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Mad Dash Passion (September 11, 2005) Last Saturday, I got a call from my boss asking me to come in to the office to assemble some electronics for a customer in Pascagoula , MS as they needed some emergency warning PA system for a hurricane Katrina refugee "tent city" to be assembled there. The initial plan was to assemble, test, package and ship the equipment via FedEx overnight.
we headed back on the road to find a hotel room and get some sleep.
We drove a few hours to Jackson , MS and tried to find a hotel room - they were all booked, housing victims of the hurricane.
Eventually, we drove west until we were both so tired that neither one of us could bear the thought of driving more. We ended up in Vicksburg in a crappy motel because it was the only one that wasn't full.
So, where was I? Oh, yeah: So we left the Vicksburg Visitor's center to join a C.A.R.P. (Central Arkansas Recreational Peddlers) ride at Camp Robinson in Little Rock – a private, elite, CARP members only ride and BBQ.
Not having any information, we headed straight to Camp Robinson and were told at the gate that we could not enter unless we were CARP members and that we could join CARP by going to a bike shop called Chainwheel in Little Rock . Fred called and got directions and there we went. We spoke to Betty at Chainwheel who got us set up as members for $10/ea and gave us directions to where to meet. So, after buying some jerseys from them, we found a hotel, checked in, changed and went back to Camp Robinson . It was a pain to get into the gate – it always seems that the government guy doing the check-ins at bases is the oldest, hardest of hearing and poor sighted individual on the base. I've been to many DOD and DOE sites over the last few years and this always seems to be the case. After finally getting let in, we drove around lost for a bit and called Betty, who had conveniently given us her phone number in case we got lost. Camp Robinson is a military base that has been opened to CARP members for riding. There are 50+ miles of criss-crossing singletrack trails there that open up the possibilities for new courses for each time it can be ridden. We drove back to the gate and met Betty and gave her a lift to the starting point. It was getting on 6:30 before we had even started but we met up with Matt, Betty's husband, Eric, Frank and a couple of other people (sorry, forgot names – post up and make yourselves known). These folks are serious CC racers and took us on a race-paced start through a gently rolling but tightly treed single track course. Both of our bikes we set up for general purpose and we had some difficulty navigating the bars through tighter sections of foliage. It was also quite a challenge to try to keep up. I'm so out of shape after my collarbone hiatus that I finally gave up on trying to keep up and unfortunately forced the group to wait for me at intersections. I found it hard to recover at all due to the fast pace and constantly changing direction, narrow trails and trees forcing me into a kind of body English dance with my bike to stay on the trail at speeds. There were some really neat bridges and log roll sections and some rocky-rooty short steeps twisting through the trails. The density of the forest leaves dark sections in daylight enough to make visibility poor and increase the difficulty level. The course that we were on didn't leave much to see but at the speed we were going, who had time to see anything but trail, anyway? Somewhere between mile 6 and 7, I caught up with Betty and she asked if I wanted to pass on one of these rock/root climbs where she was walking. I told her that I would but that she'd catch up to me soon and she replied that she wouldn't as her front tire was losing air. We caught up with the rest of the group and we paused for a bit to give her a tube and Matt started changing it for her. We discussed splitting the group and at least that way, I could continue and not hold everybody else up and so some of us headed off up the trail leaving Fred, Matt and Betty to finish the tire repair and catch up. It was really starting to get dark by the time we got back to fire roads and the only way I knew I was going the right direction was to follow the white jersey in front of me as it was the lightest thing in the woods. I started feeling good near the end of the 10 or so mile ride and teased about “now that we're warmed up, when does the ride start?” I guess nobody thought it was funny. The lead group got back to the BBQ area and we were talking about various bike stuff when we ran into Matt and Betty. I asked if Fred had gone to the truck to drop off his bike and they replied, “No, we thought he was with you!” Oh, ****! Some of the CARP guys (couldn't see who in the dark) rode back to the fireroad point that had come out of the trees and we started yelling Fred's name. After no response, we formulated a plan to ride into the middle of the area between where we last saw him and where we had parked. It was now fully dark and I only had my 2xAA MagLight with me which was going dead. I took 2 of the batteries out of my camera and headed down the singletrack with Frank and Eric toward a central position. We continued yelling Fred's name for a while and eventually found him in a clearing following a fence-line back in our general direction. There were some downed trees and thick scrub between us and him, so we waded out with the light to help him get to the fireroad where we were. By the time we got back, the BBQ was wrapping up and someone mentioned that there was a good Mexican joint near Chainwheel and that they had beer.
Hmmm, Mexican and beer after a ride? Who'd a thunk it? We are in America , after all – makes me wonder what Canadians do after a ride?
We hit the road late and brought my bike back by Chainwheel to have the front brake bled, said goodbye and were on our way. We soon stopped off to visit with one of Fred's uncles and hit the road again just after lunch time.
It took forever to cross OK through the panhandle and the GPS thought it was a good idea to cross the north east corner of NM via dirt road - NOT! We got into Trinidad , CO late that night and had decided we were going to wake up early so we could make it into Moab in time to make another ride... So, we headed out of Trinidad on the course that the GPS had plotted to Moab . We passed through a mountain pass on US-50 and got a little wet in some rain. The route continued off of 50 onto highway 90 during which we had a little trouble.
