A Ride to Remember - Spokejunkies

I got an invite to do a ride out here in Colorado that would push me to my limits. What I was told by Matt(aka Durangoan aka Durangolung) was that the ride would be most likely under 30 miles, would be some backcountry exploration involved, and that I should bring an emergency shelter in case we needed to spend the night. Hmmmm…..Why did I want to do this?
Previously, I have never done a ride over 30 miles before. Of course we all know its not always the miles that counts, but what the miles consist of that is truly important. A 15 mile ride can be way harder than a 25 mile ride on easy terrain. I figured the backcountry exploration wouldn’t be that big of a deal since I had been on JD’s death marches in the past and had survived those. I had been wanting to improve or test my endurance anyways so I figured this would be a good measuring stick. I was definitely prepared mentally. I was also prepared with 2 sandwiches, 2 Big Sur bars(750 calories each) one pack of Clif Shot Blocks, A large bag of Trail mix, a pack of beef jerky, and a banana. I knew I was going to go hungry.

Durangoan riding the Colorado trail

My friend Matt Mcfee(who just got done competing in the Great divide race from the Canadian border to the Mexican border), his riding partner Greg, and Matt’s wife Katri were my accomplices in this backcountry adventure. I chose to shuttle the Hotel Draw road which cut off about 5 miles of climbing and about 1300 feet of elevation gain. I had ridden this road before and its not that bad but I figure why waste my energy on the road when I am gonna need it on the trail. On my way up the road I picked up Katri and passed Matt and Greg chugging up the road. Matt stated that he had no lungs today which is like him saying I will only climb 9 times faster than you today instead of 10 times faster.

We all arrived at the top of Hotel Draw and took off on the Colorado Trail at a little after 9am, The Colorado Trail was magnificent even after rains the previous night. There was no major mud, just some standing water here and there that was easily avoided. We rolled along the CT until the first climb up to Corral Draw. This is a relatively steep but short climb up and was my first test. I did better than the previous time I had climbed this when I rode Corral draw itself. There was still some hike-a-bike involved for me towards the end.

Colorado trail

After passing Corral Draw, we would have 2 other DH’s on our left before our destination. Think of the Colorado trail going along the ridge and each trail goes down a giant drainage basin on your left. There’s typically a creek running down these basins and in most cases the trail follows the creek. We passed Big Bend trail and then Salt Creek before starting the big climb up to our trail of choice, Good Hope. This climb was tough for me. Although I rode 90% of it, I knew we were nearing our high point in the ride, 11,620 feet, and the air would be thin. I also knew this would be the toughest climb of the day so I figured if I could make it to the top and still feel reasonably well, my chances of completing the ride successfully were greatly increased. But then again, what choice did I have?

We finally reached the top and saw the Good Hope trail marker. The sign read “Good Hope trail - Unmaintained” We saw no sign of the trail where the marker was. Matt had to go scout out to find the trail. I took the opportunity to shoot a few photos, work on my rubbing front disc, and rest.

Durangoan, Greg, and Katri chill at a lookout on the CT

I knew we were in for some downhill, I just didn’t know how rough or rideable it would be. Those questions were quickly answered.
The trail started out extremely rocky and steep. I watched as Matt went down a 10 foot section and got knocked around like a pinball bouncing off bumpers. I thought about riding it and then declined. The trail was rough but the views were pristine as you could see for miles in any direction. After switch backing down the technical terrain for about .25 miles it started to mellow out some. We briefly got lost but discovered we were actually on the correct trail and not a spur as we had thought.

Durangoan riding the Colorado trail

The trail went into some Pine Forests and became more rideable. There was tree fall everywhere so just as you would get into a rhythm you would have to get off your bike and walk around or over the dead wood. This went on for a few miles and then the trail decided to get steep on us. Steep rutted out and rocky terrain was our path to the bottom where we would intersect the creek. Matt and I would take turns sliding down the trail as we each watched the other to gauge how tough the sections were. Finally we reached the bottom and we figured things had to get better from here right? Wrong!

Durangoan riding the Colorado trail

We stopped to refresh ourselves in the clean running ice cold creek. We also filled up our camelbacks and inserted an iodine tablet in each. Matt had forgotten the water filter and iodine tablets but luckily Katri had 3 tablets on her. A full Camelback takes 3 tablets but we only had enough for one each except for Greg who rolled the dice and put nothing in.
After cooling down at the creek we pressed on . This section of trail was the most frustrating section of trail I had ever been on. Think Vietnam on steroids. The trail consisted of overgrown rocky terrain as it crossed the creek at least a dozen times. You couldn’t ride any of the trail and carrying your bike across fast currents and thigh deep water was interesting. Each time we would cross the various cuts and scrapes on my legs would sting like someone pouring salt in a cut. We ran into big groups of downed trees that were impassable. Once we bushwhacked through the tall grass and brush, and once we just walked straight through the creek downstream until we could get back on the trail. This seemed to go on forever. Finally we arrived at South Fork. Matt had ridden this trail and had said it wasn’t near as bad as Good Hope. We all liked the sound of that.

