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An epic trip, somehow summarized (with pics!) (36 posts)
|  An epic trip, somehow summarized (with pics!) | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 2:20 PM | | As of early June, I'd been working for my employer for 7 years. Per the terms of our agreement, that entitled me to an 8 week paid sabbatical vacation. On July 4th, I started that vacation. The biking vacation of a lifetime...one of epic proportions. What follows next, is as brief a synopsis of that trip as I can reasonably provide, without doing the trip an injustice. Overall, I travelled more than 7000 miles on my trip, with this rig/trailer providing travelling condo support:
Finch Platte remarked, "It has an upstairs!", when he took a gander at the Tahoe gathering.
Anyway, without further delay, here are the pics, along with some dumb-witting verbage.
The first is this pic from the Rainbow Rim Trail at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon:
Notice there's nothing to see...that's because the CF Card the pictures are on was lost. That's a shame too. The Rainbow Rim was a blast, even if our ride that day was cut short, due to Bike Widow troubles. Seems 2 of the 3 of us had committed to being gone for only a couple of hours...big, big mistake. I need to go back and ride this trail again!
Next post...Mammoth Part I |
| Mammoth Mountain...Part I (more pics!) | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 2:27 PM | | The next stop on my journey was Mammouth Mountain. And it was a great stop. All told, we were there 7 days. Here are some images from that lovely trip:
First you ride up the Gondola:
Then you ride down some stairs:
Then you go "Off the top":
Then you go "Beach Cruising":
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And when you get to the bottom, you repeat, and repeat, and repeat. What a great ride that is. When it's time to head back to the trailer, you take Downtown, to Paper Route, to Lakes Trail, checking out the view along the way:
We were camped at Twin Lakes below...great place to camp, if you are riding the mountain, btw.
Next up: Tahoe Gathering! |
| Mammoth Mountain...Part I (more pics!) | KamikazeRider
Sep 10, 2003 2:50 PM | | Hey hey... I rode all those trails this summer at Mammoth....notice KAMIKAZEbikr? Please tell me you rode Kamikaze? Whooo its fast and I was on vee brakes too!
What other trails did you ride at Mammoth? Shotgun? Mountain View?
Great pics tho?
Mammoth is my happy place!! |
| I never rode Kamikaze... | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 4:39 PM | | The other trail I never rode was Bullet. I did ride Velocity. I should have ridden Bullet, just to say I did it. On a Racer-X, however, Bullet and Velocity are pretty challenging. Kamikaze never interested me, for some reason.
I rode Skid Marks, Off The Top, 7 bridges, Riccochet (sp?), Beach Cruiser, Mountain View (including off-mountain from Minaret Vista), Uptown, Downtown, Shotgun, Paper Route, Bridge The Gap, Break Through, Big Ring, Juniper, Velocity, and Lakes Trail.
--sdb |
| Tahoe Gathering (more pics!) | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 2:48 PM | | From Mammoth, we travelled to South Lake Tahoe to hook up with the Tahoe Gathering that a Mr. Big Boulder (aka Steve) had organized. At this point, the family part of the trip ended, as I flew my wife and 2 kids back to Phoenix, via Sacramento, so that the Gathering could be enjoyed to its fullest potential (in other words, my wife didn't think hanging out all day by the trailer, while I went for 3 8-12 hour day rides in a row, sounded like fun).
Anyway, the first day brought this merry crew together:
Whereupon, we rode copious amounts of the Tahoe Rim Trail, Flume, and the mysterious Chinese Downhill. For those that finished the ride (all 5 of us), the day would take its toll.
Here's the required Flume trail shot of Lake Tahoe:
Here's Tim doing some hucking, while JFR was fixing a flat. Tim was kind enough to post me doing the same huck...I'm sure you remember that, don't you?:
Here's JFR, cruising around the final bend, before we hooked up with Big Boulder for a cold one well beyond the mid-point of the route:
Here's Jim (jilm?) at the same spot:
At this point, we were half-way up a pretty grueling climb. JFR and Tim summitted first, while Jim, UncleMtb, and I took up the rear. At one point, along this next section, Jim was pushing his bike up the trail faster than I could ride it. I was amazed at how fast he was hiking his bike up the hill.
Subsequently, we hooked up with DGC for the great run down the Chinese Downhill. That was a great day.
Saturday was the killer. The group plan was a 23 mile crazy ride ending with Toad's. About 3 miles into the ride, I realized this had ceased being fun, and was just worked, so I announced I'd be going back down the way we'd come up, grab my truck, and see everyone at the end of the ride. I encouraged another rider, who was who-fully unequipped (not even a helmet) for the day's ride to do the same. JFR, TimL, and jilm were the only 3 to ride all of Friday and Saturday's rides. And Tim did it, with the "A" group on the second day, which blew me away.
