2012 Almanzo 100

What a day; This years race was one of the most difficult ones I've ever done. I've put it in my top ten along side of  the Arrowhead 135 and the first Ragnarok back in 08'. The combination of a stiff 25mph wind, gusting to 35-40mph, the soft gravel dispersed throughout the course, and the temps in the 90's, killed me and my poor legs. Here is MY excuse part of the equation, I didn't get much training in and thought I could go out hard and do well, I could not. I did however enjoy riding with a lot of different people suffering right along side me. Mark and I usually ride most of these hundos  together for all or a portion of the race, this one was no different. Somehow just before Forestville State Park (mile 65), we got separated, I took a nap in the shade alongside other like minded people, and he kept going. I rode the last 30++ miles with my pals from my race team, Penn Cycle. In that group was Pat the owner of Penn Cycle. It was awesome riding with him as he has supported me through sponsorship for the last 15 years and this was the first race I've done alongside him. I'm not just saying this for the brownie points, Pat's a great guy, and as it turns out, a strong rider. While my legs were cramping so bad on the last few hills of the race that I could not even move them, John, Pete, and Pat waited for me at the top. Dennis kept me company while I walked the last three hills, he was in rough shape as well. We all finished together, it was awesome. At the finish line to greet us was none other than Chris Skogen, we shook hands, and gave each other a hug. I've been coming to Almanzo since 08' and have gotten to know Chris over the years, it's an honor to have him as a friend. Speaking of another honorable friend, "The Legend", who joined our group of four for the carpool down to the race, was nowhere to be seen at the finish line by the time I got in around 6pm. No one ever worries about "The Legend" in terms of his safety, he is tough as nails, old shoe leather, and a two-bit steak combined. The only problem was, he was on his fat-bike, and judging by the difficulty of the day I knew it would be a ton of extra work on that bike. I expected him to pass me sometime during the day, sooner than later, since I was soooo slow, but he didn't. Around 6:45pm a large diesel pick-up pulled up to the back of my van, and out came The Legend. He could barely walk, so we propped him up by his bike to snap a quick pick, and then let him hobble over to the van to change. You will have to ask him yourself about the details of his ride as it's not my story to tell and I do not wish to incriminate him before he is to answer to the DBD board. As far as the DBD is concerned, I will go to bat for him, as an outsider and concerned citizen, but witness no less, in any, and all hearings on this matter.


Thank You; Chris Skogen and all the volunteers for putting on the greatest gravel grinder on the planet, John, Pete, Pat, and Dennis for dragging me to the finish, My wife and kids for understanding, "this is what I do", Mark, for always having someone to ride with, and The Legend, for buying me dinner at John Hardy's and being a super hero. And also to the Chuker for loading the bikes in the van, paying your share of the gas and introducing me to John Hardy's BBQ 15years ago.         

Left to right, Death Rider, Pete, John, Pat ,Dennis and some other guy

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The race has gotten huge!

The riders at the start line stretched well beyond the lens of my camera 

Testing, attention please

Mark fixes a flat as Steve cruises by

In the background is where the flooded creek was two years ago on the Gentlemen's ride. We took a break before the big climb out of the valley

As you can see John was struggling with the climbs as well

Since we were taking photos, why not get in one of them

I lied to them, this was not the finish. Still about ten miles left.

We all walked up this, except John. Second to the last hill, if you raced it you know how tough it was, Hellish

Our finishing group with Mr. Skogen

He stayed in that hunched over position even after we removed the bike.

