RR: If I were a cat...

Shawn Curry

....I'd only have eight lives left-at most, but more on that later.
There's a lot to be said about procrastinating while the day warms up in
the spring. The morning was pleasantly cool, but early afternoon topped
out at 70 F. Once I got my act together I headed out on a standard
Salida loop in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo range, CR 110, the
power line road, Lost Trail. It had been a week and a half since my
last ride. CR 110 is a stout climb up a dirt road, so I was a little
concerned about being a slug oozing my way up the trail. After a
leisurely ride across town to warm up, the climb went O.K., a gear or
two higher than the last time.
The dirt road intersects the power line road, but a single track side
trail that Tom Purvis showed me is a much more entertaining way to
finish the climb. The trail twists its way through a low pinion (I
think) forest. About half way along the single track, Shock! another
human, on an MTB no less. We were each so surprised to see another
person we both had to stop. Nice lady named Heidi. We chatted a bit
about what trails are open, and were on our separate ways.
Despite it being the end of what should've been the snowiest month here,
the power line road was already dry and sketchy. The road winds along,
with some short steep descents and climbs. The deep dirt only gave me
reason for concern once though "Oh I wish I were going slower but
braking wouldn't be good here just hang on." I did :-o
Lost Trail drops off the power line after maybe 1.5 miles and heads back
toward town. The first section winds through the forest but is much
rockier than the climb. Not quite baby heads, smaller and squarer.
Easy at a jog, lots more challenging as you pick up the pace. Tom P.
had described the trail as "Butter smooth" a few weeks ago. Just as I
was wondering where he buys his butter, I executed the smoothest bail in
my mountain biking career (at least that I remember-I am 40 after all).
In a loose right hander, the front end dug in, and I lost it. I
popped cleanly out of my pedals and clear of the bike. I landed on
hands and toes avoiding ALL of the rocks and cactus. My hands were in
the only two spots of soft dirt along the whole section of trail. Whew!
10 seconds later I was back on the bike. But that's not the cat part.
The rocky upper section gives way to really fun smooth (OK, butter
smooth) single track by way of a steep section lined with baby heads.
The first time I rode this section I thought it was marginally ridable.
I zipped right down today. :-)
Along the way the trail runs through a few drainages. One of them has a
steep approach and a shallower exit along a traverse. Really fun to do
fast if you nail it. I didn't. The steep part and the bottom went
fine. As I started back up, off to the side of the trail, is an
unobtrusive rock about a foot tall and two feet wide. Somewhere
immediately before I arrived next to this rock on the trail, I found
myself diverted and heading straight for it. My brain didn't think
bunny hop, but avoid. I threw the bike to the left as hard as I could.
So hard, my right foot clicked off the pedal and I almost high sided.
I didn't.
I went back down the trail to look at my tracks. Yup, I was close.
Yup, I swerved hard. Oh look, those rocks are right where my head
would've hit.
Contemplating parenthood and the value of intact skin and skull, I
headed down the rest of the way uneventfully with all of my one life.
Glad I'm not a cat!

Cheers,
Shawn

MattB

Shawn Curry wrote:
<snip>
> Along the way the trail runs through a few drainages. One of them
> has a steep approach and a shallower exit along a traverse. Really
> fun to do fast if you nail it. I didn't. The steep part and the
> bottom went fine. As I started back up, off to the side of the
> trail, is an unobtrusive rock about a foot tall and two feet wide.
> Somewhere immediately before I arrived next to this rock on the
> trail, I found myself diverted and heading straight for it. My brain
> didn't think bunny hop, but avoid. I threw the bike to the left as
> hard as I could. So hard, my right foot clicked off the pedal and I
> almost high sided. I didn't.
> I went back down the trail to look at my tracks. Yup, I was close.
> Yup, I swerved hard. Oh look, those rocks are right where my head
> would've hit.
> Contemplating parenthood and the value of intact skin and skull, I
> headed down the rest of the way uneventfully with all of my one life.
> Glad I'm not a cat!
>
> Cheers,
> Shawn

Nice save there. Glad you pulled it off. I've done a very similar thing
coming down the jeep trails from Signal Peak. I've hit 38 Mph on one section
and it's a rush. But one small slip at those speeds could be a huge
disaster. I got all wonky like you describe and just ended up putting a big
flat spot in my rim and somehow managing to recover without going down. For
me it was a lapse of concentration. Gotta stay focused at those times.

Matt

Shawn Curry

MattB wrote:
> Nice save there. Glad you pulled it off. I've done a very similar thing
> coming down the jeep trails from Signal Peak. I've hit 38 Mph on one section
> and it's a rush. But one small slip at those speeds could be a huge
> disaster. I got all wonky like you describe and just ended up putting a big
> flat spot in my rim and somehow managing to recover without going down. For
> me it was a lapse of concentration. Gotta stay focused at those times.
>
> Matt

Brain fart was the phrase that came to mind :-)

Shawn

Tom Purvis

Shawn Curry <totallyobfuscated@bresnan.net> wrote:
> ...
> Lost Trail drops off the power line after maybe 1.5 miles and heads back
> toward town. The first section winds through the forest but is much
> rockier than the climb. Not quite baby heads, smaller and squarer.
> Easy at a jog, lots more challenging as you pick up the pace. Tom P.
> had described the trail as "Butter smooth" a few weeks ago. Just as I
> was wondering where he buys his butter, I executed the smoothest bail ...

Nice ride report, and congratulations on the multiple saves. I rode
LT yesterday too. It's in pretty nice shape. That first place where
it drops steeply was so much rougher when I first moved here 4 years
ago. I was scared to even ride that section for a long time (years).
Perhaps a little lumpy to be called "butter", but by comparison to
past conditions, it's smooth.

Here's some photographia of the ride:

http://www.arkansasvalley.net/tpurvis/LostTrail.html

--
Tom Purvis - http://www.arkansasvalley.net/tpurvis/
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so
certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."-Bertrand Russell