Technical mayhem continued this morning on the John Krein (hmm) trail. I found the cooler morning much more pleasant than last night’s allergy induced malaise. I had a nice ride through campus, up Sentinel Ridge and through the Starr Pass basin.
My objective was clear (John Krein), so I laid in a direct course. The wash seemed very loose; it burned me up just to keep rolling.
I hit JK trail with some vigor. The very first difficult section threw me. Huh? Well, it is much more rutted than normal (monsoons are never kind to this one section of the trail), but as usual, that’s just a lame excuse. I thought I was in for trouble.
But instead I sailed gracefully through the ledges traverse section AND the loose pitch that follows it. I was about to explode when I finally dabbed next to the junior Saguaro. I did OK on the rest of the climb, but didn’t feel very powerful throughout.
At the top I sat for a while, admiring the view (one of the few Tucson trails that actually reaches a summit), and reading the registry. I found Steve A’s classic entry: “Please don’t modify the trail.” Ahem.
I took the following picture, which was almost my last:
[align=center][img]http://www.topofusion.com/images/lastkrein.jpg[/img]
Almost the last photo taken with my camera[/align]
A nice shot, no doubt, boulder on the summit aligned with the plates and cliffs of Cat Mtn and the rest of the Tucson Mtns. Even Wrightson/Hopkins are seen in the distance.
I put the camera back in the side pouch of my camelbak (where it always is), then proceeded to attack the downhill. I did very well, riding everything but one section (that I have never cleaned). At the bottom I checked my bladder (camelbak, ahem) which was running low. Hmmm, the camelbak seems a little light.
Crap, no camera. In probably 4000 miles off road I’ve never lost the camera out of that side pocket.
OK, no problem, it’s hot now, but I can handle another climb and it will give me a chance to right the wrongs of my last ascent. I kept an eye out for the camera, but I figured it would be obvious–in the trail or right beside it. If I didn’t find it on the way up, I’d have to be very careful on the way down.
I climbed much better than the first attempt, cleaning the washout section, ledges and above. Wow. Then, of course, I crapped it up on a couple sections that I had no problem with last time. So it goes on John Krein.
No sign of the camera. I added a note to the registry about it, then set off to comb the trail for it. I checked each area near a ledge carefully, but found nothing. It took quite a while to cover the length of the trail since I knew it wasn’t in plain sight.
I began to resign myself that I’d never find it, until, perhaps, the undergrowth died in the winter to reveal the hidden camera. I couldn’t believe that I could not find it.
Near the very bottom the trail is much more mellow and has no ledges. As I approached this section I gave up. I thought about how I wouldn’t be able to get any pictures of Mt. Graham fire damage (or Chiricahua rides) this weekend.
I hopped on my bike to ride home. Not 5 seconds later I saw the object my eyes had begged to see for the last hour. The camera was lying behind a little bush where an uphill rider would not see it. How did it fall out on an almost flat, smooth section of trail? And how did I not notice it?
I slurped my last bit of water on the ride home. But I was feeling good.
30 miles, 2600 ft. gain
Leave a Reply