Mancation comes to a close...

Well, after 16 days tackling the best single tracks I could find, Mancation 5.5 comes to an end.  It is sad to have to post this, and wish that I was retired and wealthy enough to do this full time.  (Still playing the lottery, and hoping that this might happen.)

Though the course of these travels, I drove over 2,500 miles, and pedaled over 230 miles.  Believe it or not, I am more addicted to riding now than before I started!  I have learned a considerable amount of my and my bike's abilities, and incurred the requisite scrapes and bruises to gain this wisdom.

Hopefully, you have enjoyed following along, and have added this blog to your news reader.  The postings will be less frequent now, and will continue to showcase the best trails and other biking escapades as I encounter them.

Wrapping up with a miracle trail - La Milagrosa

The final ride of Mancation 5.5 was a week ago, and just now getting around to having time to put this blog and video together.  A work meeting popped up along with things that haven't been around the house for over a month need my attention.  I thought that by delaying this post, I was hoping to delay having to admit that these adventures have come to an end...for now.

The final trail was a real find, and a near perfect wrap up to trip.  La Milagrosa, the miracle, trail in Tucson trail wasn't originally on my radar because it usually is ridden by DHers who shuttle up to hill.  However, after talking to Mike at ABE, a LBS in Tucson worthy of a visit, he indicated that most MTBers will ride up the mountain to the trail head via the Mt Lemmon highway; roughly 7.5M of climbing on the road to get over 10M of technical trails.

This was entirely different than the Colorado trails where you climb 13M to get 9M of primo single track.  Additionally, doing the antenna climb each week on road bikes out at South Mountain is about 7.5M up, and thought it couldn't be much worse doing something like that on a heavier MTB ride.

I had to escape early in the morning to start the ride as check out time was 10am.  Rushing out in the dark hours of the morning, broke a few of my cardinal rules.  Number 1: always check your gear.  It seems that I had spaced on checking the camera batteries the night before, and so have no pictures of this ride. Number 2: make sure you have food/carbs.  My usual Pop-Tart breakfast and the peanut-butter-and-honey snack was left behind, and did this trek hungry looking forward to the biggest burrito around when done.

Those little snags didn't hamper the ride, and really didn't even miss them from all the fun riding these trails.  The climb up took about an hour to get to the first section of the trail.  Once on the single trek, the trail doesn't pull any punches from the start, and there are a few technical sections that get your attention.  After a brief run, you cross back across the highway, and then are forced to do about a 1/2 mile HAB.  This places you at the top of La Milagrosa, and you get started on the real downhill.  Again, this section had two or three technical rock drops out of the gate that get the adrenalin pumping.

The trail is very narrow, and you be bleeding (esp. the lower legs) by the time you are done.  The locals call them shin-daggers, but we all know them as cactus, spanish daggers, mesquite bushes and other brambles.  Each leaves its own mark, and causes different amount of blood loss.   The trail goes from flowy gavel to technical rocky in spurts, and in some places the underbrush covers the trail enough that going too fast will throw some nasty surprises at you.  This all leads to the lower portion where your technical skills and the size of your balls guts will get challenged.  The rock garden and rock waterfall is two or three minutes of sweat just hoping that you can carry enough speed to make it, and not enough that if things go wrong it will be the end of your day (or worse).

Overall, this trail was incredible as mush as it was challenging, and highly recommend this trail if you are in or near Tucson.  The only downside of the whole thing is the amount of HAB that you will do at the top and then at the end.  There are folks on the internet that say this ride is as epic as Porcupine Rim, and would have to say that it comes up short due to the shin-daggers, HAB areas and the insane technical sections that only the most experience capable rider (or insane DHer) will make.

Apologize for no pictures this time, and found some if you are interested: http://singletrack.us/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=68

Enjoy the video!

Wandering around Fantasy Island

After a few days of camping, the wife and I decided to escape to Tucson for the weekend. Both of us were still on vacation, and had an opportunity to stay for nothing.  I had planned during the sabbatical to drive down for the day and do some exploring, and this would kill a few birds at one time.

