As the title explains Saturday I had probably my single hardest day ever out with the bike. I can’t really say my hardest day on the bike since I really felt that I would have to have been on the bike for at least 50% of the adventure for that to be true but either way onto the story.

Louis had proposed a few weeks back that we start to work on opening up another trail that had been lost to the big lemmon fire years ago as we did with Sammie Ridge. It had been a while since I had helped on that trail and I guess my brain had forgot how hard that had been so I said sure count me I should be able to handle it. Then as the the weekend approached some doubt started to seep in that maybe I was in for more then I could handle and I started to remember how tough Sammie had been. I had committed though so I was going to go through with it plus I had said I would bring the GPS so I guess I was double committed. I started preparing myself mentally for what I thought would be at least a 12 hour day of trail working and riding. Next thing I know it game day.

The morning started off with a thud and Kimmeh shut of the alarm before I heard it so I overslept by almost 45 minutes. Waking up in a rush on what was going to be a big day out is never a good way to start out. This put me late picking up Tim and Steve but being 5 in the morning traffic wasn’t bad and we made our way to Louis’s house almost on time. There we all piled or bike and geared into his truck and were on our way up the mountain.

The road going up Lemmon was packed with cyclist that morning but we still made good time and were up at the parking lot by 8:30am unpacking our gear and getting ready for our adventure. Everything was going smooth the weather was terrific and we were on the trail by 9:00am. I am now getting more familiar with this area now since it is also the start of Sammie which I have done a few times know and really enjoy these first few miles of amazing singletrack.

After grin inducing trail and only about 40 minutes we arrive at the turn of to the CDO trail our destination for the day. This is to be my first time on this section of trail and only know what little I have heard about it but I prepared for a trail that is in very poor shape. Almost right away we start working the trail over with some loppers and seem to be making some good headway on the first half mile of trail. I start to think well if the trail is like this all the way we aren’t going to be in bad shape today and with some work should have it open in a few weeks. We spend the next few hours making our way down the trail moving downed trees, cutting locust bushes, building log rolls, and getting things to slightly resemble a trail. As we get farther in though things start to change.

After awhile we loose track of time but I think it becomes clear that its probably time to start making our way out the trail and stop for some lunch. Up to this point the trail hasn’t really been that hard to follow and thing have been flowing pretty good. I Have yet to get my new GPS to show the course we need to take but good thing is Tim brought his so we are fine. Louis says there is a nice spot up a ways for lunch but says the trail starts to get a little harder to find. This is where things start to go downhill.

As we headed towards our lunch spot we really started having in and out moments were the trail was extremely hard to find if not impossible at all even with the GPS. This made for some slow going and for me a few moments of why am I even our here. At one point we got to and intersection where the GPS said the 2002 trail went left and the 2007 trail went right here Louis thought me and Tim should check out the 2007 route and  he and Tim were going on the 2002 route and we would meet where they re intersected. Then about half way down our side after ging ove about ten downed trees and through a huge locust patch Louis yells across that we had passed the lunch spot which he was having trouble finding and that we had to double pack up the incline to get to the spot. This meant going back though the locust bushes which have huge thorns on them then climbing or crawling under about have the downed trees we have just traversed. This was staring to wear on me and was really testing me. Steve and I get back up the trail and then cut off the trail to meet Louis and Tim in the middle of the two trails and I really nice pool of water with a small waterfall. Just a nice place to have lunch.

We all sit down in the shade and cool re freshness of the stream and start getting our lunches ready for a well deserved meal. Louis pulls out three beers for us which are a wonderful surprise, greatly appreciated, and consumed with huge fanfare by all of us. Thats also around the time Louis lets us know his stomach is not feeling so well and that he aited to long to eat. Its now already 2pm and we are not even halfway through the trail yet. We all start eating our lunch when Louis looses it for what will be a semi common occurrence for the rest of the adventure. He just starts puking off the log he is siting on thankfully out of our eyesight just not out of earshot. Lunch and the Louis show are over way to fast but at least we have had time to get some food in us anduse the stream to cool ourselves down before we trek onto into the woods. We also at this point take stock in our water supply and I think all of us take advantage of the water filter Tim brought which literally is a life saver. All stocked up we head out. 

Lunch Spot

So right from lunch not even 10ft we are already half lost. At this point Steve and myself are making our way to the side that Tim and Louis were on except we had our bikes in tow and they had left theirs on the trail. Just getting from the lunch spot back onto the actual “trail” was was brutal and demoralizing to say the least. Only positive thing was it was obvious that we weren’t going to have to climb the C-Gap road in the heat of the day so I guess things were looking up.

We continued on for hours of the same old routine. Finding the trail, losing the trail, climbing through bushes, going over & and under trees, and across & back on the stream. One of the saving graces in my mind was the stream every few hours we would take a break by it and use it to cool down. It really wash refreshing to splash your face in the water and cool off your head. But the suffering continued and it never really let up. Just every now and then the trail would give up a secret and let you get on your bike just long enough to think maybe it will be like this for awhile and I can take a break and just cruise. Then right when your mind started to reach that happy place the trail would slap you in the face and awake you to the reality that you have to climb over another downed tree then through some bushes.

This was a very typical scene. Can you see a trail?

