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Monarch Crest
Kinda tired. Photos he
http://mattb.net/pics.aspx?gal=2005-07-10%20(Monarch%20Crest%20ride) More later... Matt |
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#2
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"MattB" wrote in message ... Kinda tired. Photos he http://mattb.net/pics.aspx?gal=2005-07-10%20(Monarch%20Crest%20ride) More later... Sweet! Looks familiar. Greg |
#3
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On 2005-07-11, MattB penned:
Kinda tired. Photos he http://mattb.net/pics.aspx?gal=2005-07-10%20(Monarch%20Crest%20ride) More later... Youch! Whose leg is that and what happened? Bike attack? -- monique "Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live." -- Mark Twain |
#4
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MattB wrote:
Kinda tired. Photos he http://mattb.net/pics.aspx?gal=2005-07-10%20(Monarch%20Crest%20ride) More later... Matt Alright. I was nodding off as I posted that last night. Here's the RR: After talking to GDub about going for a ride last weekend my friend (and LBS owner) Rick mentioned a group was going to be riding the Crest Sunday. The wife and I hadn't finalized the weekend plans yet, so I gave her dibs on the Crest since she hadn't ridden it as much as me. But she declined because she wanted to take our boy to a horse show so it was game on for me! We met at 7:30 behind the shop. I had another friend, Keith joining us who is getting back into riding after a two year work and baby stint that didn't leave him much opportunity to ride. When I saw Gary, I could tell he wasn't feeling right. He looked stiff. He told me about his back being out for a couple of days and it made me worry. I didn't think it was a good ride for a questionable back. As I was thinking about a good way to tell him he shouldn't go, Gary said "I don't think I'm going to go." which was a relief to hear. A wise choice, but too bad he couldn't experience this fantastic ride. So we got going, ran shuttle, and got prepped in the parking lot at the summit of Monarch pass. It was a beautiful, clear, crisp morning and there was excitement in the air. Once we were all organized, we began the initial climb at a pretty good pace. We had a group of nine, most of whom are pretty fast and compatible. One guy who was a friend of some of the others was on an old GT Avalanche with a RS Quadra. Haven't seen one of those in a while! He mentioned he hasn't ridden much in a while and he hopes he can hang. Although the climbing vertical in relation to the descending isn't big, it's mostly at pretty high altitude where you definitely feel it more. With the climbing starting at 11,3000 we quickly found ourselves well over 12,000 Ft.. Everyone was doing pretty well and I took a lot of photos (as requested by Gary). The guy on the old hardtail was doing pretty well but looking tired. We crossed a couple of big snow drifts up high but both were short and pretty easy to traverse. The trail was in good shape. Slightly dusty out in the open sunny areas but super tacky and fast in the trees. The downhills on this trail are the best. They seem to go on forever, with swoopy turns and and high speed straightaways on ridgetops you might expect to see the VonTrapp's to be singing from. Once we hit the lower section after crossing Marshall Pass I started to remember all these climbs late in the ride that I always seem to forget about until I'm on them. This is where the less experienced riders always seem to start hurting. Our guy Steve (not my usual Steve) was looking pretty haggard, but kept on moving. He had to fix a flat and fell way behind. Then we met up with three riders who had wanted to join us from the start but didn't make the meeting at the shop. Due to all of our flats (four by this point, I think) they were able to catch up. I hit the next DH section with the other two guys who ride singlespeeds. We were all on geared bikes today, but I think our SS conditioning set us apart (ahead) of the group. We flew down the entire (several Miles worth) Silver Creek Trail DH together at high speed. The bike was running well and I felt like I could rail any turn with ease. This section goes from open and fast packed trail to crossing a huge scree field and dropping into this weird gravel surface that can be very difficult to ride on. The sensation of that surface is like a malfunctioning bike. I kept thinking I had a flat, blown shock, or loose wheel but it was just the shifting of the loose rocks (from pea to softball sized) shifting the bike around. For the last little section of this stuff, I was following Rodney, who is a highly skilled rider (and SSer). We were cruising along and something weird happened with my front wheel, making it jump across the trail sideways and I almost biffed but recovered. I slowed and was watching the trail when I saw a big dust cloud up ahead. I looked and saw Rodney's feet disappearing off toward the creek as he tumbled headfirst into aspens and scree. I couldn't stop that quickly without risking a crash myself, so I slowed and asked if he was OK. He said yes so I proceeded to the flat section next to a bridged creek crossing just below and stopped there. Rodney came riding down looking pretty OK for just having taken a header off the trail. That is, until he showed me his shin. It had a big, double-gash that was starting to swell up. Ouch. Looked painful, but not too serious as these things go. We cleaned him up and waited for the rest of the group. We waited a long time. And then we waited some more. Finally Steve, the guy who probably working the hardest arrives and he had gotten another flat. He also said that two of the three people who joined us mid-ride had gotten flats up higher and discovered both of their pumps were not working and they didn't