So freakin’ busy

It seems that I have so much going on that when I get home I don’t want to write.  I’d rather do some surfing and laugh at the funny stuff out there on the internet.  Yes.  I’ve been a bum.

Last weekend was a great weekend and I keep thinking about it so I decided I’d sit down and write a little. 

It started with waking up at 5:15 am on Saturday to meet what was supposed to be about 15 “hardcore” mountain bikers for an epic jaunt around the Franklins with a little card playing thrown in to make things interesting.  Only 6 people showed up and we went over the rules and route, drew our first cards, and took off into the desert. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple hours into the ride we topped out on Mundy’s Gap to pick cards from the baggie stashed on the mountain.  Jen was up there pointing out the gorgeous yellow leaves on the small trees that live off almost no water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was riding the SS FS with a 32×21 and was able to ride most of Mundy’s.  Brent wasn’t far behind and was riding fast enough to force me to ride just a bit faster than a relaxed pace. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We dropped into Mundy’s and I put a gap on him down the rocks.  He soon caught back up to me on the road.  A bit later I lost him on Upper Sunset as he broke his chain.  I kept a smooth pace until running into a large group of hikers that were headed towards the next stash of cards.  I started with an 8 and traded it out at the first checkpoint for a king and a queen.  While passing the hikers in an extremely rocky section which they were having trouble negotiating, one of the girls in the group asked me “What kind of tires are you using?”  My response was, “The biggest I can get.”  I dinged my bell a couple of times and thanked them as I passed.  Stopping quickly at the next card stack, I had to sit down and think about my card choices.  I decided to hang on to my king and queen and took an ace from the deck.  I knew my chances of a royal flush were slim, so I started looking for a straight, but after a quick check of the hand rankings, I wasn’t too sure.  I held on to the three cards I had and took off for the ranger station to refuel and head to Transmountain Rd. for the climb to Little Moab and Mike’s trail.

I was only about 27 miles in and almost at the 3 and half hour mark.  I kept a smooth pace through Little Moab and walked most of the climb up to the top of Mike’s Trail via the rocky road to the powerline.  At the top of Mike’s Trail was the next card stash.  There were 2 aces in the stack, so I ditched the my queen, took the two aces, ate a bunch as I watched Brent roll up the climb, and then took off down the descent.  More rad singletrack and I was back in the park where Ray and Shannon were just leaving for the Redd Rd. trails.  I refueled and headed up Mundy’s.  The bottom of Mundy’s was quite rocky so walking started early.  Rain and cold rolled in, but I was able to avoid anything bad and got by with my vest and arm warmers. 

Down the other side of Mundy’s and around a bunch of singletrack rolled me into the last card stash where I picked up a king.  Brent caught up to me and I made him work for it through the last 7 miles of trail. 

7.5 hours and 50 miles on the day.  I earned a joker for finishing on a singlespeed which gave me 4 of a kind…aces.  Brent claims to have been on the way to a royal flush, but gave it up due to doubts of being able to pull it off.  He said that the card he needed was in the last stash.  He ended up with a full house as did Ray…who finished 3 hours later.

The next day was spent building more new trail in Hitt Canyon.  We had 5 on the crew again and we were rolling.  A brand new rock bar helped us get through a bunch of rocky sections and dress up some sections we had already passed through.  After making it through the first drainage on the trail, we really moved fast through completely different terrain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suprizingly I didn’t feel completely spent after 7 and half hours on the bike.  Working on trail out there is amazing!  It’s totally quiet and the views are really nice.  We keep getting closer to the pass everytime we look up. 

I think I’m going to have a similar weekend again.  I can’t wait.