Thursday, July 03, 2008

Virgin River Rim Trail

When Mr. Sabrosa says that it's going to be epic riding on Cedar Mountain he really means it. I figured I was up for the challenge since I had been doing fair amount of riding, and the thought of escaping the Vegas summer heat was very attractive. The team included Mr. and Mrs. Sabrosa, the Tammer, and myself.



We started at Strawberry Point just a bit past Duck Creek; elevation 9000 feet. I felt like I was at the basecamp of Everest since I had just come from Vegas, about 2000 ft. The ride is 33 miles of some of the most incredible single track I've ever been on. Most of you are familiar with the Cedar Breaks area, well the trail basically skirts the edge of that whole plateau and then drops down to Woods Ranch. If your thinking that it couldn't have been that tough because the trails starts at Strawberry and drops down to Woods Ranch, you're wrong! I had slightly underestimated it myself; in total we climbed over 4200 vertical feet at an average elevation of 9300 ft.

Round about the 20 mile mark I started hurting; probably a combination of high altitude, some gnarly climbing, and not enough food. When the bottom falls out like this there's not a lot you can do but suffer through the rest of the ride. I told the crew that I was officially in "The Hurt Locker, " and yes John if the ride had continued much past Wood Ranch Davey Jones would have been involved. Although it was slow going for me after that point I still thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Towards the end of the trail we rode through some beautiful aspen forest, this is when the trees started talking to me. Maybe this is what Indians experience when they're on their vision quest.

Even though I got punished pretty bad the ride was well worth it. I would definitely recommend the ride if you're up for amazing singletrack, incredible views, and a ton of climbing.

7 comments:

Sabrosa Cycles said...

did you see the size of that chicken?

Little E said...

You know what else makes you feel like you're on an Indian vision quest? Going to the urologist and having him give you a shot in the you know what hole and then inserting a screwdriver size flashlight/camera thing in there to check out what the inside of your bladder looks like in HD. Oh wait, did I say Indian vision quest, I meant being abducted by aliens.

Little E said...

That was the first time posting on this blog, is that kind of stuff allowed?

-KJ said...

Uhhhhhh, thanks Eric? Still a little traumatized. Ben's "quest" may have been pretty similar since he climbed 4200 feet sitting on a hatchet.

Ben said...

Eric,

There's no restrictions when it comes to post/comments on this blog. Even if it has to do with your experiences being probed.

I don't know what's worse...camera up the "p" hole, or peeing out rocks. I've done the later and it's no cup of tea. At least the camera won't make you bleed!

Little E said...

True true my friend,
But the story gets better. My roommate's FEMALE Sunday school teacher was the assistant and faked like she wasn't watching, but she was, if that wasn't bad enough, the I could see the whole parking lot laying down through the blinds which means they could see me too.
Dang, sure hope I didn't make any of the ladies feel they weren't married to a real man.

Ben said...

It's safe to say that the image is burned in her mind forever.