way and then it got into the forest road, but still quite ridable. I dismounted several times and I was so hot that I was looking for some shade to take some rest remounting. That is the part that I was most dissapointed about my performance. This road was something I should be able to ride up all but the final rocky part. I was happy that it was bit smaller than the first one and I managed somehow to the descent, which was real fun to ride. It was not so technical, with some harder parts, but mostly a fast, enjoyable ride down.
I got to the finish 126th from 149 people that finished the shortest 18,8km distance - generally happy to finish, happy about the downhill parts and disappointed about the uphills. Next… probably in two weeks.
Thanks. Actually it would be perfect if my wife was in the picture with a uni as well. She is showing interest in learning, but she’s not there yet. For now it will have to do.
Went for a nice ride on the “The Twin Point Trail” in Killbear Provincial Park, ON, Canada. Had some great fun jumping up the rocks and doing some Muni!
Scenic 36er ride to Carbondale Mtn. Fair from Aspen
Yes, you can climb 3,229’ to get to the Mtn. Fair from Aspen. (Carbondales elevation is over 2,000’ lower than Aspen) That means there is over 5,500’ of descending as well. I hopped on the 36er yesterday(last week) morning looking for a nice scenic ride to the Mtn. Fair. 41 miles and 5 hours later I arrived at the Mtn. Fair with a smile on my face. Deer, Elk, a fox that follwed me, eagles, hawks, beavers, cows, squirrels, chipmunks, ravens, and only a handful of humans. Highlands/Owl Creek divide/Snowmass divide/Snowmass Crk rd/East Sopris crk/West Sopris Crk/Prince crk rd/Carbondale. This valley is beautiful, so great to see a bunch of it on the wheel. About half of the ride was on dirt, forest service and county roads.
Saturday was our warmest day yet this year.
90 degrees F in the foothills.
Strava claims 24.7 mile ride up to Artist Point from Glacier and total climbing of 5189 feet. Still a little snow left.
Sorry you didn’t have any snow on your ride aspenmike.
Wow! Beautiful pictures AspenMike and Bungeejoe. All that greenery makes me jealous. It’s hot, dry, brown here. 111f yesterday and more of the same today.
I was doing some trials riding on the rocks around the local lighthouse today. The slippery rocks and rockpools between them meant I got fell off and got wet several times, but it was good fun. A bit later, I came across a gully about 2 meters wide, jumped it, and tore a hole in my inner tube. Have to wait a while to get a new one now