The Black Hole of White Canyon

White Canyon

Last year, before finishing a backpack trip in Buckskin Gulch, I was already planning my next canyon adventure. Buckskin is in Utah on the Arizona-Utah border west of Page. Like every trip I do, no mater how big or small, part of it is recon. While in an Arizona REI, I picked up a couple canyoneering guide books filled with useful info on techniques and routes. The one that particularly caught my eye was one known as Lower Waterholes. It involves very tight slots and a 440 foot rappel. I knew I didn't have the skill or knowledge to do this one right off the bat so I started doing a little digging trying to educate myself, that's when I came across The Blackhole. The Blackhole is in White Canyon and known for it's long, deep, and narrow slots filled with COLD water. It looked like a lot of fun and not very dangerous, unless there is a flash flood, which killed a girl back in 96'. Sad story. The Blackhole was really the catalyst for the whole trip to Utah this year, everything else was secondary. When we got to the trail-head on Monday I was amped, we already had several awesome rides and two canyoneeing trips under our belts, we were on a roll. Minutes into the hike we were greeted by a sign that read something like "it's too dangerous right now to go down canyon and call this #" . We didn't just drive 1500 miles to turn around on account of a scary sign, the phones didn't work anyway, we were in the middle of nowhere. Once on the canyon floor the walking was easy and scenic. It was really dry and we wondered if we would even get to go swimming. The first indication we were getting close to the "Hole" was when the bare rock floor opened into a deep narrow slit filled with water, eureka! We put on our wet suits now and jumped in. We had so much fun we made several passes through this section, just in case this was it. That was not it, we had not even started the Black Hole yet and wandered quite a ways down canyon before we hit it. It was freakin' awesome! I was so in the moment it's hard to remember everything now. I do remember the water being very cold but refreshing and invigorating. One spot had a small log jam that we climbed over, (10-12 feet)someone else had left ropes for a hand line to get back down the other side. Right after that we had to duck under other logs and chock stones wedged in the narrow, dark, slots. The "hole" was surreal, not a lot of light made it down there, hence the name. The water was a clean aqua blue, except for the light coating of film and water striders (bugs) on the surface, but not clear enough to see down more than a couple feet. This made the water all the more mysterious, how deep was it? We already had a good twenty vertical feet of wall surrounding us, in addition to the 200 foot ++ walls that made up the main part of White Canyon, and could not see the bottom. I didn't want to drop down too deep in the water to find out either. It was a little spooky imagining a flash food in this section, it would be ugly.  Inside the walls were smooth and cold, the slot followed no pattern other than the crazy squiggling line that a child might draw, and often had wavy patterns in the multiple layers of sandstone. I wanted this to go on for miles. It didn't. On the walk out I was thinking of all the friends and family (wife and kids) that I would like to bring back to this amazing place. I would also like to thank Steve for accompanying me on this awesome adventure, without a competent companion this trip (Utah Super Trip) would have been foolish, no fun, and not possible.        

Scary

It's hard not to stop and look at these

Let's go swimming

I think this is after the long swims

e

Looks like a skull from some sort of demon right? 

The beauty never ends down there

Steve making his way out of the canyon

The next 5 pics are with my water proof camera and are within the Black Hole area 

That's about 12 feet to the bottom

Yes, we are going in there

This is where we had dinner and camped for the night, Lake Powell is only about  four miles away. I rode there on my PUG after dinner.

Entrajo Canyon and The Medieval Chamber

Yet another tall tale from the Utah Super Trip.

      Saturday, after riding the Slick Rock Trail we planned on an easy canyoneering trip to Entrajo Canyon. We headed south of Moab and started out walking down a 4WD trail. I was really excited to use my new canyoneering boots that I bought with the money from the sale of my old cyclo-cross frame and fork. I was also hoping to get in the canyon and get the boots dirty before anyone with canyoneering experience would see them and expose me as the fraud I really was at this sort of thing. No luck, as soon as we started, there were three canyoneers exiting  as we were heading in. I tried to look all cool, ask some "smart" questions, and hide the new boots that were practically glowing and screaming "inexperienced". Moving on.  Typically one only goes down canyon, this route headed up and traversed around the two rappel's giving the traveler a good look of what needed to be negotiated, or you could just skip the raps altogether. Somewhere on the way up, Steve and I missed the side canyon trail that would take us up past the second pot hole and rappel. We were only supposed to gain about 200 feet of elevation and be able to drop back in. Instead we went on a wild goose chase scrambling over loose boulders and having to climb a short cliff face. About 400' up, we knew we were off course, but could still see our prize in the distance. Traversing across a high ridge for a few hundred yards, we found a good spot to descend, and were soon back on the right route. We continued up canyon until the slots ran out and it became a wide wash. Heading back down is the fun part, the first rap was only about 20 feet and the second one around 90 feet. The second one was worth the whole trip, It dropped into a pothole filled with water 60 feet down, we swung over it and dropped the remaining 30 feet to the bottom in a small alcove. Canyon trip #1 successful!

