26 Miles of paridise or hell.

Friends and I took off today for a ride. I heard about this ride all week long. "It's technical" was one of the descriptions. Others mentioned some recon work for later rides. Breakfast at the casino, and off the the trail head which leads to Death Valley National Park. Having driven this back road in, it has been a desire of mine to do, well until 2:45 pm today. The opening trail was great. I was warned that there were going to be some rocks. I didnt pay much attention to that. Some rocks became many rocks which became all rocks 4 miles out. I felt some rock training was in order so I jumped in with both feet and a hand on the gas. We saw some of the most beautiful single track all at 10 mph. Rocks tend to slow you down. Now Im not talking about pebbles or river stones. Imagine the small being 35lb loose shale and boulders. I was warned before I left to fill my tires to 20 psi as to avoid flats. Funny thing about air in tires. The more of it, the less control you have. 16 miles of beautiful single track with smatterings of two track. All filled with rocks.



The road home

All was going famously, I was on my game and heading down a beautiful river bed that criss crossed the landscape and was a natural flow. Still no sign of dirt or sand yet, I am beginning to wonder if dirt or sand exists in this part of the world. I motor on. Getting into the swing of things, I find myself at the top of second (seriously there are a lot of rocks) and heading down this river bed. This is when talent ran out, ego left and I was on my head. Separated shoulder, mangled head pipe and plastic that looks like Swiss cheese, I find myself looking over my feet at my bike which is still running. As I stand I look down the valley to see the next town. It's a long, long way off. I pick up the bike, which starts first kick and motor on. Later I would get my shoulder back in the socket with full range of painful motion but motion none the less. Finally make it to the truck, load up, home for three wonderful beers and a new respect for riding in rocks.



I found the ride has become all that much cooler the further away I am from it. I suspect by this time next year - Remember that super cool ride we went on last year?

Motrin is a wonderful pain killer.