yesterday:
Got into town around 1, checked in to a local shop and got a map and ride suggestions. I headed out to Amasa Back, with the intention of riding Amasa Back (a jeep road) to some other (bike specific I think) trails. I chickened out when confronted with a lightning/wind storm, so I only got to ride Amasa Back. It was fun, totally different terrain and trail than I've ridden, and had nice views:
I drove back into town and grabbed a shower at the Poison Spider shop. Then I looked fruitlessly for a campsite, and ended up parking at a boat take-out on the Colorado river. When I got there I saw some dudes pulling out with their rafts. I started making dinner, and they rolled back around. The driver hopped out and explained that they were looking for their buddy, who was an excellent kayaker but seemed to have disappeared. He thought that perhaps his friend, Mark, paddled into town (long way...), and asked that if he show up I let him know his buddies were in town.
After dinner I was taking out my contacts in the cab of my truck when I heard some rustling in the bushes. It was dark, and I shined my headlight over towards the noise. A dude in paddling gear said hi, and I said, "oh, you're Mark."
I gave Mark a ride into town, for which he was extremely grateful. Mark spent the early part of his life in Decatur (near Atlanta), before moving to West Virginia, where he learned to paddle. Last night he apparently waited for a long time for his buddies to catch up but they never did...I'm not clear on what happened, but they let me park at the rafting depot, and I called it a night.
Today:
I cleverly have adapted my sleeping schedule very well to Western time. My 2 to 10 sleep schedule in Atlanta is now about a 12 to 8, although I think it'll be closer to 11 to 7 soon. So I woke up today around 7:30. Mark bought me some coffee, and I made some oatmeal, said my goodbyes to the rafting folks, and split for the trailhead.
My plan, as described at Poison Spider shop, was to ride the Poison Spider trail to the Portal trail. Sounds simple, eh? right.
In the desert there are tracks all over the place. The Poison Spider trail is a jeep trail. Sometimes it's marked, sometimes there are side trails...and on a bike you can ride pretty much wherever you want on the rock/sand terrain--so it's easy to get off the trail if it's not marked. I spent a good 6 miles doing unmapped loops on the Poison Spider trail. It was good riding, but frustrating to go in unplanned circles. I began to have images of myself, camelback empty, crawling around the desert in severe dehydration until some jeep happened upon me. Just about then I found the trail that would not go in a circle, so I checked my water supply (kinda low), ate my one powerbar, and continued my ride.
Up to this point I had done lots and lots of climbing. I was ready to go down, but knew that the point of the climbing was for the singletrack descent at the end, the Portal trail. I asked some jeepers (including a guide) earlier if they knew how to get to the portal trail but they did not (I actually feel that the guide, either an asshole or an idiot, led me in the wrong direction (this was when I was doing circles)). The guide said the trail was marked with skulls and warning signs, and that the exposure was so severe that you had to walk uphill of your bike and should it slip you have to throw it off the cliff and get it later. The kid riding with them looked at me and said, "you're really going to ride that?" I said hell yeah I was going to ride that.
So I finally made it to the Portal trail, much to my relief. There were no skulls, but there were signs that told me to dismount and walk (hahaha). To be serious it also said that three folks had died there from the exposure (like falling off the cliff). It wasnt nearly that bad, but there were sections where if you crashed towards the exposure you would probably fall. I didn't crash, which wasn't difficult, and I did walk some exposed technical sections.
The portal trail hugs this cliff line:
My hands burned, the trail was super technical and rocky, and it was great! Alas it was over too soon and I spun up the road back to the car. I went back to town, ate a couple of pbjs, and paid 3 bucks for access to the public pool and showers and stuff. It was awesome.
Here are some pictures:
a vista
And here are some from my ride in Arkansas:
Now off to the shop to get a ride suggestion for tomorrow. I need something with little climbing, my hindside is sore from slickrock+hardtail+seated climbing. A shuttle sure would be nice...
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