M
Mattb
Guest
Took the SS deep into Marlborough Country yesterday for a
nice loop from the house. I did a variation of the ride I
posted a map of recently that made it a little shorter and a
little more feasible on the SS. I didn't GPS it, but I
figure this was more like 20 Miles and 2500-3000 Ft. Still
not exactly trivial, but not quite epic. Before the ride I
decided to get stop by the LBS and get some new tires. I'd
been meaning to for a while, and the old Jones ACs that came
with the bike were looking pretty worn. I also wanted a
little bigger volume to help minimize pinch flats and give
me a little smoother ride. I chose the Specialized Enduro
Pro 2.2s, which look good on the bike and come highly
recommended by the LBS crew. I felt strong up the first
climb. The grip of the new rear tire was noticeably better
than the old one. It was so good that they were throwing
dirt and pebbles at as I rode, some down the back of my
shorts and into my shoes. Soon enough I was at Signal Peak
and pushing up a steep pitch I've yet to tackle on the SS
(and may never - it's very steep and starts in a spot with
no available momentum). The air up there at just under 9000
Ft just felt great. It was a little hot on the way up, but
once I hit the saddle there was a nice cool breeze to get me
started on the singletrack. I rolled down the smooth trail
feeling like I was floating. The Paul Words just roll so
nicely. The tires really held well as I leaned into the
twisty trail. This section crossed a few drainages, so there
were alternating climbs and descents as I gradually shed
some vertical until I reached a jeep trail. I had to ride a
few miles on the two track for this route, and there were
some very steep climbs on it. Good thing for me there was
usually a very steep downhill approach to the steep climbs
(maybe 200' vertical) so I did them rollercoaster style. Let
up on the brakes for the dh approach, reaching speeds I
wouldn't usually hit, then compressing at the bottom and
carrying as much of that momentum as I could up the other
side, climbing out of the saddle to get up over the lip.
Kind of scary but fun and effective. The jeep trail I was on
drops to an intersection where I turn on to the Sheep's
Gulch road (another jeep trail) for the Signal Mesa ascent
to the highest point of the ride. This was another good
solid 1000'+ climb over a few Miles. The pitch was just
(almost) comfortable at my 32:17 ratio. I had to walk one
steep turn, but managed to ride the rest, mostly standing
with the occasional couple of pedal strokes seated in a flat
spot every now and then. Once I hit the top it becomes a
very nice, relatively flat high cruise along the top of
Signal Mesa, which overlooks the Gunnison Valley, with the
San Juans looming behind in the distance. Again, great
rolling SS terrain. After a few Miles I peeled off on to the
singletrack that would take me back towards town via a
great, 1800' downhill. After most of the vertical was used
up, I found myself twisting and turning down Chicken Gulch,
the last stretch of singletrack before hitting a road. This
is a piece of trail I've ridden many times and I feel
comfortable letting it roll pretty fast. So one moment I'm
cruising along and as I approach a left hand turn (first
part of an S turn) I simultaneously feel a pull on the left
side of my bars and hear the loud crunch of sage. My world
immediately turns upside down as I realize I'm crashing,
long after I could do anything to prevent it. Then as
quickly as it started it was quiet and still again and I was
laying on my back in the gulch below the trail. The only
pain I felt was a charlie horse in my right butt cheek. I
sat up slowly, spitting dirt and wiping the grit from my
eyes and looked back up towards the trail. My bike was still
in the trail, tangled in sagebrush about 10' above where I
was laying. Apparently what had happened is I was leaning
into this left turn and caught my bar end on a big sage
bush. This yanked the whole three foot tall bush out of the
ground which then promptly got sucked into my front wheel
and wedged between my wheel and fork, ejecting me toward the
drop-side of the trail into a rocky creek bed. I came out of
it with a painful, cramping charlie horse, and some minor
scrapes and bruises. I think my CamelBak took most of the
impact and protected my back from the pile of rocks I landed
on. I also hit my left shoulder, although not very hard and
it held up just fine (this is the one I had surgery on last
fall). I collected myself, checked out the bike, and spun
the last few miles home as easily as I could to keep my
right glute from cramping. I made it home just in time to
help my brother move some heavy items to his new house,
which wasn't really what I felt like doing right then. So
although I would have preferred not to crash, I'm pretty
happy with the outcome. The bike is fine, and I'm just
leaning a bit to the left in my chair today. This was the
first crash of the season, the first crash on the SS, and
the first crash on my repaired shoulder. Everything came
through it OK, and my butt feels better already. I'm glad
the cramping has eased up, because that was pretty
uncomfortable. I think I may head back up there with some
hedge clippers this week...