Durangoan gets ready to descend into nothingness

After turning onto South Fork we went through a little more of the tall grass hike-a-bike stuff before starting to climb. This wasn’t any climbing you could do on the bike however. This trail was so rough and off camber that my left foot ached from constantly stepping on slanted slopes. The slopes got so slanted and loose that any slip meant a certain tumbling to your death hundreds of feet below. Greg mentioned that if it had been raining we wouldn’t have been able to cross those sections. The trail was extremely faint and difficult to follow and at one point I lost the trail completely. Greg yelled down from the ridge above and said he was on the trail. This was no help because I still couldn’t find the trail. I yelled out to Greg in hopes of some more guidance but got no response. So I decided to hike straight up the side of the ridge to where Greg had been standing. This was quite a feat hauling my bike up a steep slope. At last after about 60 feet of crawling up the side of the slope I had found the trail. I went around the corner and ran into Matt waiting for me. He looked at me and said “Are we still friends?” I smiled and said that he had warned me that this was going to be a rough ride and it was my choice to come along.

Katri hikes down the top of Good Hope

We carried on walking along the off camber slight resemblance of as trail for several more miles. Matt kept saying how he thought this trail had so much potential if only it was benched and maintained. The scenery certainly was spectacular and if the trail was rideable it certainly would be an incredible ride. But those were big “IF” statements. The problem is there’s so much good trail and too little manpower to maintain them. And these trails(Good Hope and South Fork) were so far out that it wasn’t easily accessible so it never gets ridden.

Durangoan cleans the rocks and is on his way

Finally the trail was beginning to get a little rideable as we headed down to Hermosa Creek trail. As you were riding across the loose wide open off camber sections rocks were being knocked loose by your tires. You could hear them tumble down hundreds of feet below. That was unnerving to say the least.

The top of Good Hope Trail

Finally we spotted the bridge that traversed Hermosa Creek. We knew that we were in the clear once we hit Hermosa because it was very well defined and fairly wide. However it was still 12 miles up Hermosa and daylight was getting short. Both Matt and I shouted out “Hello Hermosa!”

Another shot from the top of Good Hope Trail

Durangoan descends down Good hope

I took a breather and ate half a sandwich but I knew I had to be quick about it as wqe had 12 miles to go and only a little over an hours worth of light. I started climbing up the first few climbs on Hermosa and was hoping that I was not in for 12 miles of this or else I’d be lucky to be done by the next morning. Thankfully the trail mellowed out and became relatively flat with only a few gradual climbs spread throughout. I kept encouraging myself to keep pedaling as I was on hour 10 of this endeavor. How bad I wanted my own bed or a nice hot pizza. Matt, Katri, and Greg were well ahead of me and I was in my own zone. “Just keep pedaling” I thought to myself. I wanted this bad. I wanted a long hard ride to call my own. Something to give me confidence that I could do other long hard rides and not feel out of place when others around me talked about their long rides. I was going to finish no matter how long it took

Some scenery coming down Good Hope

I came to a clearing and saw my accomplices sitting there. I took a quick breather and then we all set off. Matt was riding with me and I began to notice my bike feel shifty. Something didn’t feel right. I ignored it and kept going. Finally we came to a rock garden and my front tire seemed to roll off the rock. I felt the tire and it was going flat. I considered going on but Matt talked me out of it. He got out his headlamp for some extra light and I changed the flat. By this time it was totally dark and Matt handed me his camping headlamp to use for the way out. He had a light on the front of his bike

Good Hope

We started down the trail and we ran into katri who had been waiting for us. She had a decent helmet light. We all set off together for the final 5 miles in the dark with me in between them. The terrain was rocky for the final few miles. I kept seeing my breath in my light beam and knew it had gotten cold but it didn’t seem to phase me. We passed a few landmarks and I knew right where we were from my previous ride on this part of the trail a few weeks ago. Finally I saw the lights from the campers in the parking lot. I had made it. I had attained my goal against adverse conditions. I had just finished a 35 mile, 12.5 hour ride. Matt took me back up Hotel draw to get my car and we shared some beef jerky and talked about the ride. It is these kind of adverse conditions and experiences that bond people together. Going through tough circumstances together brings people together. It wasn’t my best or my most favorite ride ever, but it is the one I will always remember as my biggest accomplishment.