Friday, May 13, 2011

Bryce Canyon (Day 3) THUNNNNNNDER MOUNTAIN!!!














Wow. Okay let me start off by saying that Danielle and I usually write this blog with a big sense of togetherness as far as opinions of things go. But on this day, we differed sharply. We decided that we'd seen just about everything we wanted to see in Bryce Canyon and Danielle had found out that there were some mountain bike trails about 10 miles away in a place called Red Canyon. It's Friday and we had a long work week so we decided to drive on down and see what this place was all about.

We parked at the visitor center and we were talking to the ranger and I was kind of screwing around with him..

we said: 'we want to go on a bike ride.'
Ranger: 'What kind of bikes do you have?'
Me: 'We have full suspension bikes and we like danger.'
Ranger: 'We have this ride called Thunder Mountain. Here's a map. You take the bike path up here, take a right here, it joins the trail here and it's a 12 mile loop. You'll love it.'

I hated it, at the beginning. It was 5 miles or so of concrete path and steady climbing. When we finally got on the trail my legs were hurting badly (mostly from yesterdays hike). My first impression was, 'this is gorgeous!' My second impression was, 'god damn this hurts.' This love/hate relationship I was having with this trail was a major theme throughout the evening. It would have these great descents followed closely by strenuous climbs. The terrain was mostly packed dirt and the scenery was heavily wooded; which was such a welcomed change from Moab.

We finally made our way to the top of Thunder Mountain, finally... finally (have I stressed how tired we were?). This is where the fun started, for me. This is where the hate started, for Danielle. It was this awesome single track descent that winded down the mountain. There were some steep drop-offs on the sides of us and some very technical maneuvering. I decided that after all that damn climbing.. I was either leaving this trail a very happy man or I was leaving en route to the hospital, but no matter what, I was going to go fast. It was a blast. Twisty switchbacks, flying over loose rock, roots, mud, water.. you name it. I felt like a kid again.

Danielle hated it. I'll have to say that if something makes her feel unconfident then she will not take a risk, which is a very responsible way to ride. Her front brake needs adjustment badly and this trail turned out to be a lot more technical than either of us planned for. I think when we do this trail again she might have a different opinion, but as of this writing.. she hated it.

Thunder Mountain is by far one of the most impressive mountain bike trails I've ever been on. It's big in every way. Scenery: probably the prettiest ride I've ever done. Technical: manageable, but it definitely tested me. Strenuous: I'm going to be sore for a few days at least. Fun: I can't wait to go back.

No comments:

Post a Comment