With all the rain Friday I was concerned JEM would be too muddy on Saturday so I was going to try Hurricane Rim instead. Fortunately Alex kindly offered take me on their ride while my wife raced Cholla. The objective was the Guacamole trail, if the road wasn't a muddy mess.
The road was pretty good, but we played it safe and parked at the bottom of the steep final climb to the trail head. Up on top I snapped the photo below. Looks like good mountain biking terrain to me.
Guacamole is similar to Gooseberry mesa, but it flows more and the technical stunts are fewer but still enough to satisfy.
The trail goes out to the rim with scenic views.
Here's the gang. From left to right: Alex, Cory, Rick and Colin. Slickrock after rain is loaded with puddles.
Here's Alex making the sharp left turn after dropping the ledge just behind him to the right. I chickened out on the first approach, but made it on the second attempt.
Here's another stunt - a short but steep climb up a crack filled in with rock.
Several years ago a fire came through this area. The burned trees create a ghostly appearance. Look at the mixed dirt and rock terrain - fantastic for mountain biking.
I enjoyed the ride and the company. These guys roll fast and I was usually last because, I, uh, didn't know the trail. I better get my fitness up before I ride with these guys again.
We finished around noon and headed to Little Creek, which I'll cover in another post.
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8 comments:
To all the guys in the photos wearing armor and lycra: baggy shorts.
Thank you.
Response to SBJ.
Re: Armor. Yes, it looks dorky. After 10+ years riding Gooseberry, and at least 2X as many wrecks, we don’t care.
Re: Lycra. Tell you what- when you ride a 9:14 Lotoja, you can tell me what to wear biking. Till then, I’ll wear lycra that shows off my great butt, and you can keep wearing poser-baggies that bunch up in your crack.
Entertaining "friendly fire" comments about shorts.
I showed up in baggies (as you can see in the Little Creek post) and felt a bit out of place. No one heckled me, but those blue flame shorts are a bit outlandish so perhaps there were comments later.
I came from mountain biking so I'm used to baggies. (In the beginning we just wore levis!)
When I started road cycling all the other guys wore lycra so I bought some, but there was some hesitance on my part.
Then I did some mountain bike racing where most racers wear lycra so I did too.
Now I mountain bike in either.
The blue flame baggies don't bind up, but I have another pair of baggier shorts that wad up horribly as I ride.
I go with lycra shorts for all long distance rides. The baggies were chaffing me toward the end of Little Creek.
Watcher: I'm quite certain SBJ was just teasing. And he's no slouch on the road. I'm not sure he has a sub 9:14 time, but I'll bet he's close.
Kris, Watcher,
I was only sort of joking. I have no problems with lycra and no problems with armor. I wear both when conditions warrant it. Just not at the same time.
In my opinion, the best option is lycra shorts under "outdoor" shorts. Lycra shorts have good padding, whereas the pads in baggies are usually not as good. And there's a huge variety of outdoor shorts - all kinds of materials, lengths, styles, pockets, colors, patterns (aka dug's plaid) and way cheaper. I think lycra under baggy is the sweet spot combo.
Why would you want to add an extra layer over a perfectly good pair of lycra shorts? Unless you are talking about a lycra liner which serves only as a carrier for the chamois. From a functional perspective it doesn't seem to add any value (and as an engineer I know you're all about function). Style, perhaps. But again, you aren't too worried about looks.
So what's your functional justification for wearing outdoor shorts over lycra shorts? Come on, I want more information! :)
I prefer baggies (or shorts over lycra) for these reasons:
1 - No saddle snags. Occasionally the saddle nose snags the lycra leg, usually when I slide back for a steep descent. This is an alarming and unwelcome event. And while my really baggy baggies still snag, the more snug baggies (oxymoron?) with the slick nylon fabric has never snagged.
2 - Pockets. Not a big deal, but I like pants/shorts with pockets. And while I despise riding with anything in my pockets, before and after the ride I like pockets for my keys, wallet, etc. Jersey pockets work, but I don't like them as much.
3 - Style. Yes I'm big on function, but I'm not devoid of all aesthetic sensibilities. I don't see anything wrong with lycra for MTB (and in fact wear lycra shorts about half the time MTB), but baggies are the predominant style for MTB so when in Rome (ROAM?).
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