After a while I pretty much lost track of time and just went into auto mode. I knew there was no option to bail out and that seeing this to the end was obviously the only option there was. This pretty much made the tired feeling go away. I am not sure I have ever reached that point before but it wasn’t that bad. I just settled into my pace and stopped getting annoyed about getting lost, climbing through bushes, and whatever else the trail wanted to throw at us. At least we hadn’t been eaten by hunger mountain lions and Steve was kind enough to keep falling over on his bike to entertain us all. Plus I figured out a pattern to the trail and the way it works about 2/3 of the way through. Every time Steve would fall over within ten minutes we would be lost again so when he wasn’t falling over would be right on course. Though it was funny to watch I’m not entirely sure it was worth the getting lost part. My favorite was when he fell into the mud it was pretty good.

So we pressed on Louis lost his lunch a few more times and we slowly churned away foot after foot of trail. Then as the day drew on and we were probably into our 8th or 9th hour the trail started to open up a little more and more. This meant my feet and every other aching thing on my body got to rest as we were actually for real riding our bikes. The sun was just starting to dip below Sammie ridge as we finally made it to the wash which meant C-Gap road was not to far and just beyond that was civilization. Just don’t get ahead of yourself though because its still Saturday and there are still a god chunk of hours left in the day that doesn’t want to be done.

When we were riding this was the scene. Just nice flowy woods riding.

By the time I got to the wash I was just in don’t die mode. The wash looked like a fun challenge when energy levels are high and legs are fresh but for me neither was the case. I opted pretty much to walk the entire thing and every time I did try and ride a section I would stumble a little on some rocks from lack of bodily resources to get over them. At that point I figured I better just walk through here and stop risking falling down and banging my knee on one of these rocks because at 260lbs no one has the energy to carry my fat ass of of this canyon. I for once in my riding life was actually looking forward to a 3 mile climb up a dirt road. I am pretty sure my brain must have been in pretty bad shape to be thinking happy thoughts about horrible things like that.

We again used the CDO which at this point was a very good size creak to make our last cool down before we started our climb up C-Gap. We were all in pretty rough shape at this time thought Steve for as old as he is and as many times as he fell over was looking way better then anyone else. After cooling down and filtering more water we were on our way up the Gap 10 hrs after we had began at the top of the mountain. 

My tank was below empty and the sun was going down so I figured the best thing to do was get into my lowest gear and just keep grinding. Not sure why because I had resisted the urge pretty mush all day but I switched my GPS over to the screen that showed time & miles and now couldn’t quit looking at it. I know it was making the ride seem longer but for some reason I just couldn’t switch it over or stop looking at it. I had become fixated on it maybe its because I didn’t want to look up there road and see how painful it looked. Maybe the numbers ticking by seemed easier either way I just kept climbing and looking down at it. By the time I got to the top the sun was just about to dip below the horizon and my energy level was so low I just figured stopping more then a minute would result who who knows what. Either way the sunlight was dictating our pace know plus we were at the promise land nothing but sweet downhill jeeps roads to a waiting car.

The final ride down the C-Gap was way harder then I had thought it was going to be since my feet, legs, and arms were toast. Plus you add in the fact that it was getting dark very fast meant this adventure was still not over just yet. As I come down the road about a mile into the descent though I see a gila monster which is by far my favorite animal to see on a ride so it made things a little better for the time being. Just shortly after that though the sun was completely down and we were descending the road in total darkness. This just made things that much worse since it did nothing but prolong the ride down the road and add just that mush more onto our already full plates for the day. After a few close calls, some redneck 4x4 night campers headed up, and some light sharing with Tim we were finally at the bottom and ready to head to the car. Best part of the night Gap ride was when Tim and myself got to the bottom of the road and Louis enlighten us on how he had puked on himself as he road down the road in the dark and I just thought man is good that he is so much faster then me so that I was totally out of his crossfire range.

I know this is a huge write-up but its hard to put an 11.5hr adventure into just a few short. I think the biggest thing that can come from this and I know I didn’t talk about it at all was how amazing this trail can be. It will take a lot of hard work and dedication but once done it could be the best trail in Tucson. The hole area is just beautiful with streams, views, wildlife, and that great sense of being out there that I think all us mountain bikers want. It was the hardest day yet with my bike but I already can’t wait to do it again.

And a few more because it is a picture blog.

AS always I haven’t updated this blog in a month so here are a bunch of picture. Been playing around with the new camera which is cool and trying to stay cool on the bike. Enjoy.

First up is dirty grumpy face Jade.

Next are a few of the new garden.

Female Costas Humming Bird

Male Costas

Desert Spiny

First bloom in the pond this year.

And now a few from riding

AWWWW another satisfying ride.

It seems like the better the weather gets these past couple weeks the less riding I manage to get. The few rides have squeezed in have been great though and I have gotten in a few around town graffiti pic rides, so that is nice. Hopefully things will change next week and I will be able to get back into the swing of things. But either way here a some pics from the last few weeks way to keep my promise of keeping this thing more updated.

The first two pictures are from Chip Thomas I think he does some amazing stuff and its cool to see his stuff here in Tucson. speakingloudandsayingnothing.blogspot.com

And then these to crazy kids just loitering around.

Now onto the riding pictures.

This was my favorite from the Team Colleen TT race I helped out at.

And a few from the Bugs thru Millie ride I did.