KY Camp

Too much computer time last week, so Monday we dropped everything and rolled down to the Santa Ritas to check out the route for the upcoming Kentucky Camp Epic Race on Dec 8th. The race needed a new start/finish and camping area (the place noted on the current GPX does not really work), and I couldn’t get my head around the GPX file when looking at it in TF. The area can be confusing, and it’s been far too long since I’ve ridden out there.

The AZT 300 bypasses this entire section of the AZT, avoiding a long stretch of pavement and opting for (IMO) better scenery and better riding by Salero Ranch and Elephant Head.

But the grasslands of the eastern Santa Rita’s certainly have their appeal. A ride was well overdue.

I left Paula to nap/read in the car while I pedaled out to warm up on some Forest Service roads. The scenery was great and the roads provide some nice flow — just rough enough to force you to keep picking lines. A tiny bit of 1-track by KY Camp proper leads to more fun roads.

Some great memories hit me while out there. I realized the last time I rode here was on the ’05 7-day AZ trail ‘race.’ I rode mostly during the dark, but also got some wonderful miles of evening light. I remembered speaking in broken Spanish to the guys at the camp as they asked about my lights and about gatos and oso.

Quite a different situation today – loaded light and ripping around with fresh legs and a car to ride back to.

I followed Chad’s GPS track around, up and over the ‘Link’ trail to Gardner Canyon. The creeks were flowing for a few nice splashes. A tiny bit of new single track led to the classic ‘Flume’ trail. You can usually ramp up the speed on this contour trail, but the grass is still high enough that it’s a little dicey. I bumped into a group of 10 old women out hiking along, giggling like 13 year olds – pretty funny group.

There’s an inverse relationship between pace and technical skill, and I guess my pace was high enough that technique was suffering. I hit the ‘Ascent of Death’ with vigor, but failed near the top. I got my own back on the ‘Steak Dinner Challenge’ section, soon after, though.

It occurred to me that there’s really not much singletrack out here. And though there are some nice spots of riding, there’s a multitude of poorly designed, rapidly eroding trail. No wonder I took the AZT 300 the other way. It’s really not that bad, but it’s also not that great either.

The good news is that since there’s so little trail, once the AZT is complete, folks will turn their attention to cutting trail where there is now road. We can only hope those new sections will be designed in a sustainable way. There’s so much potential for great trail out here, and it’s almost completely untapped.

Back at KY camp again I climbed up for another section of AZT. I was pleasantly surprised to find this section fairly free of horse damage, and designed to much higher standards. There’s a really fun descent, all on 1-track, up there. After finishing that and climbing yet another jeep road away from a wash I spied some red shorts in front of me.

It was Paula, returning from her run. We wrestled with the next few ranch gates, leap frogging each other and telling stories from our excursions into the high desert. She saw a snake that may or may not have been alive, and also commented about the eroded nature of much of the trail. Not great to run on, she said, but she sure was happy to run somewhere new.

We wrapped it up with burritos in town.

3:57 for the loop. Sub 8 hours is a good goal for the race.