Sunday was to be a fun day. DGC led us out, and given my rest on the middle day, I was feeling pretty good. Here DGC gets a shot of me riding a stream crossing:
And then I got DGC doing it. We had to be quick. The mosquito's were fierce:
Finally we arrived at this wonderful lake:
From here, we were treated to the most excellent downhill. The rider pictured in the above picture and I rode it together, although he had ridden all of the Saturday ride, and wasn't feeling too adventurous. I can't recall his name, but I have to say, Sunday was my favorite day. Much more technical riding than the previous 2 days, but not crazy technical. Just right, and such a blast!
Up next, the Pacific Coast...
--sdb |
| The Pacific Coast (with more pics!) | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 3:00 PM | | From Tahoe, I drove to the Redwoods. At Redwood National Forest, there's an 18 mile biking loop, which features ~5 miles of single track, ~4 miles of double track, and the rest gravel or paved road.
Here's the highlight. This is from the edge of the trail, looking out on a wetland, with 2 elk by the lake, the beach, and the Pacific Ocean. The lighting's not perfect, but trust me, it's all there:
Here's one of the elk...I walked over to get a closer shot:
From here, I drove up the Oregon Coast over the next 5 days. I stopped near Coos Bay, and rode my bike along the beach:
Over to a lighthouse:
And out onto the jetti:
While at Coos Bay, I took a day trip down to the Sea Lion Cave, and added my contribution to the most photographed lighthouse in the world:
From here, I went up the coast to Cannon Beach/Haystack Rock:
And then further north to Astoria:
And Fort Stephens:
I know these didn't have great mountain bike content, but mostly I just rode along the beach, or rode my bike through the little towns, taking in the pure air, sunshine, and beautiful scenery.
Up next, more of Oregon... |
| Ever see the flick Amelia where the lawn gnome | Jrm
Sep 11, 2003 6:54 AM | | Where alemie steals the gnome and sends it around the world. And then in the end they show all these pics of the gnome in the foreground of all these landmarks. I't seem like you say the flick too.
PS; Note to self, John you need a f-ing vacation... |
| For much of my trip... | sdbelt
Sep 11, 2003 8:00 AM | | When it was just me, the trailer, and the Racer-X, I played with story lines in my head about the great trip that the Racer-X was having. I really love my bike, and can't imagine liking any another bike nearly as well. I guess that must have shown up in some of these pictures.
I'm not sure I've seen that movie, but I'm pretty sure the in front of scenic spots has been used often enough that I wasn't being original.
--sdb |
| More Oregon riding...(with more pics!) | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 3:10 PM | | From Astoria, I returned to my native land (Portland):
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Here I had my second ISIS drive bottom bracket of the trip installed. Based on the 6 ISIS bottom brackets I've gone through over the last year, I cannot recommend the ISIS system to anyone...especially those of us unlucky enough to weight over 200 lbs.
Anyway, with Portland as a home base, I got to ride the McKenzie River Trail. This trail is awesome! Here's the lake you get to within the first mile:
Along the way you cross a number of foot bridges. I attempted to ride this one, as it had 2 hand rails. Many of them only had 1 hand rail, and all of those were carefully walked (and I still almost fell in once!):
Here's a shot of a waterfall, made by the McKenzie River. There's a footpath that goes behind it.
I was lucky to hook up with a group that out of Bend. A LBS in Bend was shuttling 8 or 10 riders, which saved me a nasty road ride back to the beginning. That day was a blast, and I can't recommend the McKenzie River Trail highly enough. If you ride in Oregon...ride this trail.
From Portland, I spent a couple of nights at Wallowa Lake. Few have heard of Wallowa Lake, that aren't from Oregon, but it's a very family friendly destination that I went to several times growing up in Oregon. This shot is from the "mountain bike" trail that is provided off the top of a gondola. The trail really, really sucked, as it was mostly the access road up to the top, then gravel road for the farmers at the bottom, then dirt road on a farm, and then finally a sweet ~2 mile bit back to the beginning. The final ~2 miles was cool, but the other 10-15 miles was really lame. Views from the top were great, however. And a day on the back isn't ever really all that bad.
Up next...Utah!