Slot in Entrajo

When we messed up on our route up canyon, we had this nice view to make us feel better

The route description said we might need wet-suits, not today

We named this the spiral of death, It was like a spiral side only it was 12 feet tall  and sunk  into the ground  another ten feet to a small tight pit

This was the first short rap' of the canyon, into a pot-hole. The rocks pilled on the other side are so you can get out!

The last and longest rap' , the water was not deep and if you were careful  your feet stayed dry

I mostly have photos of Steve, so I'll break it up a little, and add these of myself

       Sunday, Medieval Chamber to the Morning Glory Arch (it's misnamed and is actually a bridge) and a nice hike out to the van. On this trip we had to use the bikes as a shuttle, the start is up on Sand Flats road while the finish is at the end of Negro Bill Canyon. This is the actual name of the canyon, if you don't like it call the state of Utah and have them change it. We did a leisurely 10ish mile ride through town and back up to Sand Flats Rd  after dropping the van at the end of NBC canyon. We passed back by our camp and used the fat-bikes for the final 2 miles on Sand Flats, another ploy to justify bringing them. They are a lot of fun anyway and tend to get conversation rolling with other riders and those wondering what the heck those bikes are. A few spins on the bike-lock tumbler, and we were off on our next canyon adventure. The route was easy this time and required no back tracking so it was all new scenery, the way I like it. The canyon was a broad wash at first, narrowing down to some tight slots, and opening up again, just before the first big drop. This first drop was aprox. 90 feet into the Medieval Chamber. A group of youngsters(20 somethings) were there before us getting set up, these were true nubies.  A couple of them had never rappelled before, they all were wearing sandals or flip flops, and they were all messing around dangerously close to the edge. This is when Steve busted out our rope and got set up on the anchors before them. We both figured if we were down and out of ear shot ASAP we would not hear their screams and witness a mangled body laying in the pit below. Steve went first, I snapped a couple pics on my way down and hoped like hell none of them would fall on me. Once down Steve wrapped up the rope and were ready to go. Moments later we heard the courtesy call "ROPE" from above. Their rope draped nicely on the canyon wall, the only problem was the ten or more feet it needed to be to get them safely to the bottom. "Your rope is about ten feet short" we called to them. It was actually 20 feet short over-all because the rope is doubled at the half way point when threaded through the anchors. Not our problem, the best we could do was let them know of their predicament and get the hell out of there. The second drop comes very shortly after the Chamber, it's also a little longer at a solid 100'. When Steve threw out the rope there was about 6 inches of both ends touching the ground, perfect.  The anchor for this rap' was on the end of a 40 foot piece of webbing tied to a juniper tree, and hung just past the rolled lip of the 90deg face we were rapping on. Assuming the group behind us had at least 20 more feet of webbing to make their rope long enough to touch the ground below, they would already be beyond the easy vertical face and into the overhanging portion of the rap'. You can not belay yourself through a bunch of webbing, knots, carabiners and quicklinks, and safely attach to the rope that would carry you to the bottom. Again, not my problem, we planned ahead. I am curious about what they did to get down, there is no walk-off and no way back up the Chamber once you pull the rope. I went first on this one. The rap' goes in between the cliff face and the bridge itself, with about a ten foot slot separating the two. The bridge is well over 100 feet long and can be walked on, it could probably be driven on by a car if you could get one there. Below is a shaded alcove with lush green trees and ground vegetation (poison ivy), water is present and flows from a spring in the side of the rock. This was the best rappel I've ever done! The rest was an easy scenic hike down canyon to the van. Canyon trip #2 successful, my boots looked much better now too.   

Getting our bearings before setting out on Medieval and Morning glory

Who is this supposed to be?

Stuff like this short down-climb  is common and a lot of fun

Medieval Chamber lies below

Action!