I decided that my first ride would be around Fantasy Island.  These trails were built by the community, and had hear that they were a fun set of trails that had to be done if in the Tucson area.  That along with Cosmic Ray's identification as a 'Primo Trail', made the decision easy.  Heck Ray ain't wrong...until maybe now.

Fantasy Island is a great place.  It is MTB specif, well maintained, well marked, one way and an incredible place to learn how to ride a mountain bike.  Difficulty can only come through going faster around corners with cactus or pushing the envelope on loose gravel turns.  The lack of any climbing or technical areas really put a damper on this ride.  Heck, the hardest trail for the day was the Lazy River at the Marriott. 

There were a few bonuses for the adventure down here.  The trails are near the Pima Air and Space Museum, and are just to the east of the airplane bone yard.  Cool planes of all types and shapes to see and ogle on the drive...you can't grab any real glimpses of these once you are riding though.  Additionally, there is a live fire training ground for the Air Force nearby, and was able to watch a C-130 'Spooky' bring down some rain!  Trying to watch the planes while riding added to the difficulty of avoiding going through a cactus (which I am a bit famous for doing).

If you want a recovery ride, do something with the family or take a noob out for a ride this is definitely the place to visit.  Enjoy the video.

Rouding out with Bootleg Canyon

Today is the final ride scheduled for Mancation 5.5, Bootleg Canyon, outside of Vegas in a place called Boulder City.  If you ever visit Hoover Dam, you know the place.  Anyway, I saved this ride for last as the build up and the hype more than any other ride in my travels.  Additionally, this would round out four epic rides during the trip, and completing four of the top 20 rated trails in the world (three in the top ten).

Bootleg Canyon can best be likened as a ski resort for MTBers.  This place has something for everyone, and a nice shuttle (a.k.a. 'lift') if you don't want to continually pedal the three and a half miles to the top.  Since the 'lift' started a little late today, I decided that to earn the return trips to the top of the hill by pedaling up for the first run of the day.  This was an easy journey, and probably gets harder as the day progresses and more riders are flying down the trails.  Nothing strenuous, and might even make for a good loop if you were bored with the other things to do on the hill....not sure how that could happen though.

The first run was down the intermediate trails on the XC side of the hill.  Lots-o-fun was had, and was over before I knew it.  Shuttling back up decided to hit the advanced trails, and rode the hardest of the XC trails, Skyline.  Wow, the first mile of this trail challenged me.  Exposures, sharp rocks and really watching your line as the wrong one would put you off the trail and into something that you probably really wanted to avoid.  The next run down was on Powerline, and overall not as drastic as Skyline, but the introductory drop in is insane.  The video doesn't do this portion justice - a 60 degree shoot down loose shale with a nice switchback at the end.

After surviving what the XC side of the hill had to offer, decided to follow the downhillers on, of course, the downhill side of the mountain.  Now, this is where things go serious!  Three to sever foot drops, gnarly technical rock sections, and lots of places to catch air.  Catching my breath, a sandwich and drink decided to hit the downhill side one last time for the day.  Taking some different lines, and knowing the bailout or roundabouts for the more severe stuff provided for a great wrapup to Bootleg and the trip.

I highly suggest this place to all MTBers.  Get here, challenge yourself, and definitely take a joy ride down the downhill side of the mountain to get the old blood pumping.  The trails from the top of the hill to the bottom are less than four miles in length, and can be done without stopping.  Just ease up on the brakes, and pedal damn it as you can rest on the ride back up for more.  As a bonus, when you get to the bottom, hang to the left.  You'll get to enjoy a jump park and skills area!  What more can ask for?  A downhill course?  Got it.  Side-by-side BMX pump track?  Got it.  Told ya it is all here.

This placed lived up to the hype, and will be out there every time I visit Vegas.  What a way to round out the trip, and was not disappointed that I saved this for last.