--sdb |
| Hey! That's my office you got in that photo.... | OldSchool
Sep 10, 2003 4:05 PM | | In Portland -- I'm in the Fox Tower. That white one... all the way to the left. I'm waving right now!
sbd, That was an awesome post. Looks like an awesome vacation too. Thanks for the show,
Tim |
| Utah...Moab, Bryce, Zion (with even more pics!) | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 3:42 PM | | When I arrived at Wallowa Lake, I didn't really know where I was going to go next. There was a 24 hr race in Colorado, and there was Utah (Moab, etc.). There was Durango, Fruita. Lots of choices, and it was tough to decide. In the end, I decided I couldn't take an epic mountain biking trip, without saying I had gone to Moab. So I drove 800+ miles in one day (do that pulling 12k lbs, and tell me how pleasant it is!), and arrived in Moab.
The first day I rode Slickrock Trail. I got up late, and didn't get out to the trail until nearly 11am. The Ranger cautioned me about the heat and not recommending people ride this late. I said I was from Pheonix...and besides, it's overcast today. She said, "Your from Pheonix, the here you go". Boy that Slickrock trail is a blast to ride. It was physically demanding, but more than worth the effort.
Here's a couple of Slickrock pics:
And a picture of the town of Moab, from Slickrock:
That evening I went over to Arches and did some hiking around. Porcupine Rim seemed to be calling my name:
Throughout that day, I had tried and tried to arrange a shuttle, but the operators really didn't want to shuttle a single rider on a weekday in August. Luckily, one operator agreed to take me up. I gave him $20, instead of the regular $10 to show my appreciation. Fortunately for him, he found out about another guy, so there were 2 of us on his shuttle.
This other rider wasn't really a mountain biker. He was from San Diego and admitted to being more of a roadie. The initial climb was killing him, and he was walking everything that was mildly technical. Although I didn't want to ride alone, I just couldn't hang back that slow, and still enjoy myself, so I arrived at the "false top", alone.
Shortly after I go there, however, another rider (Wayne) pedalled up to the vista. He was from Vancouver, BC, and had ridden the entire road all the way. Considering the extra mileage he'd done, he seemed to be riding very strong. Wayne took this shot for me:
I had wanted to ride with someone, and apparently Wayne did too, so we headed out together, just as the San Diego rider joined us.
Riding with Wayne turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip. The extra mileage had slowed him down just enough, such that we were riding very close in speed and ability. Clearly Wayne's a very strong rider, and now that I rummage through my pics...I'm sadden I didn't get a shot of him.
A few miles later, Wayne stopped for a beer...and gave me one two. Canadian's are great! (I'm happier than I look...trust me!)
Then we got to the diving board. I'd been looking for this spot all ride long, and Wayne had accidentally bipassed it on the right. I yelled at him, and we played around on it a bit. Neither of us could get up the nerve to huck it:
The single track came next, which was a real treat. Before we knew it, we were at trail's end:
From Moab, I travelled South West to a campground between Bryce and Zion, outside of Cedar City (close to Brian Head). The Virgin River Rim Trail is here, and I'd heard this was a must-do ride. I hooked up with a group of boy scouts from SLC, which was a bit of an adventure, and we had a great ride on the VRRT. Here's the view of Zion, from the trail:
The scouts rode about 1/2 the length of the trail with me, but mechanicals and fatigue meant they would ride the second half. It turns out, they rode the best section. But the second half did half tasty (for lack of a more physically demanding word) climbs through aspens, like this:
The next day, I hooked up again with the scouts and we climbed to the top of Angel's Landing in Zion. No biking this day, but the view from the top is pretty cool:
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My final day in Utah, I rode the Thunder Mountain Trail, which rides nowhere near a mountain named Thunder. The forest service just calls it that. Anyway, it's outside Bryce Canyon, and has some spectacular scenery. I rode the trail in the counter-clockwise direction. I don't recommend that to anyone else. The uphill, in this direction is absolutely brutal. And the downhill is all boring forest road/bike path. Anyway, the brutal route gave me plenty of chances to stop and take pictures (rest) like these:
After riding Thunder Mountain, I did a short 10 mile hike in Bryce Canyon itself. I won't bore you with a bunch of hiking photo's...except this one of Wall Street. I think it's pretty cool:
After Bryce, I spent a night in Vegas and saw the Blue Men Group do their thing. Cool show. And then I drove home. Spent a week with the wife and kids. Did some of the honey-do list, and then headed back on the road...to Mammoth Mountain again!
Up next, Mammoth...part 2
--sdb |
| " I hooked up with a group of boy scouts from SLC" | Pete.
Sep 11, 2003 4:41 PM | | Said the lone guy with a big ole trailer...