have spare tubes due to previous flats. So after much discussion, we decided to split the groups again and leave the third person from their group with extra donated tubes to wait and help them work out their mechanicals. Riding back up the scree field wasn't really an option and hiking the couple of Miles back up would take a really long time. We continued down the Rainbow Trail, which crossed many little creeks for a few Miles. This made for lots of steep ups and downs, with wet crossings in the middle, separated by fast contour trails that are just an absolute blast. We sent Steve down a jeep road to avoid the last few grunts since he was about done and we didn't want to kill him. The last couple of climbs were pretty hot as we had lost most of the nice cooling elevation by then. I felt a great surge of late-ride strength and after trading the lead with the other two SSers a few times, took it for the rest of the ride and had to wait for them a few times (which is a nice change). Of course, Rick did a road century the day before, but being able to stay ahead of Rodney was a new experience. Finally we made it out to the highway and spun back to the cars where Steve was already waiting for us. Overall a fantastic ride, despite the rash of flats the group experienced. I can't wait to do it again! Matt |
#5
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"MattB" wrote in message ... Kinda tired. Photos he http://mattb.net/pics.aspx?gal=2005-07-10%20(Monarch%20Crest%20ride) More later... Matt Good shots, but pardon me for saying so, but that trail looks kinda sterile...not very tecnical looking from these pics Maybe you just didn't get any shots of the more technical aspect of it, concentration being needed just to ride and all. But any ride with friends is a good ride!! Dave (thanks for sharing) |
#6
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"MattB" wrote in message ... MattB wrote: Kinda tired. Photos he http://mattb.net/pics.aspx?gal=2005-07-10%20(Monarch%20Crest%20ride) More later... Matt Alright. I was nodding off as I posted that last night. Here's the RR: After talking to GDub about going for a ride last weekend my friend (and LBS owner) Rick mentioned a group was going to be riding the Crest Sunday. The wife and I hadn't finalized the weekend plans yet, so I gave her dibs on the Crest since she hadn't ridden it as much as me. But she declined because she wanted to take our boy to a horse show so it was game on for me! We met at 7:30 behind the shop. I had another friend, Keith joining us who is getting back into riding after a two year work and baby stint that didn't leave him much opportunity to ride. When I saw Gary, I could tell he wasn't feeling right. He looked stiff. He told me about his back being out for a couple of days and it made me worry. I didn't think it was a good ride for a questionable back. As I was thinking about a good way to tell him he shouldn't go, Gary said "I don't think I'm going to go." which was a relief to hear. A wise choice, but too bad he couldn't experience this fantastic ride. So we got going, ran shuttle, and got prepped in the parking lot at the summit of Monarch pass. It was a beautiful, clear, crisp morning and there was excitement in the air. Once we were all organized, we began the initial climb at a pretty good pace. We had a group of nine, most of whom are pretty fast and compatible. One guy who was a friend of some of the others was on an old GT Avalanche with a RS Quadra. Haven't seen one of those in a while! He mentioned he hasn't ridden much in a while and he hopes he can hang. Although the climbing vertical in relation to the descending isn't big, it's mostly at pretty high altitude where you definitely feel it more. With the climbing starting at 11,3000 we quickly found ourselves well over 12,000 Ft.. Everyone was doing pretty well and I took a lot of photos (as requested by Gary). The guy on the old hardtail was doing pretty well but looking tired. We crossed a couple of big snow drifts up high but both were short and pretty easy to traverse. The trail was in good shape. Slightly dusty out in the open sunny areas but super tacky and fast in the trees. The downhills on this trail are the best. They seem to go on forever, with swoopy turns and and high speed straightaways on ridgetops you might expect to see the VonTrapp's to be singing from. Once we hit the lower section after crossing Marshall Pass I started to remember all these climbs late in the ride that I always seem to forget about until I'm on them. This is where the less experienced riders always seem to start hurting. Our guy Steve (not my usual Steve) was looking pretty haggard, but kept on moving. He had to fix a flat and fell way behind. Then we met up with three riders who had wanted to join us from the start but didn't make the meeting at the shop. Due to all of our flats (four by this point, I think) they were able to catch up. I hit the next DH section with the other two guys who ride singlespeeds. We were all on geared bikes today, but I think our SS conditioning set us apart (ahead) of the group. We flew down the entire (several Miles worth) Silver Creek Trail DH together at high speed. The bike was running well and I felt like I could rail any turn with ease. This section goes from open and fast packed trail to crossing a huge scree field and dropping into this weird gravel surface that can be very difficult to ride on. The sensation of that surface is like a malfunctioning bike. I kept thinking I had a flat, blown shock, or loose wheel but it was just the shifting of the loose rocks (from pea to softball sized) shifting the bike around. For the last little section of this stuff, I was following Rodney, who is a highly skilled rider (and SSer). We were cruising along and something weird happened with my front wheel, making