Tomorrow, I will be heading out to camp with the wife, and spend time with her since she allowed me to indulge for a few weeks.  This will close out the Mancation.  Back to a few more weeks of sabbatical, and thinking of how I can possibly pull off a Mancation 5.75.  Enjoy the video, and will be posting some bonus footage of Bootleg when I get back to Phoenix.

Riding out at Cottonwood

 Wednesday, drove out to Vegas for the last segment of the Mancation. After arriving decided to give the bike some TLC as it has been riding hard and put away wet. Good thing, as it turns out that both sets of brake pads were shot, dented rim needed to be addressed, replaced the back tire, re-adjust the derailleur, washed her up and threw on some fresh lube. Good as new.

Thursday, I headed out of Vegas to a place called Cottonwood. The area has two sections, North and South, and decided on the North section since it had more elevation gain and section dropping off the mountain called 'The Hurl'...couldn't resist.

In a previous life I lived in Vegas for a long stretch, and never knew this area had a dedicated trail system specifically maintained by the MTB community. After just a short way into the ride it was obvious that these trails were build by bikers for bikers. This place was a BLAST!!!! Not one straight section on the trails, lots of area to get some nice speed and nothing overly technical. There is a double track that bisects the trails, so even the beginners can bail on anything that would present a challenge. Well designed and thought out.

I love this place, and anyone who wants to rip up some trails while in Vegas, and has already done Bootleg, should give these trails a try. Hopefully, I will have some time to check out the southern trail loops. The maps indicate that there is a 35mile loop that connects the North and the South, and has been added to my MTB bucket list.

Hope you enjoy the video. (BTW, all the video shot at the casinos was confiscated, and makes for a great story over a beer.)

Riding the J.E.M. Loop

After 24 hours of constant heavy rains, and three days of wind and rain, have come to realize why this place is called Hurricane....well suited from my experience out here.    There was about a two hour break in the rains, and made a break for it.  I was originally going to head out to Little Creek Mesa, but was thwarted by the mud bogged roads to get out there.  Nearly ever trail was inaccessible due to the bogs that use to be  roads out the trails interwoven in the mesas.  Maybe if I had a helicopter could have done some heli-biking; now that would have been a cool option!

Anyway, I opted for the J.E.M Loop just outside of town simply because it was readily accessible from the interstate.  The loop consists of three trails: J.E.M., Goulds and Hurricane Rim.  Surprisingly the trails were not soaked/flooded/bogged, and weathered the rains very well.  The builders out here know how to properly drain the trail, and have to give them props for the great work they have done.  Over the course of the three trails, there was another common theme around how trails are rated in Hurricane.  Trail difficulty (green, blue and black diamonds) is based on how close or how much exposure you encounter during the ride.  Green is anything greater than 15 feet from any exposures that could injure you; blue is anything from 5 to 15 feet from exposures that could cause severe bodily damage; black diamond is less than 5 feet with double black being less than 2 feet of anything that will kill you.

These trails follow the mesa  just east of town, Hurricane Rim, and circle out almost to Gooseberry Mesa and then back.  Anyone with intermediate skills can easily handle anything along the routes, and nothing technical popped up as I was hoping.  The difficulty comes with how fast, and scared, you rail along the exposures  The trails are fast, flowy, and don't contain any serious climbing.  For a perspective, Desert Classic is on par with doing this loop.

I enjoyed the trails, and was glad to not stuck indoors for the entire day.  The only option then would have been to go grab a bus to Zion, and take pictures of the incredible rock formations.   Hmmm, sounds like a motorized version of what I am doing anyway, right?

Tomorrow will be leaving the water logged town of Hurricane for Vegas baby!  It will be good to spend some time with my family, enjoy Bootleg and Cottonwood at my leisure, and perhaps make a video of playing craps (if the casino doesn't mind a guy in a full face helmet with a camera on his head walking around).

Hope you enjoy today's video.  The cloud cover seems to have counteracted the overexposure, and came out pretty decent.