Matt
nice loop from the house. I did a variation of the ride I
posted a map of recently that made it a little shorter and a
little more feasible on the SS. I didn't GPS it, but I
figure this was more like 20 Miles and 2500-3000 Ft. Still
not exactly trivial, but not quite epic. Before the ride I
decided to get stop by the LBS and get some new tires. I'd
been meaning to for a while, and the old Jones ACs that came
with the bike were looking pretty worn. I also wanted a
little bigger volume to help minimize pinch flats and give
me a little smoother ride. I chose the Specialized Enduro
Pro 2.2s, which look good on the bike and come highly
recommended by the LBS crew. I felt strong up the first
climb. The grip of the new rear tire was noticeably better
than the old one. It was so good that they were throwing
dirt and pebbles at as I rode, some down the back of my
shorts and into my shoes. Soon enough I was at Signal Peak
and pushing up a steep pitch I've yet to tackle on the SS
(and may never - it's very steep and starts in a spot with
no available momentum). The air up there at just under 9000
Ft just felt great. It was a little hot on the way up, but
once I hit the saddle there was a nice cool breeze to get me
started on the singletrack. I rolled down the smooth trail
feeling like I was floating. The Paul Words just roll so
nicely. The tires really held well as I leaned into the
twisty trail. This section crossed a few drainages, so there
were alternating climbs and descents as I gradually shed
some vertical until I reached a jeep trail. I had to ride a
few miles on the two track for this route, and there were
some very steep climbs on it. Good thing for me there was
usually a very steep downhill approach to the steep climbs
(maybe 200' vertical) so I did them rollercoaster style. Let
up on the brakes for the dh approach, reaching speeds I
wouldn't usually hit, then compressing at the bottom and
carrying as much of that momentum as I could up the other
side, climbing out of the saddle to get up over the lip.
Kind of scary but fun and effective. The jeep trail I was on
drops to an intersection where I turn on to the Sheep's
Gulch road (another jeep trail) for the Signal Mesa ascent
to the highest point of the ride. This was another good
solid 1000'+ climb over a few Miles. The pitch was just
(almost) comfortable at my 32:17 ratio. I had to walk one
steep turn, but managed to ride the rest, mostly standing
with the occasional couple of pedal strokes seated in a flat
spot every now and then. Once I hit the top it becomes a
very nice, relatively flat high cruise along the top of
Signal Mesa, which overlooks the Gunnison Valley, with the
San Juans looming behind in the distance. Again, great
rolling SS terrain. After a few Miles I peeled off on to the
singletrack that would take me back towards town via a
great, 1800' downhill. After most of the vertical was used
up, I found myself twisting and turning down Chicken Gulch,
the last stretch of singletrack before hitting a road. This
is a piece of trail I've ridden many times and I feel
comfortable letting it roll pretty fast. So one moment I'm
cruising along and as I approach a left hand turn (first
part of an S turn) I simultaneously feel a pull on the left
side of my bars and hear the loud crunch of sage. My world
immediately turns upside down as I realize I'm crashing,
long after I could do anything to prevent it. Then as
quickly as it started it was quiet and still again and I was
laying on my back in the gulch below the trail. The only
pain I felt was a charlie horse in my right butt cheek. I
sat up slowly, spitting dirt and wiping the grit from my
eyes and looked back up towards the trail. My bike was still
in the trail, tangled in sagebrush about 10' above where I
was laying. Apparently what had happened is I was leaning
into this left turn and caught my bar end on a big sage
bush. This yanked the whole three foot tall bush out of the
ground which then promptly got sucked into my front wheel
and wedged between my wheel and fork, ejecting me toward the
drop-side of the trail into a rocky creek bed. I came out of
it with a painful, cramping charlie horse, and some minor
scrapes and bruises. I think my CamelBak took most of the
impact and protected my back from the pile of rocks I landed
on. I also hit my left shoulder, although not very hard and
it held up just fine (this is the one I had surgery on last
fall). I collected myself, checked out the bike, and spun
the last few miles home as easily as I could to keep my
right glute from cramping. I made it home just in time to
help my brother move some heavy items to his new house,
which wasn't really what I felt like doing right then. So
although I would have preferred not to crash, I'm pretty
happy with the outcome. The bike is fine, and I'm just
leaning a bit to the left in my chair today. This was the
first crash of the season, the first crash on the SS, and
the first crash on my repaired shoulder. Everything came
through it OK, and my butt feels better already. I'm glad
the cramping has eased up, because that was pretty
uncomfortable. I think I may head back up there with some
hedge clippers this week...
Matt
