21miles and 4300ft of climbing...

**Slugman** · 06-20-2006, 10:16 AM

21miles and 4300ft of climbing...is not my idea of a fun ride - but I did it anyway. I am in no way a big climber - I like lifts and shuttle vehicles. I enjoy depending on my brakes more than my cranks. However I realize that I’ve been lazy lately, so I figured a couple hours of pedaling would be good for me… famous last words.

It's basically the mountain in my back yard, so I had to do it at least once. Only problem is that now I have to go do it again... we only made it to the first peak (5400') before we ran out of daylight. The highest peak is at 5600’.

Actually the lack of daylight is just a convenient excuse, we would’ve had to drop down a couple hundred feet and climb back up the second peak in order to truly conquer it… and I had NOTHING left.

In the end I think the actual amount of climbing was a bit more than what the title says, there were 2 small down section during the nearly relentless climb and once we headed out (down) we dropped into a spot called “old camp” that we did a few small climbs in order to get back to the trail that led us back to the truck. So I will say that I climbed MORE than 4300’ and feel happy about it. However I was feeling far from happy when I did this…

The trailhead:

-BB- ready to go… disco?

Equipment: plenty of water, lights and shin pads for the descent.

The problem I had witht his trail – it seemed to never stop going UP… where is the nice little down section where I can allow my legs and lungs to rest? Where is the out of the saddle time to regain feeling in my ass? Looking back:

Maybe I’ll get a break around this corner:

Nope:

And that pretty much sums up how I felt on the ride, I just kept pushing forward hoping that the next corner would be where I got a rest. It wasn’t that it was super steep or technical, but it was just a grind for HOURS! My wife had been training for a marathon and joked about how when she got tired she would think of the blue fish from ‘Finding Nemo’ (just keep swimming, just keep swimming), and that it helped her keep going. At the time I laughed…

Anyway – the XC guys decided to take a break and wait for everyone to catch up. Long haired freak on his single speed:

Showing his XC core by baring his lycra:

Anyone seen Slugman yet?

Eventually I arrived… but the camera had long been packed away by that point (thankfully).

The next stop was at “4 corners”. This is where the Harding trail met the “main Divide”. The boys were nice enough to stop and wait for me here… they could have taken a nice refreshing nap.

Anyone seen Slugman yet?

Scenery shots while they waited:

Hey… look who showed up!

in my head (just keep swimming, just keep swimming)…

At this point I was stating to think that maybe I need a bike lighter than a 34lb ‘freeride’ hardtail… maybe.

No rest for the weary… still more climbing to do:

Remember how I said how a couple hours of pedaling might be good for me… well just shy of the peak I see this on the side of the trail (someone else stopped and took the picture… I was probably still at ‘4 corners’ when this was taken).

Some dude had a heart attack and died here… WTF!!! That is the LAST thing I needed to see at this point. No disrespect, but talk about discouraging!

By the time I was at this marker, everyone else was at or near the top watching the sun set:
This man I need to :nuts: for talking me into this ride.

Oh… I live down there somewhere:

This man I need to :nuts: for thinking up this ride.

As you may notice from that last picture… no Slugman. I had some major leg cramps to the point where I had to get off my bike to stretch them out, and even then I could barely stand. By the time I got to the top, the view looked like this:

Then we had some fun… we had to descent down the side of this peak to get home. I would have had a better time if I were not physically exhausted, but it was still a blast. Tight single track with several super technical spots. I really should have had my camera out for this stuff, but it was a bit too dark and I just wanted to get home. The XC crowd didn’t appreciate the trail as much as I did, although I will say that they did better on the down than I did on the up…

Morale of the story – I am NOT an XC mountain biker…

**Heidi** · 06-20-2006, 11:36 AM

I've climbed Harding before...what did you guys descend?

**Slugman** · 06-20-2006, 11:38 AM

We came down 'Joplin' to Old camp, then out on the Luge to Cooks Corner.

This is the route we took - http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=17

**Heidi** · 06-20-2006, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by Slugman

We came down 'Joplin' to Old camp, then out on the Luge to Cooks Corner.

This is the route we took - http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=17

Cool - I always had a problem with Joplin but LOVED everthing else.

**SkaredShtles** · 06-20-2006, 12:11 PM

Sweet ride! That's my kind of climbing.

neaky:

**Polandspring88** · 06-20-2006, 01:02 PM

That looks like a freakin sweet ride. Good ride report.

**peter6061** · 06-20-2006, 01:30 PM

Awesome. Wish we had those kinds of rides out here.

**Zark** · 06-20-2006, 04:25 PM

Thats a soul grinder, you gotta do those every once in a while

**spookydave** · 06-20-2006, 05:08 PM

isn't old camp a cool place though?

**Ciaran** · 06-20-2006, 06:30 PM

Nice ride!

And now I don't feel so silly because I am not the only one who uses the blue fish from Finding Nemo... "Just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling...."

**Skookum** · 06-20-2006, 06:44 PM

Nice pics. yah gaining 43 in half of 21 would be a grinder. i try to pretend to be an XC guy myself and i've learned alot of things to keep from dying, but the Nemo one i have yet to try.