[RR courtesy of Sean and Evan from
here.]
Sunday was the graduation ride consisting of Goat Camp loop.
More climbing, more descending, more chuck, as recommended by the locals at SoMo. We really had no idea what this ride would be truly like, other than hard. MTBBill’s describes the end descent as a constant state of colon lockdown, so we had that to look forward to…or so we thought.
The antenna towers on the right would be close to what we’d be climbing up to.
Starting off on Ford Canyon.
Waddell Trail
Then it was time to climb Mesquite Canyon.
Or hike.
Switchbacks.
Looking down the canyon.
But still more to go.
Last part of Mesquite Canyon before we split off.
Climbing Willow Canyon trail.
Lots of flowers in bloom.
End of Willow Canyon and back on to Ford canyon
Why yes, that would be the trail up the ridgeline below the towers.
Trail paved with wild flowers on both sides.
This ride is demoralizing with the amount of climbing.
At least the scenery makes up for it.
Brief bit of descent, before climbing the trail below the towers.
Where’s Waldo?
We encountering two other riders the entire day.
And then the descent begins.
Pucker factor.
There’s a reason why this is double black diamond.
And it’s not because of the climbs.
We had a few miles of chunk and climbing on our way up the mountain
But it led to this sweet smooth section of singletrack higher up
It weaved along the hillside for quite a ways before we started heading up again
Lots of cactus which just added to the sweet views
Brent and Mark pause as we head up the last leg towards Goat Camp trail.
This was one of the most continuously nasty chunky technical trails I've ridden. Almost to the point of it not being fun. But then you kind of get into it. And then you get in a groove just as its almost over. Unfortunately I don't have many pics, just a few from the Waterfall section.
Sean navigates the opening drop
And clears the middle section.
He made it around the last corner and drop too, only to go over the bars on the flats at the bottom. I made it down to the last corner but wasn't feeling it, so walked down the last bit. Funny how you can lose your technical abilities when you aren't riding hard stuff all the time. I really had to psyche myself up to hit the the opening drop on this section but when I finally did it was easy. Towards the bottom I was cleaning almost everything, and kicking myself for not trying a few things higher up.
All in all a great weekend of riding. That's pretty much all we did - get up, ride, drop James at clinic, night ride, sleep, ride, drive home. Next time I'd like to have a bit more time as there's so much to explore. But this is a pretty decent weekend trip.
Thanks again to Sean for organizing everything!
Total Distance: 15.29 miles
Total Time: 4:55:27
Ascent: 2760 feet
Average Speed: 3.1 mph
Top Speed: 24.3 mph
Bike: Intense Spider
XVPMap:
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After Ernie Maxwell we had a fairly brutal paved road climb for a while, and then it was time for seemingly endless singletrack. We looped around all over, crossing back every once and a while to a central hub. The trails were a ton of fun, mostly cross country with just enough technical features to keep things interesting.
After we'd had our fill of singletrack we headed down Exfoliator and Tunnel of Love back toward the campground at Hurkey Creek. I had some cramping issues during the final climb, but Brian was generous enough to give me some mustard packets which helped considerably. After a quick regroup we rallied down the paved road to the finish.
During the drive home we were stuck behind a roll-over fatality which closed the freeway, so we ended up taking the scenic route back home through Santa Ysabel.