Over night a few more BSV'rs rolled in. Woke up and cooked up a pound of bacon and a huge egg skillet with tortillas to share amongst the roaming BSV folks in camp. Bacon was quite the hit. Nine of us Friday morning heading out to Rabbit Valley to ride the Epic Zion curtain to Westwater Mesa (overlook trail) to Western Rim loop. We had David S, David K, Phil, Cindy, Michelle, Sue, Bob, John P, and Kevin VP going for it! This loop has it all, rock benches above the river, techy drops and steeps, swooping single track, and a small part of the Kokopeli.
Oh yeah, I made it.
Riders ready? Or are we playing with the dog all day?
Ride starts out on the dirt road and you cross the high way heading North.
A climb up the service road gives you a nice view of rabbit valley and the 3,4,and 5 trails.
First stint of single track and then a steep climb--nothing like this to get us all warmed up!
Very unique features here in the Zion Curtain area...
Crazy rock steps to ride up.....
Pump track for a while...
And we were joined by a sheik for the ride. About here half the group turned back and went to ride some other trails. We were down to five at this point, Cindy, David S, Phil M, Kevin VP and myself.
Riding the line--the Utah/Colorado border fence.
Rewarded with the top of the Zion Curtain--views of the Rabbit Valley and river below. Good lunch spot from out 10:30am start.
Here Phil finds some goodies in his pack.
Off along the rim with some small trees and more views--hard to focus as you look at the La Sals in the distance.
Kevin checking the view.
Dave S and Kevin VP riding up a wash
A few more tech spots. I walked it too. Cindy gave it her all and decided to sit down on the job. Cindy repeatedly schooled me on this trail with the techy moves--I was motivated by that and cheered her on.
Big Smiles after the descent on the Zion Curtain--its super fun and fast with a mix of clean trail and slick rock type moves with a few surprises thrown in.
A quick water check as we enter the Kokopeli trail and climb up the hill to West water Mesa to join up with the Over Look trail. Everyone riding strong here after 15 miles so far.
The short steep climb ahead (600feet)--David hit it hard and you can see him ahead.
Once up top, we hit the Overlook trail and is pump track for about 4.5 miles till you reach the pass and lollipop loop. Here Kevin Vp, David S and myself made a fast effort on the loop while the rest of the group hung out at the pass to descend to Western Rim. We did eat well here, and I offered my usual can of tuna, V-8, and salted almonds to those that would take.
Kevin coming down a rock wash.
Dave S doing the same.
Top of the lollipop loop--excellent views again the whole time. The loop is about 7.25 miles. I had though it was only about 2 miles...whoops! Made the rest of the group worry a bit though since it took us about an hour to complete versus the 20 minutes I was thinking. Will do better next time on that.
When we joined back up with the group, we descend the 600 feet down a steep double track and meet up with some single track that leads us to the Western Rim proper. Here we are riding a rib like Joe's Ridge on the book cliffs.
A little sand and loose but nice trail for sure.
Then we joined the Western Rim and the flowers were out a bit.
The rim starts out as a nice single track and then turns into this white stone bench that rides along the cliff for several miles--we had the place to ourselves--not one other MTB rider the whole day!
The sun was starting to set....day light was running out on us.
Playing the white sand stone. Here we were all starting to run out of water.
Back on the double track after climbing out of the Rim. The sand was well compacted and very rideable for those that actually gave it a whirl!
Light was good at this point.
More cows playing on the trails. I think they followed us from the book cliffs.
Cindy and Dave S take a quick pose for the camera here looking South East.
We booked it for the car as the sun went down, skipping the normal 2 trail route back and settled for the road in the wash. It is the Kokopeli proper and was fun to take everyone on for a tour. Got back to the car and Joel had left a note on the window--he had tried to meet us, using our SPOT tracker from his phone to see where we were on the loop but since we had moved slow, it never worked. Joel was able to grab a nice Western Rim and Kokopeli loop though out of the day regardless.
Our Elevation profile from the day. Came out to 5500ft I think climbing/descending.
The route from the sky. This is a wonderful loop and mostly single track the whole way or shared ATV/MTB trails--very nice combo of three loops out there. Its about 44 miles. In the past when I have done this with just two of us, it takes about 6 to 6.5 hours. We did this time in 9 hours even and had a great time, enjoying the day and taking photos. A slight breeze made the temps even better and kept us cool. We headed straight back to camp for some much needed showers and then a chow down at the Hot Tomato in town for some salad and pizza. Joel joined us for a bit to have a beer and hear about the epic day. I do not remember hitting the pillow! Tomorrow tour de Book Cliffs with the whole BSV team!
Oh yeah, I made it.
Riders ready? Or are we playing with the dog all day?
Ride starts out on the dirt road and you cross the high way heading North.
A climb up the service road gives you a nice view of rabbit valley and the 3,4,and 5 trails.
First stint of single track and then a steep climb--nothing like this to get us all warmed up!
Very unique features here in the Zion Curtain area...
Crazy rock steps to ride up.....
Pump track for a while...
And we were joined by a sheik for the ride. About here half the group turned back and went to ride some other trails. We were down to five at this point, Cindy, David S, Phil M, Kevin VP and myself.
Riding the line--the Utah/Colorado border fence.
