We waivered between two possibilities. The first choice was to go and ride out and back on the other part of Deadmans/Reno. The second choice was to tackle Waterfall creek heading up the fenceline trail near cement creek.
We wimped out and went with the out and back option from Deadman's. The climbing would be hard, but the downhill reward once we turned around would be awesome!
Yep, here we are at the same starting spot as last weekend. We started up heading towards the Deadmans junction again from the Spring Creek side. This time instead of turning left up Deadmans trail we would turn right and head up Bear creek towards Reno Ridge.
This version had a lot more climbing and the climbing was steeper and much more physical. I felt strong at the start but faded. Amber felt weak at the start but just got stronger the longer we rode.
The trail was in very good shape with just the occasional snow path and two fallen trees across the trail. This is the last tree and the were both within 30yards of each other.
Amber started to get her grind on. This was a steep than it looks section of the trail.
Another longish and steep than it looks section that I lazily pushed my bike up while Amber grunted her way up.
She had a pretty good game face of determination on by the time she finished the section.
We turned around about a mile later once the weather became more ominous and we hit the first really muddy section of the trail - they added up enough to put on our lazy boots and turn around to enjoy the downhill tromp.
It was hard to stop and take photos.
But kinda fun to stop and watch how much faster and smoother Amber descended the steeper, rougher sections that a couple of years ago she had walked.
It was not as green up here as the rides we did last weekend, but this photo was taken just around 11K altitude so the grass was probably still under snow until recently.
There was a lot more riding in the pine trees so it was encouraging how little snow was to be seen. I like descents in the trees as well as the roots and rocks make it much more interesting.
You can just make out where Amber's seat is to get a feel of the gradient. This was another section that was walked in past rides. This time it was a nice smooth descent through the steeper rocky entrance to the section.
As we got back to the lower sections of the trail the speeds started to pick up.
The only reason I was able to get this photo is because I actually lost my track on the trail and spilled of it into the side coming to a stop.
This crossing has a nasty steeper than it looks entrance into it with a bit of a deeper water section waiting as you start it.
End of another fun ride in Crested Butte.
No comments:
Post a Comment