it jump across the trail sideways and I almost biffed but recovered. I slowed and was watching the trail when I saw a big dust cloud up ahead. I looked and saw Rodney's feet disappearing off toward the creek as he tumbled headfirst into aspens and scree. I couldn't stop that quickly without risking a crash myself, so I slowed and asked if he was OK. He said yes so I proceeded to the flat section next to a bridged creek crossing just below and stopped there. Rodney came riding down looking pretty OK for just having taken a header off the trail. That is, until he showed me his shin. It had a big, double-gash that was starting to swell up. Ouch. Looked painful, but not too serious as these things go. We cleaned him up and waited for the rest of the group. We waited a long time. And then we waited some more. Finally Steve, the guy who probably working the hardest arrives and he had gotten another flat. He also said that two of the three people who joined us mid-ride had gotten flats up higher and discovered both of their pumps were not working and they didn't have spare tubes due to previous flats. So after much discussion, we decided to split the groups again and leave the third person from their group with extra donated tubes to wait and help them work out their mechanicals. Riding back up the scree field wasn't really an option and hiking the couple of Miles back up would take a really long time. We continued down the Rainbow Trail, which crossed many little creeks for a few Miles. This made for lots of steep ups and downs, with wet crossings in the middle, separated by fast contour trails that are just an absolute blast. We sent Steve down a jeep road to avoid the last few grunts since he was about done and we didn't want to kill him. The last couple of climbs were pretty hot as we had lost most of the nice cooling elevation by then. I felt a great surge of late-ride strength and after trading the lead with the other two SSers a few times, took it for the rest of the ride and had to wait for them a few times (which is a nice change). Of course, Rick did a road century the day before, but being able to stay ahead of Rodney was a new experience. Finally we made it out to the highway and spun back to the cars where Steve was already waiting for us. Overall a fantastic ride, despite the rash of flats the group experienced. I can't wait to do it again! Matt Oh. So this trail is more about speed, than tech?? That;s what I get out of your RR. Cool report.. Speed is good!! |
#7
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Dave W wrote:
"MattB" wrote in message ... Kinda tired. Photos he http://mattb.net/pics.aspx?gal=2005-07-10%20(Monarch%20Crest%20ride) More later... Matt Good shots, but pardon me for saying so, but that trail looks kinda sterile...not very tecnical looking from these pics Maybe you just didn't get any shots of the more technical aspect of it, concentration being needed just to ride and all. But any ride with friends is a good ride!! Dave (thanks for sharing) It is more about speed than technical, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any. I was busy during the technical sections! It's a trail to be careful on because it could be a long way out if you get hurt or break your bike. Matt |
#8
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MattB wrote: It is more about speed than technical, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any. I was busy during the technical sections! It's a trail to be careful on because it could be a long way out if you get hurt or break your bike. Ignorance is bliss, eh? I wonder if the a-technical nature of the Crest is what was responsible for all of those flats? Maybe the scree and talus fields you described wasn't plain enough for some to understand? Good writeup, dudeus. JD flatted on the MC b4 |
#9
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JD wrote:
MattB wrote: It is more about speed than technical, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any. I was busy during the technical sections! It's a trail to be careful on because it could be a long way out if you get hurt or break your bike. Ignorance is bliss, eh? I wonder if the a-technical nature of the Crest is what was responsible for all of those flats? Maybe the scree and talus fields you described wasn't plain enough for some to understand? Good writeup, dudeus. JD flatted on the MC b4 Thanks. It was weird. This was a group who would normally ride well enough to not get so many flats. We also saw quite a few other people from other groups with flats too. Maybe there was some factor that I couldn't spot that was making tires go flat. We had some flats in the scree, and others on buttery singletrack. WTF? I had a clean ride though. It was one of those days where I felt I could do no wrong. Matt |
#10
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MattB wrote:
Thanks. It was weird. This was a group who would normally ride well enough to not get so many flats. We also saw quite a few other people from other groups with flats too. Maybe there was some factor that I couldn't spot that was making tires go flat. We had some flats in the scree, and others on buttery singletrack. WTF? I had a clean ride though. It was one of those days where I felt I could do no wrong. Matt While passing through Salida last spring, I complained at Absolute Bikes about all the pinch flats I was getting. They turned me onto Geax Sturdys, 2.25 as their local recommendation. The trails there are not unlike the Durango area. These tires have tons of volume. I have 2 pinch flats since then in a fair amount of miles, maybe they knew something? -- Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado "Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation." Edward R. Murrow |
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