"that was my foot"

It was hot out, so we walked the river on the way back when we could

 

Utah, MTB Rides

Our first ride of the trip was actually in Colorado, Fruita to be exact.We hit these trails around 6pm on Friday to break up the long drive. It was sort of a homecoming, "before kids" it seemed like I was out there a lot. Fruita was the place you stop at on your way to Moab. It felt good to be back. It must have been a long time, I had never heard of the "More Fun" trail. We rode this trail last, after Wrangler, Horse Thief, Mary's Loop, and part of Kokopelli. I didn't really think this trail was more fun, by the time we rode it I was out of water, tired and it was getting dark. No disrespect to the trail builders but this one kicked my butt !
        The next day we awoke in Moab and headed straight for the Slick Rock Trail. This was Steve's first trip to the area and I figured Slick Rock was a must. To me it's also a "right of passage", having started riding in the golden years of mountain biking of the early 90's Moab was like a mystical place were a rider would "receive their wings". I still hold this trail in high esteem. The ride however was much shorter than I remembered it, about and hour and a half. After the ride we were off to our second adventure of the day Entrajo Canyon, which I'll go over in a later post.

Weeeeee!    Fruita

Down to Horse Thief.  I'm sure someone can ride this, just not us

Slick Rock, Steve earns his "wings"

Sovereign Trail, super fun

Later in the evening; This fire would have been great, expect someone dumped (a lot of) oil in the sand and ash and it smelled like burning gear oil all night. Around three in the morning I couldn't take it anymore and had to move my tent. 

         Day two we found ourselves at the Sovereign Trail. This time we did a canyoneering trip before the ride so we got a late start and had to hustle to beat the dark. I have not mountain biked this trail before, I did however ride it on a dirt bike many years ago, so I kind of knew what to expect. It was a Sunday night so we nearly had the place to ourselves, until we came upon one lone rider relaxing by the side of the trail. He was pretty cool for a guy from Denver. When he found out we were from Minnesota, and had not ridden here before, a little smirk appeared on his face as he was sizing us up as a couple of pussies. Little did he know I was about to show him what the fuck's what. He jumped on his bike and took off, that was my que, it's race time. I got right on his wheel and waited for him to mess up a little, at which time I nonchalantly passed him. Oh, did I do that. Once around him I grabbed a few gears and really let him have it. Within moments I could no longer see him, I didn't matter anyway, the section of trail was mostly downhill, extremely rugged and I was in the "flow" having a blast. A few minutes later I played dumb again, stopping at an intersection to wait for this guy and get some direction. He pointed and I was on the gas again. I stopped at the end of the trail to talk again and thank him for the directions and the push. He was quite surprised this fat ass from Minnesota took him to school on one of his favorite haunts. + 1 for all us Mn riders. I'm thinking we should get some bumper stickers made in the same logo of the Minnesota licence plate that read "Native".  Disclaimer: I really like Colorado and the people, I really like Minnesota and the people. I'm tired of seeing the Colorado "Native" stickers. Also, the racer in me, sometimes just takes over.  

Utah Super Trip

I just got back from Utah, I'm still trying to process all of the amazing things Steve and I have seen and done over the last week. I will break it down as soon as I can into MTB and Fat-bike riding, canyoneering, and the Anasazi ruins we explored. I hope you like the pics, but what I really hope is you will get your butt out there and experience it for yourself. Just let me know when you are going so I can go back with you.

We decided to make a short pit-stop at Loveland Pass, and justify bring fat-bikes along on the trip. The bikes proved  to be a valuable asset as a shuttle (and fun) when the van could not handle the rough roads to the trail heads. 

Riding the Slick Rock Trail in Moab is a must, Steve has not been there and I was more than happy to ride it  with him

This is the drop into the Medieval Chamber, almost 100 feet. It was also one of the first ones we did and a good warm up for other, more isolated canyons later in the week

The first real desert ruin I have seen and been able to get close to. 

This is my preferred sleeping arrangement, "under the stars".Waking up to a scene like this sets a great tone for the day 

Cairn's like this were our best bet for route finding in many areas. 

 

Moab Or Bust

This is way back in 2002 on Porcupine Rim.The bike is the first production 29'er, made by Gary Fisher. I miss that bike

Steve and I are headed for Moab tomorrow for some adventuring. I'm bringing my camera and a shit load of gear. See ya in ten days.