Hail Gooseberry

After the 'rest' yesterday, I was itching to get out and ride Gooseberry Mesa this morning. There has been considerable hype about the mesa, and some have claimed it the next Slick Rock...or a hidden MTB gem to others.

Getting to the trails was no easy feat as the rains last night had seriously rutted the road. After navigating the dirt roads to get there, I had the whole place to myself! Can't complain about having 25 or so miles of dedicated bike trails to explore, can you?

Gooseberry Mesa is a nice mix between slick rock and ponderosa pine/forest riding. The trails are well marked, and all you have to do is follow the white dots as you go. I was prepared for some seriously extreme riding or perhaps even HAB as the trails I rode were marked single and double black diamond. Over the course of the 18 miles of single track that I rode, there wasn't anything I would consider advanced. However, if you watch the video, I believe they marked the trails as such because you ride within a foot or two of the mesa edge. The drops of which are around 50 to 400 feet. A wrong move or a nice gust of wind, and that would be one hell of a ghost ride.

I explored nearly all the trails sans the jeep/easy trails, and didn't encounter any strenuous climbing or technical challenges that were beyond [what I would consider] an intermediate level. Given that there wasn't lots of climbing, you can ride nearly non-stop and have an incredible time out there. The trails are a blast to ride, and the scenery is as good as anything that I experienced in Colorado.

If I had a choice to ride in Moab or Hurricane, I would still choose Moab in a second. Hurricane and the surrounding area are building more trails and IMBA race loops, and expect that this place will have tons to offer by the end of the year. Perhaps another visit once all the new trails are done to see if this might become a destination spot. If you happen to be in Vegas, St George, Zion or Bryce Canyon, with nothing to do, I would suggest taking a trip up to the mesa.

Enjoy the video!

Rampage

Today, I was able to drive down from Moab to outside of Hurricane to see the final round of Red Bull Rampage.  I was a bit pissy at first having to ride 4 miles from the parking lot to the event; then as I am riding along, the weather got progressively worse, and before even getting to see the venue people were leaving saying that they had called it off due to weather.

I pushed along as after driving and riding to see the event, I wanted at least to get a few pictures.  Security wasn't letting more people in to the venue, and was only able to capture the course from a far.  Then as I was trying to snap some photos of the competitors the batteries on the camera dies.  ARG!!!  Guess, I should have know that they only last about a week before needing changed.

The Rampage Course (boundary to boundary)

About to call it a day and ride back to the lot, there was noise in the competitors tent.  Seems that the guy they had there watching the weather indicated that this cell was going to pass.  They were going to wait about an hour before truly calling it.  Enduring about 30 minutes of sprinkles, wind and dust, the weather did blow through.  The helicopters finally fired up, and started shuttling the riders back up to the top of the hill.

I stood there for over a hour watching the contestants drop off huge cliffs, jump insane distances and endure horrific crashes.  All of this was incredible to watch in person as the pictures and videos just don't show how truly dangerous/insane/crazy the stuff these guys are doing really is.  Not sure if it is huge balls or lack of brain matter that allows these guys to do this type of riding/competition, but they are amazing in how they can pull off those moves, and ride those lines.


The following video was the best one I found around, and best illustrates the 50ft chasm jump, the tricks these guys were doing during flight, and how bad some of the wipe outs were.  Hope you enjoy.  

The Whole Enchilada

Today, I completed The Whole Enchilada trails and thus the trifecta!  Three of the top 10 trails ridden within a week.  Life just doesn't get any better than this.

Every year we come out to Moab to do Porcupine Rim, and are unable to do all 5 of the trails that make up The Whole Enchilada due to snow/ice conditions.  The highest point of the trail is about 11,200ft, and not as high as than some of the trails in Crested Butte.  These trails then deliver 7,000ft of elevation loss over 26miles.  This all boils down to hours of downhill fun.

