You would think after a year and a half in St George I’d be running out of new terrain to explore when leaving from my front door. Such is not the case. This region is tilted, corrugated, eroded into so many different land forms in such a small region as to present seemingly limitless opportunities for back yard exploration. Necessity is the mother of all invention as they say…this foreign white stuff leading to it’s red-headed stepchild (mud, wet adobe) is necessitating some creativity if any dirt is going to be ridden. And yes, there is plenty of dirt to ride around here :)
Time to peer into Topofusion and see what comes out of it’s crystal ball. OK, that and looking around to see where it isn’t white. The AZ strip looks fairly covered with white from my place – but that’s looking S towards N facing slopes. It’s merely an illusion. If it’s flat and below 4k’ it’s probably snow-free and maybe even dry.
So, this new route. It’s a beauty and features a rolling 1000′ climb overlooking the Virgin River gorge. It was a fine route for rolling the SS.
I kept asking myself what had kept me from riding here before? We’ve talked about it for a few years.
Meanwhile, LW has a snack attack like none other at the top. She just can’t seem to eat enough. What is up with that?
Rolling down the climb it dawns on her: we were sitting atop Starvation Point.
Here’s something to look forward to in Camp Lynda and don’t forget the snacks!
“Here’s something to look forward to in Camp Lynda…” I like the sound of this. Is it looking like all systems go?
Dave – absolutely! If CL was right now it’d be a go, and the next 2 weeks are forecast to be dry. The 3rd pic is looking over towards Blakes, an area we hit last year in CL. We were really surprised to see it dry – of course that’s a south facing slope. From my house it’s plastered white still. Probably no 1+ hour climbs this year but there are a staggering number of options remaining.
Barring bad weather in the week prior it’s all systems go. Keep yer fingers crossed!
When all else fails, we can always go tubing with Emma right? :)
Awesome looking terrain you have there at your disposal. Tried to bike from Cortez last Saturday but skies didn’t cooperate. Hope to hook up a CO-UT-CO loop out that way through Aneth.
Sounds good! I look forward to new-to-me stuff!
I’m in no shape for doing the 2 Epic Camp but I’m trying to fix that. Anyway I’ll be coming through St. George this weekend on my way to Vegas. Original plan was to ride Friday in Moab, Sat in St. George. Now I’m thinking it would be warmer to ride both days in St. George plus I get to Moab a lot more. Any pointers for a couple 30-40 mile rides this weekend?
Rob – camp lynda is not a race, it is a self supported group ride of sorts. Folks come for all sorts of reasons, one of which is getting in better shape. You can’t be too out of shape for it if you can manage 50 mile days!
Check out the schedule from last year here: http://teamhealthfx.com/blogs/lynda/archive/2008/01/07/3317.aspx. There’s a gps file attaached to that post, I believe it’s a garmin GDB file with all days attached. The ride we did day 1, NE of town covers some moabesque singletrack/slickrock and has a big climb at about 25 miles in. You can get partway, maybe all the way up that climb but will need to turn around and backtrack your route from there.
Other options: Green Valley, Zen, Barrel Cacti, Anasazi could all be linked up for a nice technical singletrack day. Check utahmountainbiking.com for gps files for those routes.
If you want less technical riding, there are lots of options in lower elevations of the AZ strip directly south of town. The first 60 miles of the TransUtah route should be in decent shape.
Have fun and your welcome to join us for Camp Lynda in a few weeks!
Thanks Dave! Is Gooseberry Mesa snowy this time of year?
Even as an out of shape ultra rider, I can still usually ride nearly all day. I just don’t go as far as I’m used to. I just figured if I camp to Camp Lynda I’d be riding by myself although I don’t mind that. Also I had been figuring that I wouldn’t be able to take time off work for it since I was doing the Vegas trip. Of course since I got laid off that isn’t a reason not to come unless I find a new job by then.
Gooseberry got nailed with at least a foot of snow around Christmas. We even had several days of snow in St George. I haven’t been up there so can’t really say what it’s like now, but it’s been cold enough I wouldn’t expect a lot of melting. Access by road could be the real kicker. Often it’s rideable all winter but not this one.
Not sure you’ve made the connenction, but we used to bump elbows a bunch in the early 90’s at the Sand Creek series chasing Jurgen. Seems like a lifetime ago…
Wow! I’ve been reading your blog for about a year. The name always was familiar but I thought it was just because I’ve seen it a bunch on the web. Jurgen hasn’t slowed much over the years.
Hopefully I’m rolling out of here soon after noon. If I can stay awake long enough, I’ll be in St. George tonight. Otherwise I’ll be there sometime tomorrow morning. Headed to Vegas Saturday night. I don’t what your plans are but if you want to have coffee and catch up a bit my cell is 719-330-4102.
Dave – you really look like Fabian Cancellera – which is a compliment. BUT, you’re probably putting out more watts. Sorry for the random nature of my post. Couldn’t hold back….
TJ!
Funny as ever :)