Sneffels Big Friggin Loop

The 2nd event of the Colorado Endurance Series kicks off this Saturday July 31st at 6.30am in Ouray. We will circumvent the entire Sneffels range via Imogene Pass Rd/Tomboy, Last Dollar Rd and over to the Dallas Trail and back to Ouray. Approximately 75 miles and 15k or so of climbing.

The view we will be seeing atop Imogene Pass on Saturday at 13K.

Phil's World

I had a chance to ride Phil's on Monday before I went grocery shopping in Cortez. I get elected to do the shopping on my days off on occasion. It is only fair since Laura has to go work while I'm off playing. It was a perfect morning for a ride and I was able to beat the rain clouds. When I arrived back in Rico it was pounding rain as is typical for this time of year with the monsoons upon us.

And speaking of monsoons I was greeted with a 6pm monsoon pounding as I was riding Alta Lakes loop on Wednesday. Not fun at all.


Ledges Loop singletrack.

Rico........Paradise

It was a beautiful night on Monday evening after work to ride. 10.5 miles on the Vassago rigid and 1500 feet of climbing on our locals loop. Had a scary moment when a big black bear came running across the trail in front of me hauling the mail. He was a big one. I was glad to see he was scared of me as I was of him. I couldn't get the Blackberry out fast enough to snap a picture. One day. This picture here is about 800 feet above Rico.

I have Wednesday off of work so I plan on getting some high country riding in. Where to go???? Tough decisions. LOL!!!

Zuni's

Laura and I had four days off of work and a friend in town with his 7 year old son from Las Vegas for the week so we took advantage and went down to the Zuni's to camp and ride. It was hard to leave the nice weather of the high country in Rico for a much warmer climate, but it is nice to just get away from everything. And the nice thing about going to the Zuni's is that you never really see anybody. I was able to ride about 75% of the Zuni 100 course and also show Laura some of the trails she hasn't ridden yet such as Quasimodo, Milk Ranch and Purple Haze to name a few. She had a great time.
Side note....these pics were all taken on my Blackberry as I had forgotten the real camera.






Nothing but singletrack.

On the Zuni 100 course near the Wildlife Center.

Cavern on the Milk Ranch Trail.

Laura having fun on Tampico Trail.

Laura letting loose on Berma Trail.

Sheet Rock Lake on our way to ride Lost Lake Rim Trail.

Me having fun.

This coyote was so fixated on his prey he was stalking that he didn't hear me behind him. I also saw a bear over on the Berma Trail.

Sad to see people who discard trash in such a beautiful place. I witnessed some local natives drinking malt liquor near our camp and toss the beer cans on the ground and drive off. You would think the local natives would care about their surroundings. Apparently not.

Durango Dirty Pics

Near the top of Bolam Pass. I was taking my sweet time here and decided some pics were called for.
Remnants of the old mine.

Celebration Lake where Doug, Scott and I grouped together.

Making our way up toward Indian Ridge. Here is the upper section of Grindstone which leads to Bear Creek.

Scott seeming to enjoy himself.

Doug also enjoying himself.

I was enjoying myself here unknowing what was to come in the next 20 miles.

The views at Kennebec are astounding.

Kennebec Pass area. The weather was threatening but soon cleared out after a touch of hail.

An old mine building atop Kennebec Pass.

Happy to have made it pass Indian Ridge without bad weather. The hike-a-bike wasn't much fun though.

Cool waterfall along the Colorado Trail on on way back to Durango.

Durango Dirty Century

Wow, the DDC was a great route and very tough. My legs were super flat with no spunk as we hit the climb up to the Hermosa Trail head. It took me approximately 3.5 hours to travel the 30 miles from Durango to the upper trail head of Hermosa. The next section to tackle was to climb up to Bolam Pass to Celebration Lake. This 10 miles felt like an eternity. I had to walk a majority of the last mile to Bolam Pass even with my 32x21 gearing. The legs were not there at all. I was miserable at this point. My goal was to try to eat some food and get some kind of rhythm going. I was starting to question if I was going to be able to ride the total route. It felt like I was in survival mode and it was too early to be feeling like this. After clambering up to Bolam it was time for a quick break and scarf some food down. At this point Doug Byerly, Scott Broome were together and we would stay together for the next 50 plus miles until the last few miles of the route where Doug found some super powers and rode off into the forest. After ascending Blackhawk and descending down to Hotel Draw the time was looking pretty good thus far. My legs were feeling a bit better but not much. It was 1pm and we still had about 30 miles plus to the finish with some tough climbs headed our way. The weather was looking iffy but we pushed on to get some ground covered. Indian Ridge was a tough climb, with lots of hike-a-bike. Once over Kennebec it was downhill for awhile and than a big climb from the creek to another high point in the last 10 miles and finally some more down hill before the run into Durango. The last 10 miles seemed like an eternity to finish. It was well after 8pm when we hit the Durango Brewing CO. for the finish. Epic trails and great riding company. Looking forward to do this one again and knock some time off.


My total time was 14 hours and 19 minutes. 97 miles and 13,700 feet of climbing. Highest elevation we hit was on Indian Ridge at 12,300 feet.

Pictures to come soon.

Below is a write up with finish times from Matt Turgeon on the Colorado Endurance Series Website........

Congrats to everyone who made it out. Awesome time and one heck of an adventure. Amazing food and beer afterward at Durango Brewing Company, and Kip got the honors of free beer and a growler to go!
Timers started at Bread and ended at Durango Brewing Company. Final miles were 97 for the Full DDC with 13,700-ft of climbing. Some mud, some rain, some snow, a few fallen trees did slow things down a bit, but it did not stop these folks from giving it a try!

Full DDC
Kip Biese 11:34
Ryan Douglas 12:24 (Single Speed)
Steve Reiter 12:53
Matt Turgeon 12:53 (Single Speed)
Doug Byerly 14:11
Jeff Hemperley 14:19 (Single Speed)
Scott Broome 14:19
DDC – Plan B
Andrew Black 11:50
Danny Powers 12:49