Saturday morning we met Becker and Robert out on Copper Basin Rd. Our plans were to preride the 50 Proof. We quickly made our way to Camp Pearlstein Rd. It wasn't too long before we were winding our way up the fun singletrack switchbacks. I was not keeping up with the guys at all. My legs had nothing that day! It wasn't long into the ride before we started down a section that has some big water bars....which have never been my favorite. If I could just get past my fear, I would be much better off. So we're heading downhill, big water bars, lots of loose gravel, boulders, rocks. I felt like the bike was all over the place.
Unfortunately, Saturday was not my day. I was taking it pretty easy and tried to go right and stay up high around one of bars. Sometime during that maneuver things went all wrong. Of course it happened so fast. The bike came to screeching halt and my body was being launched forward towards a huge downed log that was on the right side of the trail. My neck landed against a small stubby branch and my chest landed on the log itself. Nice way to start out a 50 mile ride!
I got up and didn't see any blood, so I got back on my bike. I needed to catch up. A few pedal strokes and I noticed something did not feel right. Oh yeah, that handlebar that I steer with, that needs to be squared up with the bike, not angled off to the left. I was definitely shaken up from the fall, so instead of staying calm and trying to fix it myself, I yelled out "Zaacchhh, my handlebars are turned!!!" in a half cry, half screech sort of voice. Makes me laugh thinking about it.
He was already on his way back to me b/c I was taking so long. He fixed my bike, made sure I was okay, and realized at that point that he would not be getting the fast ride in that day that he had been hoping for. He stayed behind me for a while. After the downhill water bar section, the trail stayed fairly level as it wound around the side of the mountain...a nice singletrack section. Then we started heading uphill with a few more difficult waterbars. Eventually we were going back downhill, out of the trees now down a twisty fireroad that was littered with loose rocks and boulders. I had a hard time ever feeling like I was in control through this section. There was one, super steep, super washed out, super loose, super tight technical section. I got off and walked. At some point along this section, Steve flatted his rear tire. He hit a rock which sliced an inch long cut into it. It took a while before he could get it to hold air.
After that long downhill, we were dumped out onto a fairly smooth dirt road. A really nice canyon area, rolling but climbing the whole time. I think it was here that we crossed Copper Creek quite a few times. The end gets steep; a good indicator that you are close to reaching Copper Basin Rd again and the location of #1 and 3 aid stations. Here is the fun left hand turn, down to Skull Valley. The #2 aid station will be located at the bottom, which is where we turned around that day and climbed back up. We passed aid station 1&3 again and kept climbing all the way up to Sierra Prieta lookout.
With Steve's flat and my crash, we had already been out for 4 or 5 hours by that point, so we decided to bypass the last sections of the trail and take a shortcut back to the cars. Which was good....the way we took back was primarily downhill, with a few climbs here and there...and I could barely make it back!!! We ended up with 37 miles that day. How the heck am I going to do all 50????
Zach and Robert at the intersection of 53 and Copper Basin Rd. Getting ready to head down to Skull Valley.
Steve fixing his boot.
Me at the Prieta Outlook.
2 comments:
i'm glad yer ok sara, the way the post was going i thought you may have been down and out. good luck at all your races. i'm sure you'll kill it.
Thanks Rachael, I'm okay. It scared me more than anything.
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