Buffalo Creek Boys' Ride

The girls had other plans, which included several hours of baking, so Quinn and I took the bikes out to Buffalo Creek and rode a super fun, relatively easy loop. We parked at the ranger station where Buffalo Creek crosses Deckers Road (which might also be Buffalo Creek Road) and road up South Buffalo Creek Road, which climbs beside Buffalo Creek, up the Mt. Baldy Trail eventually connecting with Charlie's Cut-Off, and then down Sandy Wash Trail back to where we started. We'd done this loop a couple of years ago with the girls, but Quinn and I had ridden the big black tandem for that one. Today we were on our almost-matching white Santa Cruz bikes. 

Click here to link to the Garmin log.

This is a really great ride. Not too hard and loads of fun. The ride up the road is a steady but gentle climb; about 500 feet in 4 miles. This time we just cruised up the road at gentle pace, saving our strength for the climb up the single track. Once Mt. Baldy Trail leaves the road the climb gets steeper, but it's still not too bad, with about 900 feet of climbing in three miles. Quinn did really well; a little frustration set in early on climb up Mt. Baldy Trail, but he pulled through and climbed it really well. Once the trail starts down, it's just smooth fast fun. Charlie's Cut-Off has lots of ups and downs on grippy granite boulders and slabs. Sandy Wash is pretty much fast and swoopy gravel all the way down. It's a riot.

The temperature was somewhere around 50 F, and rain that fell the day before left the air damp, so the smell of conifers in the air was thick. Clouds in the sky and rain in the forecast kept us watching the sky. There was minimal wind, so it was very quiet; many unseen and unidentified birds were singing, tons of stripey little rodents were scurrying in the trees, on the ground, and on the fallen logs in between. We saw a couple of small herds of mule deer.

My camera didn't like the contrast in the sky, so most of my pics are washed out, but this rocky peak is Mt. Baldy, himself. Our ride took us in a loop around Mt. Baldy.

Much of this area burned years ago, and the skeletons of trees still standing lend an eerie feel to the landscape; the feeling is magnified by bulbous and twisted chunks of granite.

Quinn took my advice on crossing Miller Creek (or what I think was Miller Creek). I suggested he build as much speed as possible on the steep drop down to the creek, and bunny hop long and hard to clear the pool. Once up the climb out on the other side he stopped to drain the water out of shoe, wring out his sock, and shake the water out of his gloves. It worked for me.

This last picture is at the top of Sandy Wash, as we were getting ready to swoop down Sandy Wash for the return to the parking area.

So our trek was without issue or incident until about a quarter mile from the end of the ride when I took a crazy high-speed spill. I was closely following Quinn through a series of swoopy, up-and-down, left-and-ride, bermed sandy corners, and was looking ahead down the trail when suddenly my front wheel washed out in a thick pile of Pike's Peak Granite Pea Gravel. My bike disappeared from underneath me and I flew down the trail, eventually landing roughly and sliding to a halt -- just before my airborne Nickel crashed down on top of me. We were OK. I picked myself up, dusted off the grit, got scolded by my son for sloppy, out-of control riding, and continued happily down the trail.

Spring Break 2014: Moab Brand Trails

After a rather predictably disappointing continental breakfast in a crowded windowless room at the hotel we headed straight for the Moab Brand Trails just north of town. We were the third, maybe fourth, group to arrive at the trailhead. It was just after 8 a.m. There was a crazy fierce wind blowing so strongly from the south we could hardly stand up, and sand picked up by the wind felt like it might remove our skin. We couldn't set our helmets down or they'd blow away. Socks, jackets, anything could fly. We considered just going into town for a cup of coffee, but decided we'd come to ride, so we might as well do it. Once we were out on the trail among the rocks the wind seemed less fierce, perhaps somewhat buffered by the surrounding hills.

We set off on Lazy EZ, then linked to Deadman's Ridge, a new and challenging one for us, then a short section of Bar B, then Rockin' A, and Circle O. Here's a link to the Garmin log.

There's a lot of wide open space out there. It's a good thing the trails are well marked.

Deadman's Ridge was really amazing -- as long as you're into big rocks, red dirt, and scrubby vegetation. Cindy and Abbey had to think at least twice before riding this freaky descent. I'm afraid that perhaps Quinn didn't think at all.

Deadman's Ridge Trail crossed a ridge of soft red and crumbly sandstone -- is that Navajo sandstone? -- whereas Rockin' A and Circle O traverse huge slabs of light-colored Entrada sandstone, which seems to be much harder, less crumbly, but still quite grippy under foot -- or tire.

With miles and miles of solid rock, staying on the trail could be a challenge, but the trail is well marked with a painted line. See the dashed yellow line in the picture below. Trail signage suggests that riders should strive to ride right on top of line for a warm fuzzy feeling. This would minimize any impact of the trail on vegetation (what there is of it) and also minimizes the likelihood that a rider would ride straight off the edge of a large unrideable obstacle or cliff. And there are plenty of those out there.

Why do they call it Circle O?

It's getting harder and harder to keep up with him.

We finished our ride ahead of noon, and set off in search of a campsite. We still had to search a little, but we found and invaded a nice spot in the Hal Canyon campground along Highway 128. 

Once we had our camp set up Quinn and I finally got his electric RC rock crawler out to give it a try on the Hal Canyon sandstone. There was a good pile of rocks where the canyon passes under the highway near the campground that seemed an ideal and harmless spot for such a thing. With incredibly low gearing, four-wheel steering, a separate motor on each fully locked axles, it's amazing capable. It's very slow, and it doesn't really matter if you roll it. Much safer than cycling.

Because we were camping, it rained all night.