There is a bit of trickery to obtain all this wonderfulness.  As most know, you have to shuttle up to the top of the La Sal peaks.  With most shuttles, you hope out of the van, dawn your gear, and start riding downhill.  For The Whole Enchilada, the van drops you off at a set of road and trail junctions.  You then to trek along the road for a mile before engaging low gear to climb from 10,400ft to 11,200ft.

After what I have been riding before this, I felt like Dave Weins starting up the hill.  Leading the locals up the hill was pretty cool.  Then the evil trail gods/maintenance crew decided to turn up the pain in a few places, and decided that a 20% incline would equalize everyone...and it did.  Everyone had to do the HAB (Hike-A-Bike) for these climbs, and even walking was strenuous.

Reaching the crest, we were rewarded with other side of the mountain, and great forest single track.  For those who know Porcupine Rim, this is an entirely different environment.  The trail here winds through the trees, steep loose down hills, sharp switchbacks and stream crossings.  It was worth the climb as this was premium riding.

The trail comes out into a campground area, and then heads over to the Hazzard Country trail.  This connects the La Sal Mountains to the rim.  The trail flows through the brush, and has spectacular views of Castle Valley.  This trail was not challenging, but some folks had the idea to spice it up with a few gap jumps next to the trail.  These jumps seriously crossed gaps from 3 to 6 feet in width.  Mess up, and it would game over.

Once through with Hazzard Country, you are then rewarded with the Porcupine Rim type of trails that we all know (and love).  Kokopelli trail is a great stretch that has an incredibly insane rock drop near the middle.  (The video doesn't do it justice...).  This leads into UPS, and is common ground from our previous trips up to Moab.

New to the trail is a bypass from The Notch called LPS.  The Notch is basically a 12 foot drop with a few randomly placed rocks that make for some crazy HAB.  I decided to take the new LPS trail, and might have to say that this route is more technical than The Notch.  In front of me as I was entering the trail witnessed a guy OTB on the first switchback, and roll about 10 feet into a tree barricade strategically placed to prevent folks from dropping off a 30ft cliff.

The rest of the ride was eventful, as I sliced the sidewall of my rear tire.  Two more flats occured as the sidewall kept tearing, and puncturing the tubes before realizing that was the cause of my dismay.

Regardless, The Whole Enchilada is an epic ride, and will be disappointed next year on Mancation when the passages will be closed as usual.

Enjoy the over exposed video!   

Outerbike Crashin

Left CB early this morning, and headed out to Moab for the next leg of the trip.  It was hard not to turn around, and stay longer to find more [MTB] life altering trails.  But, the thought of finally getting to do The Whole Enchilada was temptation to keep me on track.

The drive from CB to Fruita and on to Moab is a cinch.  It is hard to imagine that all these places are within a few hours drive from one another.  Since this trip wasn't going to allow for any riding in Fruita/Lunch Loops I did have to at least stop and have Stromboli at The Hot Tomato.  Mmmm, still the best...

Oh yeah, the other reason to go to Moab today?  Outerbike. Yep, all those manufactures with there new bikes at Interbike head up to Moab to let the common folk ride them for the weekend.  It requires that you have credentials to get in, and to grab any of the bikes for a ride for the day.  I didn't happen to pay for any of those credentials, and headed out to the site (10 miles north of Moab) to see if I might to sneak a peak.

As it turns out, I walked through the gates at the right time.  Feeding time.  Seems after riding all day, everyone was more focused on food and beer instead of who had a badge. The folks manning the tents were a bit more perceptive, and weren't to keen on me checking things out. Oh well.

Never, have I seen so many bikes in one place.  Seriously, there must have been three to four hundred bikes from over 30 manufactures.  Mountain, cyclo-cross, road, pump and others were all there in there glory awaiting for someone to pick them out for a ride.

Anyway, I would have to say that the $150 for three days of bikes, guided tours, food, beer, movies and other activities seems worth it.  Next year, I will suggest it, and see if there are any takers.




No poor video today; just the pictures.  Enjoy, and will post tomorrow after I devour The Whole Enchilada.