Mission accomplished -- sort of.

Because I wimped out and did not ride the Palisades trail two weeks ago
on my epic ride attempt, I went back today and rode Palisades. I didn't
follow the same route as I did two weeks ago. That route is too epic.
Instead I opted to climb up the Ranger Creek Trail. That made for about
2700 feet of climbing on single track over about 5.5 miles. There is
another 600 feet or so climbing along the Palisades trail. Climbing up
Ranger Creek is a lot more fun than climbing up Corral Pass Road.
You're in the trees and there are no cars passing you. I think I rode a
little less than half of the climb. The upper part of the climb was too
steep and rocky and rooty to climb up. And I was getting tired.

Ride stats:
about 15 to 16 miles
about 3300 feet climbing on single track
total time 6 hours

This ride involved quite a bit of hike-a-uni. Some trails are like
that. I hiked about half of the climb. I hiked sections of exposure on
the cliffs that I was not comfortable with. And there is a 1/2 mile to
3/4 mile long section at the end of the ride that is not rideable
(everyone hikes that section including the bikes). At least it's easier
to hike-a-uni than hike-a-bike.

I brought a camera along this time so there are some pictures in my
gallery:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/john_childs
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/Palisades2003

Palisades is a challenging trail due to the climbing and the exposure.
There aren't very many sections where you can relax and just ride and
take it easy. The bikes have chewed up parts of the trail so there are
now ruts and stutter bumps (braking bumps) approaching some of the
switchbacks and other technical bits where the bikes have to put their
brakes on hard. Some of the braking bumps are deep enough to cause
pedal strikes on the sides of the hole. I was very tired at the end of
the ride. More tired than I was after the Ranger Creek ride two weeks
ago even though this ride was shorter and had less climbing. If I had
opted to ride Palisades two weeks ago the ride would have been truly
epic. I'm very glad now that I opted for the shorter ride two weeks ago
now that I know what I would have been in for.


--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo

john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
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