I'll put a course map here later...
Jim and Dave at the Kokopelli's Trailhead in Loma eagerly awating the 8 pm start
My gear, minus the OMM rack, a Vaude Sienna 30 pack, 4 24 oz bottles, and a 3 L bladder
Less than 2 hours in and I was already bloodied due to poor hike-a-bike skills
Sand like this is frustrating at 2am
A five-day old moon rising in the early morning hours. The sky finally began to show the first hint of light as I reached Dewey Bridge.
Long-awaited water on the Kokopelli's Trail shortly after sunrise
Climbing away from the Colorado River for the last time
Not a very relaxing descent into Fischer Valley
Still sort of smiling by mid-morning
As the sun got higher, temperatures began to rise, and the trail got steeper
But soon I was on decent dirt roads in Fischer Valley area
Navigation by GPS the entire time...nearly mistake-free!
Getting closer to the La Sals, but they're way up above
After the 2,000-foot climb up onto Beaver Mesa, I finally made it to the Paradox Trail and the base of the La Sals
I wished I was that horse...what a beautiful pasture
By 4 pm Saturday I finally made it to Carpenter Ridge above the Paradox Valley. Now the push to make it to the Bedrock Store before closing...
And I made it with 45 minutes to spare. Ice cream, chocolate milk, and potato chips were my reward. I rode for another hour into the Delores River canyon and found a place to spend the night. 8 hours later (slept through my alarm for 4 hours!), I was back on my way.
One of the first things I discovered Sunday morning was that my rack had broken the previous day
The morning
roads were nice
And I stopped at Tabeguache Creek for a little rest, a burrito, some tasty gas station variety cheese and crackers, and spent a few minutes making a better repair on my broken rack
Then the trail descended back down to lower, hotter elevations
and the heat was already starting to get to me, and it wasn't even noon yet
This cow gave in to the heat, too. I hoped a dead cow is not a bad omen
The trail conditions progressively deteriorated until all climbs were unrideable, and some of the descents, like this one, were also too eroded to ride
Then cattle damage became the problem...some places the herds turned the trail to deep sand
Looking back toward the La Sals
One of the few trail markers on this section. I would have been very lost without the GPS
Then finally the trail climbed up to higher, cooler elevations that even had small streams flowing
But again, cattle destroyed much of the trail. Dried mud full of hardened hoof prints was common
Where's the trail?
Almost done with the old, slow jeep trail...
And YES! A real dirt road! I was elated to be able to ride more than 5 mph again. Now to finish off the 4000-foot climb...
Looking south toward the San Juans
Getting higher...
Uhoh, too high! Suddenly the woods were full of deep snow drifts
Looking southeast down Divide Road where the course continues toward the Tabeguache Trail
Seeing all this snow, I put on the glorious waterproof socks
ate some fantastic lasagna that I had been thinking about for hours,
and strapped on the mini-skis for pushing my bike through the snow. Unfortunately, the short test on the carpet in my living room gave me false hopes, and the skis didn't stay on too well. So I took them off and just rolled the bike through the snow for ~3 miles. I skipped the singletrack above Pool Creek and headed northwest up Divide Road instead
By the time I reached the descent to the Roubideau section, night had arrived. I suffered through the sketchy descents and steep, hike-a-bike climbs until 1:30 am
Then I made some oatmeal and slept until the sun came back up a few hours later.
Then I tackled the last few big drainages of the Roubideau section
Typical trail conditions on any climb or descent in the Roubideau
Then there was singletrack! The first I had seen since Friday night. Too bad it was too overgrown with scrubby oak to ride, and about 100 feet after I took this picture, the trail completely vanished.
But the next section to Cottonwood and then back up to Divide Road was smooth, fast, and beautiful
Snow toward the end of the climb was minimal, but there was some deep, sticky mud to deal with
And finally I was back up on Divide Road and only ~70 miles from the end. From here you could see the Paradox Valley and the Delores River canyon way down below
Lubing my chain yet again. That was the only thing I needed to do to my bike the entire ride. That and fix my rack.
Unfortunately, it was mid-day when I began the descent back down into hotter country
And it got hot! Grand Mesa is in the distance here.
Once again, cattle helped make the trail barely rideable
Dropping down into Cactus Park
Now I'm starting to fade. I couldn't stomach any more Clif Bars, despite being very hungry. And that was all I had left for food.
And shortly after I discovered the rack broke in two more places, leaving the one side completely unsupported. Duct tape and a spare spoke came in handy, but I had to ride the rest of the descents tentatively so the rack wouldn't self-destruct
I began the final climb major climb, the 2,300-foot No Mas Hill at around 7 pm Monday, and didn't reach the top until 10. I ran out of water, but a small stream near the top saved my hide. I suffered through the last 13 miles...
And finally returned to my car just after midnight. Total time: 3 days, 4 hours, 23 minutes. A bit past my goal, but seeing as I had only seen the first 15 miles of the course before and had never attempted anything nearly this long, I'm quite pleased with the result. Jim and Mark dropped out in Moab, and Dave Kirk finished Wednesday afternoon.
This was waiting for me in my car, and it was all I could thing about for the last 12 hours of my ride. The bag lasted about 9 minutes.