Another great weekend out at Colossal Cave, working on the AZT. This time the Leviathan came along and I got to sample quite a bit of unsampled trail. Paula and I came up near evening, but I brought lights. I headed south to the end of constructed trail, noting how a lot of it was not done and very awkward to ride. The trail was built to the old cowboy trail (that the AZT 300 race used), so I turned up and rode/hiked up to the saddle. After some bush-whacking (side note: going into the 300 last year I thought these trails were connected, but they were not; this cost me some frustration seeing as it was 3am) I reached the constructed AZT on the other side. The only time I had ridden this section was, you guessed it, at 3am during the 300. Let’s just say it hurt.
But this evening, fresh as a daisy, and descending (!!) it was a royal kick in the pants. All expectations were blow away. It was really, really, good. Tons of rock, some loose, some very solid, and some so sharp that you wonder if it’s really OK to ride an pnuematic tire across it. Actually, most of it is very sharp, but one move on the uphill return had me scared for my tires/tubes. It was a great move, without a doubt. There are quite a few really interesting moves coming back up.
So I descended the cowboy trail, which was amusing itself, then rejoined the AZT in the other direction. The moon was already up, but I had to take a few similar shots as last time.
I dropped into El Bosquecito to grab my handelbar light before heading off towards Pistol Hill Rd. The sun set red behind the Tucson Mountains as I rounded the corner and flicked on my lights.
Quiet cold desert. The sound of tires gliding through dirt. Here the sun rose on the second day of the 300.
An hour of night riding was enough. Potluck dinner courtesy of the other AZT die-hards followed. A nice, cool night of catching Z’s followed that.
For the work party the next day Paula and I took the job of cleaning up trail that was constructed the day before. We needed quite a few more people, but managed to rip some serious benching. I guess crews have been getting sloppy, or something, because we found a lot of trail that was unfinished and had far too much outslope (which was why it was so awkward to ride the day before).
After the work I saddled up to see if our 4 hours of digging had improved things. Indeed, it rode like a new trail. Or, it rode like a trail, rather than just floating across a sideslope and hoping your tires hold. It still needs more, but we’re getting it.
Finished Trail. Nice.
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