Rainbow!

I was supposed to ride something semi-epic with Shawn (of Absolute Bikes), but it was too hard to pull him away from the shop, and too hard to pull me away from working on Trackleaders V2. Even when tracking stoke factor is through the roof it’s still not possible for this body to sit at a computer all day. It was national trails day, but there wasn’t any trail working going on in Salida, so I took an hour or so to fight with the pump track’s tumbleweeds. Then, of course, I cooked myself pretty good riding it in. I’m looking forward to getting smoother/faster as the summer goes on.

Shawn and I did eventually get out, just before sunset.

“Did you see that trail?”

“What trail?”

“Just testing you, let’s take it.” Obscure trails are Shawn’s specialty.

We approached a steep and technical climb that looked impossible. “I’m not sure why I’m going to try to ride it, but I am.” That’s not something you hear many riders say. Shawn’s a unique one, alright, and I mean that in the best possible way.

After riding we sat in the backyard, enjoying the warm summer night, talking trails and whatever else. I mentioned that my plan was to ride the Rainbow trail from Bear Creek to US 285.

“Uh, are you sure about that?” He went on to explain that it’s always ridden in the other direction, and why. I have the benefit of fresh eyes, plenty of naivete, and a willingness to make dumb mistakes. The more he described how hard it would be the more my ride plans solidified.

I rolled out in the “morning”, after spending a few hours tying up loose ends in my mind by writing code and tweaking javascript. Out from the door, I warmed up on the Bear Creek climb.

Snake detector has been turning itself off here, but it still caught this lil’ rattler on the side of the road.

RAINBOW TRAIL! What can be said of this nugget of MTB goodness? Fast and flowy, it’s the ultimate in energy preservation. Seems like you descend more than you climb, and brakes are applied sparingly. One drop leads into the next mini climb. Momentum plus a couple painless turns of the cranks and it’s not hard to imagine that you aren’t human powered. Wait, do I have a motor on this thing? You might say…

Mandatory stop for a snack. It’s so cool that I can ride to places like this from ‘home’. I rolled on past Chaffee County road #108, and noticed that the MTB tracks had faded to moto tracks. Not a particularly encouraging sign, but the riding was still good. An occasional section would require a dismount, but goodness abounded.

hearts for bike love

Until it didn’t. I took that photo after oxygen returned to my brain, after I remembered my name and after I could see straight enough to point a camera.

The climb up Poncha Mountain is the reason this is ridden in other direction. I see now (in TopoFusion) that the canyon is called Sand Gulch. Sure enough, my race tire cut into much of the trail like a knife. But I kept pedaling anyway, and I loved it. I only walked a few spreads wholesale, otherwise it was ride-until-puke style of riding. The best kind!

That’s not exactly the trail layout (fall line!) I was looking for as I crested the hill below, already near the puke stage. I remembered what Shawn said, “I’m not sure why I’m going to try to ride it….” and I almost did. The deep aspens at the top were a just reward, and I was happy to enjoy some sublime contouring at 10,300′ before the inevitable plummet to US285.

Some of it was sweet, some of it sour. Jekyll and Hyde, the Rainbow either seems to be super duper or super pooper. It was all rideable going down, but not always the best use of hard earned “el”. Still, it was something to marvel at. “This is nuts. Am I really riding this?”

Oh yes, I am really riding this. Keep it coming.

I thought about continuing on Rainbow after 285, but with plenty of elevation and moving time in the bank and water/calories running low, I just rolled back into town the same way the Vapor Trail finishes.

Is there much riding in Salida?

Can’t wait to explore more…