Great trip/pics. |
| Mammoth Mountain...Part II (pics from the first two days) | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 3:52 PM | | My neighbor Jeff plans a biking trip to Mammoth every summer, and though it was a tough choice, I blew off Gaspin' in the Aspens to go back to Mammoth. Also on for the trip, were colleagues of Jeff's sister, all employees of Cisco out of North Carolina. In total, there were 7 bikers, for the 3 day micro-gathering.
Here's the obligatory group shot. I'm pictured to the far left:
And another from the top. The sign say's Dave's Run. To bad DGC wasn't there...I'm pictured to the far right.
On Saturday, we had a great run down Skid Marks, which enabled this shot from the Lakes Trail Overlook:
Here's Jeff riding the stairs at the top of the gondola. Jeff has ridden in Mammoth for 4 years now, but had never ridden these stairs. I shocked the group when I rode them the first time up, and then goded (sp?) the guys to ride them. By the 3rd day, almost all of the guys were riding them with ease. Jeff always had to psych himself up a bit, but I suspect next year, it'll be no biggie.
Interestingly, the girls were riding the mid-mountain stairs with ease. Hopefully they'll start riding the top stair next year as well.
There's also a stair at the bottom of the gondola, that you push your bike up, to get on the gondola. On Friday, I tried to ride up it a couple of times, but wasn't very successful. Then, during a long bio break, I was encouraged to keep trying, repeatedly. After about 5 tries, I cleaned it. From then on I was about 75/25. The folks that worked there said they hadn't seen anyone do it yet this year.
I also found this shot of me at the exit drop from 7 bridges. 7 bridges is such a great trail:
The next post will be of pictures from the last and final day of the epic trip (an epic reply to sum it up?)...
--sdb |
| Is your boss hiring? | SuperB
Sep 10, 2003 4:13 PM | | Great pics, great trip, great bike, GREAT JOB! |
| Mammoth Mountain...Part II (the final day) | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 4:21 PM | | The final day, we lost two of our company, which left 5 in the group. The debate raged about whether a third day was need on the mountain, or whether we should ride off-mountain. Finally, we agreed to at least ride the forest service trail from the top of Minuet Vista. Here's the pic from that vista:
We road down a trail, which I forget the name, then took a wrong turn, and ended up riding over to the Crater Lakes that are near Mammoth. That was a lucky mis-turn, as none of our group had seen these lakes. Then we rode back into town, arriving at the base at around 2pm. Even though the hour was late, the mountain called and we bought passes. The pics that follow are from that last run from the top, down "Off the Top", to "Beach Cruiser", to "Downtown", to "Paper Route", back to "Downtown", and finally to "Shotgun". There's a lot of pics here, and they are all riding pics, so enjoy:
Chris rides the first Switchback:
Jeff rides it too:
The views as you head down, really suck:
http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/Mammoth2_OTT_Jeff_awesome_view.jpg">
Chris rides a twisty section of Off The Top:
Lori rides it too:
Chris hucks a shaded jump in lower Off The Top:
Lori rolls it fast and clean:
I take a shot at it:
High speed Beach Cruiser jumps:
Chris:
Jeff:
Lori
Me
I missed this one of Amanda, which was the best huck of the group (sorry Amanda!). Above, after doing his best JFR imitation, Chris crashed and bit it hard. Fortunately, he was mostly just shaken up from the crash. Nothing broke.
Jeff drops into the Beach Cruiser X-Zone:
Chris follows suit (it doesn't look pretty, but he rolled it just fine):
Jeff rides the exit drop of Shotgun. This was my favorite log drop of the entire mountain. Unfortunately, it was late and there was no light, so these pics aren't very good, but this is a fun, fun spot!
And me:
Whew!
--sdb |
| Nice trip- good pics | Annihilation Principle
Sep 10, 2003 9:44 PM | | Looks like you had lots of fun. Good times were had by all. However, what you're refering to as hucks aren't hucks. Minor niggle. Small jumps at best. Still fun though. Good job. Do it again. Go next year.
STAN |
| In summary | sdbelt
Sep 10, 2003 4:33 PM | | I can't believe my good fortune. I have to thank my wife for giving me the time away, the great riders I rode with, numerous bike shops along the route, the Wal-Mart Corporation for 5 gallons of deisel that James gave me outside of Vegas, and countless other people, who's names my poor memory is forgetting.
I regret few things about the trip, except that it had to end, and great destinations were missed. I've been asked several times what my favorite ride was. To be honest, that's dang near impossible to determine. Aside from a couple of rides, they were all so good.