Rewarded with the top of the Zion Curtain--views of the Rabbit Valley and river below. Good lunch spot from out 10:30am start.
Here Phil finds some goodies in his pack.
Off along the rim with some small trees and more views--hard to focus as you look at the La Sals in the distance.
Kevin checking the view.
Dave S and Kevin VP riding up a wash
A few more tech spots. I walked it too. Cindy gave it her all and decided to sit down on the job. Cindy repeatedly schooled me on this trail with the techy moves--I was motivated by that and cheered her on.
Big Smiles after the descent on the Zion Curtain--its super fun and fast with a mix of clean trail and slick rock type moves with a few surprises thrown in.
A quick water check as we enter the Kokopeli trail and climb up the hill to West water Mesa to join up with the Over Look trail. Everyone riding strong here after 15 miles so far.
The short steep climb ahead (600feet)--David hit it hard and you can see him ahead.
Once up top, we hit the Overlook trail and is pump track for about 4.5 miles till you reach the pass and lollipop loop. Here Kevin Vp, David S and myself made a fast effort on the loop while the rest of the group hung out at the pass to descend to Western Rim. We did eat well here, and I offered my usual can of tuna, V-8, and salted almonds to those that would take.
Kevin coming down a rock wash.
Dave S doing the same.
Top of the lollipop loop--excellent views again the whole time. The loop is about 7.25 miles. I had though it was only about 2 miles...whoops! Made the rest of the group worry a bit though since it took us about an hour to complete versus the 20 minutes I was thinking. Will do better next time on that.
When we joined back up with the group, we descend the 600 feet down a steep double track and meet up with some single track that leads us to the Western Rim proper. Here we are riding a rib like Joe's Ridge on the book cliffs.
A little sand and loose but nice trail for sure.
Then we joined the Western Rim and the flowers were out a bit.
The rim starts out as a nice single track and then turns into this white stone bench that rides along the cliff for several miles--we had the place to ourselves--not one other MTB rider the whole day!
The sun was starting to set....day light was running out on us.
Playing the white sand stone. Here we were all starting to run out of water.
Back on the double track after climbing out of the Rim. The sand was well compacted and very rideable for those that actually gave it a whirl!
Light was good at this point.
More cows playing on the trails. I think they followed us from the book cliffs.
Cindy and Dave S take a quick pose for the camera here looking South East.
We booked it for the car as the sun went down, skipping the normal 2 trail route back and settled for the road in the wash. It is the Kokopeli proper and was fun to take everyone on for a tour. Got back to the car and Joel had left a note on the window--he had tried to meet us, using our SPOT tracker from his phone to see where we were on the loop but since we had moved slow, it never worked. Joel was able to grab a nice Western Rim and Kokopeli loop though out of the day regardless.
Our Elevation profile from the day. Came out to 5500ft I think climbing/descending.
The route from the sky. This is a wonderful loop and mostly single track the whole way or shared ATV/MTB trails--very nice combo of three loops out there. Its about 44 miles. In the past when I have done this with just two of us, it takes about 6 to 6.5 hours. We did this time in 9 hours even and had a great time, enjoying the day and taking photos. A slight breeze made the temps even better and kept us cool. We headed straight back to camp for some much needed showers and then a chow down at the Hot Tomato in town for some salad and pizza. Joel joined us for a bit to have a beer and hear about the epic day. I do not remember hitting the pillow! Tomorrow tour de Book Cliffs with the whole BSV team!NOTE: What did I carry on this ride besides my bottomless dueter bag?
Food:
0) 5.5 serving Gel Flask with Carb Boom Apple Pie Gel
1) 3 handfuls of Blue Diamond salted Smoke House Almonds
2) Mini can of V-8
3) 4 Power Bars (chocolate and caramel)
4) 2 Mint Cliff Bars
5) 1 can of Tuna in water
6) 6 Newton brand Fig Newtons
7) Apple
8) Camel Back 100oz bladder full of water
9) 24oz bottle of water
10) 24oz bottle of water mixed with grape low calorie Gatorade
11) A whole lot of faith.
12) David S. carried everything else for me!
I ate everything except the Tuna. I drank all of the water and since we were out for a bit, I should have had one more bottle with me. I meant to bring it anyway, but forgot it at the camp. My cycle computer said I burned 2750calories. Not sure how accurate that is. I chowed that night after and also had a 24oz bottle of Recovery drink in the car on the way back to camp.
Food:
0) 5.5 serving Gel Flask with Carb Boom Apple Pie Gel
1) 3 handfuls of Blue Diamond salted Smoke House Almonds
2) Mini can of V-8
3) 4 Power Bars (chocolate and caramel)
4) 2 Mint Cliff Bars
5) 1 can of Tuna in water
6) 6 Newton brand Fig Newtons
7) Apple
8) Camel Back 100oz bladder full of water
9) 24oz bottle of water
10) 24oz bottle of water mixed with grape low calorie Gatorade
11) A whole lot of faith.
12) David S. carried everything else for me!
I ate everything except the Tuna. I drank all of the water and since we were out for a bit, I should have had one more bottle with me. I meant to bring it anyway, but forgot it at the camp. My cycle computer said I burned 2750calories. Not sure how accurate that is. I chowed that night after and also had a 24oz bottle of Recovery drink in the car on the way back to camp.
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