This time were riding at a much early (for us) time of about 10.00am.
For some reason both Amber and I just didn't feel pumped or energetic as we started the climbing. The way Searle works is that you have some pretty steep climbing for the first 2-3miles until the trail opens up into a meadow. It then gets steeper again as you climb out of the dark timber just beneath the Tree Line.
You start the ride at 10,000' and climb up to Searle Pass which is 12,063'. It is generally done as an out and back but you can continue on to Kokomo Pass or even further if you are so inclined. For us it was 8 miles up to Searle Pass and then 8 miles back down.
We hung in there and plugged away at the initial climbing. A lot of the first part of the trail is really dusty because they run guided horse groups on it. It is not that bad though and pretty quickly the horses are sent of in another direction and you get nice single track along the Colorado trail.
We took plenty of breaks to make sure we just kept moving along.
After the initial grunt of a climb both Amber and I started to feel much better and the climbing started to pass more quickly.
Until we got above the tree line and Amber slowed down dramatically. I lost sight of her a few times and she took this as endorsement to stop and take lots of photos of flowers. I think she was just using it as an excuse to slowly make her way up to the pass. Here is a nice photo is some pretty flowers.
Once Amber joined me at the top we turned back downhill pretty quickly because there was a large group of riders that had ridden up from the Leadville side that were getting ready to head down to Copper as well and we didn't really want to get stuck behind them in the fun downhill riding ahead.
One of the group was riding a Ibis Mojo :) It was the first other mojo we had run into out on the trails and it was fun chatting with him and forming a mini self-adoration society at 12,000'.
I headed out from the pass first and Amber got caught behind one of the group, but quickly passed him the technical rocky stuff that the trail goes through up near the pass. The last section up there is in a scree slope and has some really nice riding in it. We never saw the group again which somewhat surprised me as I thought they would catch us lower down in the trees since we had to wait for Moab to catch up all the time.
The riding on the way down is just amazing, fun and fast with just a few more technical sections like this waterfall crossing. It is descents like this one that make you just love riding and love your bike.
This is one of the last sections before you head back into the trees again. We passed a group of riders on their way up that had full face helmets and plenty of armor. This is a ride that you can really pin the descent on and I was happy to have my knees and arms protected for some of the fast somewhat loose sections further down the trail.
This is probably the most technical section and it was not that bad at all, just a little section of steep and rooty riding that made sure you were focused on what you were doing.
This is a fairly typical section of faster descending with either a few loose rocks or some exposed baby heads to ride over. It was the sort of riding that is just plain and simple fun to come down as fast as you can and to stay of the brakes as much as possible.
The clouds started to form up a bit more as we got further down the trail and by the time we were back at our camp site the lightning had started. It was a good call to get going early and get of the mountain before the storms rolled in.
Oh, and the riding was pretty decent!
Back down near the end the trail gets a bit more beat up from the horse traffic and you get some uphill sections thrown at you just to make sure you are good and tired at the end of the ride.
It is definitely a ride you can repeat many times. The scenery above the treeline and along the beaver ponds is great and the riding on the way back is just world class. Just be prepared to work hard at altitude.
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