Up to 9pm Thursday evening, we had NINETEEN riders signed up for the Peak DH '08!
I woke up Friday morning at 5am, excited and ready to roll. We pulled out at 5:30 heading for Colorado Springs. I dropped off my wife at work, then my daughter at her friend's house.
First phone call of the morning comes in at 6:36am..."Hey...this is () calling from Denver...my friend overslept. We'll get down there as quickly as we can...and meet you at the trail head, hopefully someone would be willing to drive back up and help us pick up our car."
I arrived at Challenge Unlimited at 7am sharp...Eric was already there. People trickled in, turns out there was a miscount of the riders coming down from Denver ICCC. We ended up with one on the shuttle, plus the two that were beeting feet to meet us at the trail head, plus one other CSBOMB rider that bagged...and we picked up a "random chance" local named Dakota.
Roll Call!
Tony - CSBOMB
Eric - CSBOMB
Tim - CSBOMB
Kevin - Denver ICCC
Eric - Denver BOMB
Tom - San Diego, CA
Don - CSBOMB
Dave - Dust2DustMTB
Dakota
John SR - CSBOMB
John JR - CSBOMB
Bill - CSBOMB
Jeff - CSBOMB (and our tour guide de jour)
Yours Truly - CSBOMB
The two girls running late from Denver
Sixteen total...not a bad showing.
+ Darth Vader
We arrived at the trail head...it was pretty cool and breezy...the view was simply spectacular, with clear blue skies, great visibility all around and a beautiful blanket of clouds hanging at the base of the front range as far as the eye could see out to the east.
And the ever present Vader showing the way...
The girls from ICCC Denver showed up after about 20 minutes. Jeff gave us a little heads up trail talk...warned of some gnarly wash outs and to keep "heads up" for hikers coming up the mountain. Tom lead us off with a prayer and we were on our way.
Elk Park to Barr Trail:
Outstanding tight singletrack! The trail works it way to the southeast toward the east face of the peak. It is similar to the east face, but it starts lower and descends in to the forest much quicker. Plenty of that loose Pikes Peak granite and some exposed sections keeps the adrenaline factor up. It's so tempting to look at the view instead of the trail, a glance to the east could cause you some major issues in some spots.
I pinch flatted out my rear tire not long after descending below treeline. I was on the outside of a switchback working on the tire when one of the ICCC girls endo'd...almost face first into my rear dérailleur!
Dave (Top)...Tom (Bottom)
Got the train rolling again...and contrary to Jeff's estimate of only a "150 yards of climbing" I think he was off by large margin. There is a fair amount of climbing on Elk Park...but it's a great trail, very tight singletrack with some roots, rocks and a few short drops. I forgot to turn my GPS on...maybe someone else had one that can tell the climbing total.
We stopped to bunch up again in this meadow.
The biggest wreck, best injury and most bacon award goes to...
Yours truly.
There was a bridge over a small stream...the bridge was at the most 15 feet long. It was made of logs, laid down next to each other. It was wet, there were some spaces between the logs. Tom...who's an amazing rider by the way...blasted across the bridge, so I hit the bridge right after him. My front wheel slipped off one log and inbetween the one next to it. My wheel buried itself all the way to the axle as it jammed between the logs...causing me to go from about 15mph to zero in no time flat.
I semi-side slip/endo'd onto my knee and elbow, opening up an ugly deep skin flapping gash on my knee and some great scrapes on my elbow. I remember doing a POST (Power On Self Test) and I lay there on the bridge hearing people say "Are you alright? Are you ok?" I was still running the through the power on self test routine to see if anything was broken...I couldn't talk due to the sudden shooting pain in my elbow and me knee so I just raised my right hand in the air as if to say "Yeah...I'm an idiot...but I'm ok..."
I've had a few good wrecks lately...tells me something 'profound'...I'm not spending enough time on the trails working on my SKILLS!Yours truly.
There was a bridge over a small stream...the bridge was at the most 15 feet long. It was made of logs, laid down next to each other. It was wet, there were some spaces between the logs. Tom...who's an amazing rider by the way...blasted across the bridge, so I hit the bridge right after him. My front wheel slipped off one log and inbetween the one next to it. My wheel buried itself all the way to the axle as it jammed between the logs...causing me to go from about 15mph to zero in no time flat.
I semi-side slip/endo'd onto my knee and elbow, opening up an ugly deep skin flapping gash on my knee and some great scrapes on my elbow. I remember doing a POST (Power On Self Test) and I lay there on the bridge hearing people say "Are you alright? Are you ok?" I was still running the through the power on self test routine to see if anything was broken...I couldn't talk due to the sudden shooting pain in my elbow and me knee so I just raised my right hand in the air as if to say "Yeah...I'm an idiot...but I'm ok..."
Barr Trail:
We made it to Barr Trail/Barr Camp...John and John had to scoot so they headed on down. We headed on down en mass after a short break. I could do the section right below Barr Camp on down to the top of the switchbacks over, and over, and over, and over. The trail just begs for you to scream through the trees, over roots and through corners...it's lightly peppered with a few small rock drops...just short "floaters", nothing big.
I was following right behind Dave and Dakota when Dakota realize he had missed a turn, hit the kids and before we knew it all three of us were piled up. Note to self...don't follow so close!
Finally down at the base...I missed it, but I heard that Tony had ridden almost the whole way clean...then endo'd literally ten feet from the parking lot. Sweet.
We pedaled to the cars...most had to bail to work or family stuff. Six of us grabbed some lunch. Jeff had to bail to do some work...the remaining five of us headed over to Palmer Park to show Tom the lay of the land.
Palmer Park:
Not a whole lot to say...and I didn't even snap a pic in Palmer. Tom did...and when he sends them my way I'll post some of his. Tom ate up Palmer...even on his beastly ASX...I have to say it again, Tom is an outstanding rider.
Highlight of the day...and a bit of redemption for me was the switchback above the horse stables...yeah I know...where are the pics? Tom took pics...as soon as he sends them I'll post. I nailed the switchback twice.
And finally about eight hours after the bridge stupidity I got to shower...I scrubbed all my wounds open to clean them out...did you hear the screams?
We made it to Barr Trail/Barr Camp...John and John had to scoot so they headed on down. We headed on down en mass after a short break. I could do the section right below Barr Camp on down to the top of the switchbacks over, and over, and over, and over. The trail just begs for you to scream through the trees, over roots and through corners...it's lightly peppered with a few small rock drops...just short "floaters", nothing big.
I was following right behind Dave and Dakota when Dakota realize he had missed a turn, hit the kids and before we knew it all three of us were piled up. Note to self...don't follow so close!
Finally down at the base...I missed it, but I heard that Tony had ridden almost the whole way clean...then endo'd literally ten feet from the parking lot. Sweet.
We pedaled to the cars...most had to bail to work or family stuff. Six of us grabbed some lunch. Jeff had to bail to do some work...the remaining five of us headed over to Palmer Park to show Tom the lay of the land.
Palmer Park:
Not a whole lot to say...and I didn't even snap a pic in Palmer. Tom did...and when he sends them my way I'll post some of his. Tom ate up Palmer...even on his beastly ASX...I have to say it again, Tom is an outstanding rider.
Highlight of the day...and a bit of redemption for me was the switchback above the horse stables...yeah I know...where are the pics? Tom took pics...as soon as he sends them I'll post. I nailed the switchback twice.
And finally about eight hours after the bridge stupidity I got to shower...I scrubbed all my wounds open to clean them out...did you hear the screams?
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