2021 Mountain Biking

[Tricia]

@Andy Mink and @Philpug can mock my fall riding attire but if I fall, I won't blend with the landscape.

*I used the word "fall" twice with two different meanings. I guess it could be considered the fall colour tour.

 

[Tricia]

This weekend marked a milestone. The maiden voyage of my home-built truck shell. I packed it up and took off on Friday about noon. First stop: Buena Vista River Recreation area. They have a nice assortment of trails that combine single track and old railroad grades (turned into roads) just on the edge of town.

View attachment 144588 Parking was across the river. The bridge gave access to most (if not all?) of the trail system.

I found myself on a trail named South Bad Boyfriend. I was told it was technical. They did not exaggerate. I rode a lot of tough rock climbs but also hiked up and down a few that were just too exposed for me.

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Changing back to street clothes was a snap in the back of the truck. My skin tone is not that red. A trick of the light, I guess.

View attachment 144591 For anyone that hasn't seen the truck shell I built, here it is along Cottonwood Pass on my way to Hartman Rocks by way of C.B.

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Looking west from the summit of Cottonwood.

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On a county road off the west side of the pass. Night one was cold and rainy. I was dry inside but don't have any heat yet. I stayed warm in a 0º down sleeping bag.

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While I was getting rained on the summits were getting snow.

I visited my racing buddy and his family in C.B. in the morning. Then I was off to Hartman. I kept wanting to stop to take photos of the cottonwood trees but resisted. You can thank me later. There was a bit of traffic and I wasn't really in gaper mode yet.

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I had arrived. These maps were priceless as the BLM.gov site was down and I couldn't do any research once I had decided when and where I was going.

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My wee truck parked in a disbursed camping spot. Over the rocks just behind the truck were 150 - 200 foot cliffs down to the main entrance and day user parking area and a challenging trail.

The trail system is quite robust with a variety of trail types and levels. Motorcycles, bikes and hikers share the same trails. The conditions are remarkably not at all chewed up like our moto trails. On a windy Saturday afternoon during a 3 hour ride, I saw two bikers, no motos, no hikers.

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This is an example of the large rock formations the trails traversed. I surprised myself by descending this. There was no loose grit and the steps weren't huge but it was a long sustained drop. I have been trying to reduce risk so I rationalized how low the objective risks were. Right.

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The rocky sections were connected by gritty sand that was very cohesive, not loose and deep but a firm, predictable tread. The rocky section I'm approaching would probably a combination of sand and small rocks interspersed with rock slabs. I had a lot more pedal strikes that usual as the pace of pedaling and the irregular spacing of rocks and obstacles was challenging.

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Looking over to Gunnison.

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There were brilliant cottonwoods scattered about the lower sections. The following day I rode through those trees.

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My truck is a speck in the middle of the right third of this photo from the Rattlesnake trail.

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Day is done.

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A new day and new trails. The cottonwoods reminded me of roman candles.

Ring Dike finished out my day. It paralleled the string of rocks where I was camped, but on the opposite side. Another feat of ignored self-preservation and a fun successful drop. Mind these are rubber always on the ground. I don't take air. They are steep and loss of control through hitting unexpected loose grit, wheel stopping rocks and just plain loosing balance are not realistic options.

I had lunch and packed up. I drove out the Powerline road. It ended in a section marked '4x4'. They weren't kidding. No damage done, but it was a real test of my skills (@nay is laughing) and my truck.

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At the bottom of the 4x4 road was a touch of humor.

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Seen on the way between Hartman and Gunnison.

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I usually go to Cottonwood Pass by way of Jack's Cabin Road. This time I took the more direct route that turned off further south along the road to C.B. I was in full on gaper mode by now.

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More roman candles.

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This time there was snow on Cottonwood Pass.

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Looking west from the pass, from whence I came.

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Looking east towards B.V. from the pass.

And because Doug hadn't taken enough photos, this happened on the approach to Summit County on Hoosier Pass.

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An HDR image generated by my phone. I think it looks painterly which is a nice effect.

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The root image that made up the HDR version. It is truer to the light and colors.

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Day 1 at Hartman Rocks.