Somewhere in the mapping department, someone forgot to inform the GPS program that Colorado Highway 90 was actually OLD Highway 90 and not a maintained road. After passing some slow-moving hunters, it started to rain a bit and the road conditions started to deteriorate. We started slipping and sliding in the mud and finally pulled off to the side to wait out the storm as there was a steep down grade coming up.
After walking around for a bit, the drizzle subsided and the sun came out and we decided to wait until the sun had hardened the path a bit.
I got out my bike and rode around and headed down the road to do some surveying. As things started to dry out, the road became more drivable and I led the way for Fred in the truck. Everything seemed smooth and hard enough to navigate the road slowly but as we rounded a corner and started to crest a hill my bike fish-tailed and so did the truck - almost right off the road. We were stuck, the mud was not deep but very slippery - about the consistency of Briones fire roads after a few heavy rains - and we weren't going anywhere. A short while after, a 4x4 came up the road but they were also fish-tailing. We decided to not ask them to try to pull us out, fearing that they, too, would become stuck. We came up with a plan to gather rocks and plant material to make the ground around the tires more solid and try to roll back to the center of the "highway". It started to rain again and we started to give up hope. We had food and water enough to last a few days so we could wait until conditions improved if it was necessary. There was no cell reception, nothing on the multi-band scanner that I keep in my radio repair kit and nothing on the FRS radio either. We really started to feel alone and now there was some lightning so we took refuge in the truck. Another 4x4 came along and after talking to them for a bit and seeing that they had little traction either, we asked them if they could call whoever the authorities were in the area, to let them know that: a) we were stuck, b) that we had supplies and were not in imminent danger, c) our coordinate location (from the GPS), and d) our wives phone numbers so that they could be called and told not to worry. They took the information and left. We waited some more and the rain subsided again. Fred decided to take the cell phones up the road to see if he could get a signal and I continued working on improving the roadway. Not long after, the hunters caught up with us and they had a Polaris 4wd utility vehicle that they offered to pull us out of the mud with. Fred didn't even have a chance to put the truck in gear before they started pulling and when he shifted, we were back on the road. We thanked them and continued on.
We finally made it into Moab but it was too late to ride so we called our wives to ask permission for an extension of a few hours (which was reluctantly granted). Next, we went to Poison Spider to ask for some information for tomorrow's potential ride, checked into a hotel, had dinner and beer and crashed.
We woke up at 5:30 to try to get a ride in before hitting the road. We couldn't spare the time for Porcupine Rim, so we settled on Amasa Back based on the advice from the guy at Poison Spider and the MTBR trail reviews. We checked weatherchannel.com for the hour-by-hour conditions and we were rewarded with the miraculous news that the temps were going to be in the 60s until about noon and that it was going to be sunny with a 0% chance of precipitation. After a quick breakfast, we turned past the McDonalds and headed to Amasa Back. We parked further down the road than the parking for the trail as we wanted a little warm-up before hitting the trail.
Rolling in, we were amazed by the geology, looking up at sheer red walls and a crazy deep blue sky. The sun was not quite up when we reached the trailhead.
The first 1/4 mile of trail was fun and rolling downhill with small ledge drops but totally fun. At the bottom of the very first set of ledges, we were both shaking with adrenaline and grinning ear-to-ear!
But this was all to change. We reached the creek crossing and the previous night's rain had swelled the creek to a fast-moving muddy waterway. We started to cross but didn't want to risk injury as we still needed to get home to our wives.
Disappointed, we started to head back to Slickrock with the intention of riding something. On our way back, we stopped a truck with bikes on the back heading towards Amasa. We told them that we thought the creek was too deep and too fast to cross. They were locals and told us that all we had to do was take off our shoes and wade it - duh! They also said that we were lucky - in the spring, you have to swim it!
Game on! We got to do the trailhead section again (woo-hoo!) and roll down to the creek crossing.
We stopped, removed our shoes and crossed, stopping on the other side to wash the mud from our feet.
While we reshod ourselves, the locals rode down and joined us at the creek. We talked for a bit and headed on up the climb.
What can I say about Amasa Back? It is the pinnacle of short rides to be had in the area. It is all at least slightly technical, there are as many rock gardens as you would want with as high or low drops as you want. There are different approaches to climbs so that you can either take the easy route
Or challenge yourself.
The overall climb to the top takes about 1.5 hours depending on how many times you stop to take photos and play at the rock gardens. The descent takes about 1/2 hour or maybe a little longer if you stop at the obligatory rock jump lip to take photos jumping and landing.
If you have never seen the Utah landscape, you don't know what you are missing. Photos don't do it justice. No other state has geologic formations like these.
It's distracting to bike while having such beautiful environs. Take advantage of the scenery on your way up as you will need to focus on the track on the way down! Fast, fast, fast and fun, fun, fun!
As we reached the creek crossing to leave, we were sad but satisfied given our time constraints. We encountered some Jeeps and motorcycles by the creek crossing but they were considerate and friendly. The lead Jeep waited for us but we let them pass as we had to remove our shoes again to cross the creek.
Fred and I were both smiling as we rode down the road back to the truck and still smiling as we drove back to the hotel to gather up our stuff, clean up and call our wives. We packed up, had lunch (still smiling) stopped by Poison Spider to thank their employee that had suggested Amasa Back and headed out of town.
As the sun set on another day on our way back, just before Vegas, we were still smiling.
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