Go time...
This is what happens when you take advantage of "Car Camping". You can never over-prepare...right?
Good thing I caught the "Translation" before entering...hah
Mind Blowing! Other than the forest fire in the background...the view was AMAZING to say the least.
Thanks for the peacock plate Cale....now this is how you start it off right!So, the Mac attack E-mailed me early in the week to see if I would be interested in taking a two day trip to Syllamo. After checking my very loose schedule (after approx. 25 seconds), I e-mailed him back and said, "I'm in".
Having never been there before...yeah, I know what your thinking....I was super stoked about the idea. It has recently been on the list of one of the nations top IMBA "EPIC" Trails, and I have heard nothing but amazing stories about endless trails, rippin single-track, and nearly unlimited terrain selection between the different loops.
We planed on doing around 35 miles the first day, and about 12 the next...but between the logging leaving unmarked trails, and the almost inevitable wrong turn here and there we cut Saturday short by about 10 miles or so. It broke down to about 3.5 hours on Saturday and 2.5 on Sunday (still plenty of riding for my fitness at this point in the year!)
Speaking of that...After a couple of never ending up-hill gravel roads in a failed attempt to locate our initial route, my legs weren't having it. I asked Cale how he felt and he said not bad of course. I tried to ride it out and finally I said, "sorry to be a wuss, but I can't do it anymore. I need a little break". Pretty humbling to say the least. Once finding the correct trail though it was on. The red loop was pretty much flat, so not much down or up hill. It mostly was a constant pedal, but the section of orange that we finished off with was incredible. The super fast downhill single-track sections were a blast. It was a good mixture of "is a rock going to appear in this pile of leaves that covers the trail?" and "am I going to wash out around this corner trying to keep up with the Macster?" I think these questions were what led the ride to be so much fun! It was a thrill to think that for whatever reason at that period in time the stars must have aligned, and all of your misconceptions about what gravity should and could do were wrong. It was a matter of trusting the trail not to throw some B.S. stump/floater rock at you. After all...your just an innocent mountain biker trying to enjoy nature..Right? Now I can't exactly say the same fortune was on my side on Sunday. The Orange loop was amazing and had some good hills, and my legs were feeling good! The Green loop was also a blast...but.. all the technical stuff, which I love, did rough me up a bit. I'm blaming my handling failures on it being my first time on the mtb since a couple months, being unfamiliar with the trails, and the fact that there were leaves everywhere making much of the trail a guessing game. This all led me to taking some of the big stuff too slow, leading to you know what......ENDO'ssss. That's two to be exact. The first was AWESOME! I was about to stack it into a tree and as I was watching the tree to determine the best way to bail, I stuck it on a huge rock, pulled a track hurdle on the bars, and left the bike crashing behind me as I left in in a full sprint (all with a big smile on my face as I couldn't believe that I had pulled it off!) Round two occurred directly after the viewing of the White River (seen in the picture). This was on the Green Trail, and near the bluff it is extremely rocky with boulders and steps around every corner. Thanks to my "cautious riding" I was taking it a bit slow, stuck the front, and took a wrist breaker straight into the giant rock below. The guys who had been at the view also were right behind me with their 29ers in full glory. The one guys like, "man...are you ok?"...I was, but even if I hadn't been I would have said yeah just to save myself the embarrasment. I picked myself up, and continued to redeem myself for the next hour and a half.
So, to summarize the trip:
-Epic long trails with great bench cuts, super dry, and relatively predictable terrain.
-Perfect weather for this time of year (mid 50's).
-Only minor aches and pains (handlebar to the knee..ouch), but easily forgotten during a flow.
-INCREDIBLE VIEWS of the White River Valley and Arkansas "Mountains".
-and some good 'ol campfire Jib Jab with Mac, and my new fellow camp mates with their pop-up luxury suite...Bo (Steakmaster), Luke (Kuat Innovater), and P.J (Rugby Sasquatch).
It was an Awesome Weekend with Great riding!! Another trip was on the books before we even made it back to town!
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