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Day 2

Thank you for your time and patience. I sometimes feel like I should keep it brief, but somehow it always turns into a photo essay.

Very cool!

 

[Tricia]

Did a solo shuttle on this perfect October day: parked at Chimney Beach-> east shore bike path-> flume trail shuttles-> TRT-> Flume-> Marlette Lake-> Chimney Beach DH

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Holy shit. You're still alive!!!
Its been too long. Lets get together.

 

[Andy Mink]

Never been to peavine, is there some technical single track?

Never been to peavine, is there some technical single track?

There's some that I consider technical. Definitely some "don't fall here" spots. Lots of rocks.

 

[Rod9301]

There's some that I consider technical. Definitely some "don't fall here" spots. Lots of rocks.
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Thank you. Can you post a gaia or other track recording? I would like to go there, but wouldn't know where to go. I live in squaw, and when cold i go to Nevada city, but this could be closer.

 

[Philpug]

Thank you. Can you post a gaia or other track recording? I would like to go there, but wouldn't know where to go. I live in squaw, and when cold i go to Nevada city, but this could be closer.

Meet here and we will take you up.

 

[Andy Mink]

Thank you. Can you post a gaia or other track recording? I would like to go there, but wouldn't know where to go. I live in squaw, and when cold i go to Nevada city, but this could be closer.

This is probably the best source. I don't know what gaia is and my tracks aren't very helpful.

Trail Maps

Explore our Peavine trails on our interactive map or download the map file on bottom below

www.bltsnv.org

 

[Andy Mink]

Meet here and we will take you up.

This. Easier to show than explain.

 

[Tricia]

Thank you. Can you post a gaia or other track recording? I would like to go there, but wouldn't know where to go. I live in squaw, and when cold i go to Nevada city, but this could be closer.

I was going to say, come down and you can take a ride from our house and they can show you around Peavine, but Phil beat me to it.

 

[nay]

The neighborhood ride today. I have this one out riding again instead of working so much.

 

[cantunamunch]

 

[scott43]

I'd leave the Viking helmet at home for that ride...

 

[cantunamunch]

Also anything white. Blue polka dots from now til snow.

 

[Primoz]

Since I finally got my real bike back, and as it's just too cold here to ride, I put bike in car and drove to seaside where it's still nice and warm.... if +12c on morning and some 18-19c on way back is considered as warm Today's plan was actually old railway trail operating between 1902 and 1935 connecting Trieste in Italy, going through Slovenia and ending in Porec, Croatia, which is nowadays turned into hiking/cycling path. It's something like 120km long, and as it's not summer and high season anymore, there's no shuttle back, and 240km would be slightly too crazy even for me. So I picked just part of it

Weather on road looked promising, and so did temperature showing in car. Reality was, that +12c with some north eastern wind didn't feel warm at all, once I was in bike clothes. Good thing was, I had basically winter clothes with me and after few km and crossing Slovenia-Croatia border tracks starts to climb up for next 25km, so you get warmed up pretty fast.

One of rare views to nearby landscape and little villages scattered around coasta hills. Railway was going more inside of land and out of coast and it's mostly between trees so there's no as much vies as I though there will be.

Hill with church and village on top was my turning point. 55km from start, which means pretty much exactly same for way back. Return path was slightly shorter as on way back, I didn't make detour to check village on top of first climb.

After first 25km of uphill, 20km of downhill, short loop to village on previous photo, it's time to start another 20km climb back up.

78km done, another 25km to go, and I was feeling super empty already. Thank god for that sandwich I packed in backpack just in case. This just in case came super handy

Descending back to border crossing with my home country already in view. Salt pans don't look anything special now when full of water, but when operating in summer this view is pretty amazing for me.

Done and dusted 102km, 900 height meters and a bit less then 4.5h on bike. Changing clothes, good espresso in bar accross the road and then 1:15h drive back home. I'm pretty luck Slovenia is so small, that I'm living in middle of the Alps and have just good 1h drive to seaside. Normally I really don't like seaside and sea, but in early spring or late autumn, when there's no snow yet/anymore and it's too cold to ride bike back at home, this place is great

 

[Doug Briggs]

I'm following your lead, @Primoz, and am going to return to Buena Vista with a friend to ride some easy trails tomorrow as the trails around here are going to be a combo of snow, melting snow and mud. This interval between dry trails and open slopes is hard.