If your future travels bring you to the Pheonix area, look me up. If you see this on the trail, stop me and say hi. If you gave me assistance in my journey, then my thanks go out to you. Hopefully we can meet again, so I may return the favor.
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(Picture above is from the top of Angel's Landing, Zion.)
Best regards,
--sdb |
| Great trip | radair
Sep 10, 2003 4:56 PM | | great post, thanks for sharing that. |
| Nice tour | pedalAZ
Sep 10, 2003 8:24 PM | | And we rode the ho hum McDowells last weekend after all that. I'm surprised you didn't complain about the lack of trees.
Thanks for the visuals. I'll have to ride Mammoth and Tahoe sometime. |
| Thanks for making a day in the office more enjoyable. | The Retro Grouch
Sep 10, 2003 9:27 PM | | Sounds like you had the trip of a lifetime. Thanks for sharing!
RG |
| Very cool. nm | fred³
Sep 11, 2003 3:11 AM | | |
| Great post | Bhlaffy
Sep 11, 2003 4:13 AM | | Reminds me of a ski trip I took along time ago. |
| Epic is an understatement! | Mary Ann
Sep 11, 2003 7:07 AM | | What a fabulous post! What a fabulous trip!
Your pictures are gorgeous. Thanks so much for sharing. You've given us all a huge case of "epic vacation" envy. ;-)
Mary Ann |
| Great trip! | mugg
Sep 11, 2003 7:32 AM | | Great photos and write up. Thanks for the passion hit! |
| In summary | Shannon Mendivil
Sep 11, 2003 9:10 AM | | Great Story, Great Pics, Great Vacations! Thanks for sharing. I would not have the endurance to handle even 1 days bike ride. |
| Gorgeous pics and great write-up! Lucky you!... | michigantammy
Sep 10, 2003 4:54 PM | | That would be a dream vacation for many of us :).
Thanks very much for sharing the beautiful pics of Oregon Coast, Tahoe, Moab and others.
Tammy |
| Wow. I thought I had a good summer. Great post...thanks. (nm) | troy
Sep 10, 2003 7:46 PM | | |
| nice pics/story, hope to see you at CK this year. | Jm_
Sep 10, 2003 8:37 PM | | nm |
| Great write up! | wg
Sep 10, 2003 10:48 PM | | I think most of us here would love to be able to have the abiltiy to do that kind of trip. Epic is a good word for it.
Good meeting you in Tahoe. Maybe again next year?
Werner |
| And thanks for the Clif Bars... | sdbelt
Sep 11, 2003 8:07 AM | | I didn't run out until the return trip to Mammoth. The ones with black cherries in them are really good.
Did you notice the postmark on the letter I sent...it was from Moab. I waited to send it, until the postmark would cause a little envy. You probably didn't notice, but anyway..
--sdb |
| I saw that. | wg
Sep 11, 2003 8:52 AM | | Took a bit to figure what's he doing there? Then some jealousy kicked in. OK, lots of jealousy.
Werner |
| 2 words ... Simply Awesome! | ®andyA
Sep 11, 2003 4:16 AM | | That's the "mother of all vacations" ... or something like that. :p
Awesome post... awesome write up... awesome pics...
Simply awesome.
Randy |
| WOW... | Ska!
Sep 11, 2003 7:21 AM | | If there was a "Post" Review part of the board I'd give this one 5 flamin' chillies without a doubt. Fantastic post. Thanks for sharing and I must admit, I am quite envious ;-)
Ska! |
| Great Write Up!! How do you like that truck?.... | greg1
Sep 11, 2003 7:44 AM | | I have been considering buying the 1500 with the Hemi. Do you like the truck you have? |
| There is no better pickup truck on the planet... | sdbelt
Sep 11, 2003 8:14 AM | | that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The Hemi is a fine engine, and for those that don't need everything the Cummins can provide (like 20+ mpg), Hemi equipped Rams are great. But a Cummins equipped Ram is going to go 400,000 miles, be worth more in trade-in, get significantly better gas mileage, tow your house up Pike's Peak, and never leave you stranded.
In a few words, I love my truck. For this trip, truck problems were not an option. I had a huge itinerary that I wanted to follow, and having any type of auto-mechanical was not in the cards. I did blow a tire on the trailer, which totally sucked, as it was between Hoover Dam and Kingman (AZ), with the temp around 110*. Changing a tire in those conditions really blows.
--sdb |
| Nice trip! | Paul B
Sep 11, 2003 8:59 AM | | I need to take me 8 weeks paid sabbatical and go tooling around the country. Great that the missus let you off the hook long enough for all this!
p. |
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