 

[4ster]

Most of the favorite trails were still too wet today & the BST which I rode last Sunday was likely overrun with crowds today. Those trails are difficult to ride when busy because they are mostly out & back rides traversing along a steep slope but they do have different soil that drains quickly.
I opted to ride from home on the sunny side of the valley & only ran into a few puddles. Except for a few bridges, the full loop on the new Sidewinder trail is complete. It is only a few miles loop so along with the trails from home l lapped it twice CC & once clockwise & was able to get an almost 14 mile ride. The only other people I saw where a friend and her daughter lapping the opposite direction.

Retention pond above my place, skating in winter

Main trailhead

3 or 4 rock features like this

& some well engineered berm turns

 

[surfacehoar]

Classic fall day in the Ok. This trail still scares me a little bit.

It's flat here; so I took a picture.

This corner is different from the rest.

It's fast in the grass.

The Starbucks trail. It's not hiking without your latte.

 

[Tom K.]

Did a fairly big "mixed" adventure day on Saturday with a long-time friend (dirt bike racing, college, skiing, etc.).

The pics don't do it justice, but.....

Started at the bottom of the Rattlesnake Canyon in Mizz MT, and climbed ~3,500 feet to the wilderness boundary:

Then hiked another mile+ and 1,200 feet in a couple inches of snow up to the summit of Stuart Peak at nearly 8,000' for this view of the Mission Mountains:

Then drove home with the other side of the Mission Mountains in my sight, in perfect end of the day light (check out the length of the car's shadow).

Like I said, kind of lousy pics, but what a grand day!

 

[Doug Briggs]

I returned to BV today to some perfect temps, fine trails and a day out of the county.

We started by driving a few miles up a county road to the Midland Trail parking lot. From there we started climbing, passing a number of excellent dispersed camping sites. You can tell where my new focus is. ;-)

You had to look back to get most of the scenic views but it was worth a number of stopes for the scenery.

Topping out at a high elevation dispersed camping area. The views were grand.

We were doing the Red loop aka Midland 376A loop.

At the trailhead there was this interpretive sign. The trail we got on was the railroad grade for the train in the AFT.

This was someone's house that you could see from the trail. Kind of a fantasy home, I guess. Nice teepee.

This approximates the home's view.

I haven't a clue what this plant was. I'd never seen frilly white 'things' like this before.

The trail diverged from the railroad grade near the end. I missed that part as I hung a left onto 'Unchained'. There were a number of places where there was a sign: 'Ride Smart' and it would show a couple of options for continuing. I stopped choosing the harder routes after nearly rolling off a ledge with a 10 foot drop to the ground below. I should have zagged instead of zigged. I didn't realize until 10 minutes later down the trail that my phone was missing. I had to return to the scene of the wreck. The phone was fine. Only nicks on my bar ends. I had a good scrape and blood on my calf, scraped my shoulder and knee as well as boogered up my right hand; I think I sprained it bracing during the fall. I'm lucky to have good falling skills as well as knowing that I had to arrest quickly.

Some of Buena Vista's trails are among the most technically challenging natural terrain I've ever ridden. I recommend it for anyone that wants to test their skills.

 

[4ster]

Sunday’s planned ride with @AmyPJ & @utskier got shortened because of mud but I wasn’t quite done so did another short ride of the South skyline Trail on the way home. Wish I had thought of it earlier as it was totally dry.

With a wet storm forecast I thought I had better get one more good ride in this morning. I haven’t done the South BST Trail since last fall. Except for a wrong turn which forced me to climb a very steep, loose gravel road that I wasn’t prepared for, it ended up really nice. I only saw a few other people the whole time and managed to finish just before the storm rolled in.

Lookin SW with the Oquirrh mountains in the distance

Above Ogden Canyon

Timing is everything

Although I think the App inflated it a little, it was more climbing than I anticipated