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May 6: Five miles southwest Rt 50/6 on Horse & Cattle Creek Rd to Rt 6. Total mileage was 40 miles in 4:35 hrs of cycling with elevation gain of 2800 ft.

Was concerned about even getting a ride in today what with a pretty grim weather report for Friday thru Sunday. But this morning the latest forecast predicted heavy storms in the area beginning around 2 PM in the afternoon. With that I kind of hurried Vic and Judy so I could get going and get the ride in before the heavens opened up. They got me to yesterday’s finish area in quick time and I was on the bike just before 9 AM. Headed down what I knew was Cave Creek Rd, but on my GPS with the 100 dollar chip and all the high tech glitz, well it told me I was riding on “Unnamed Road!”

I know I bitched about this last year, what with all the money I’d spent on GPS equipment, and the latest in maps, and this main gravel road is still called “unnamed road”. I study each day’s route to the T, and sometimes I still get discombobulated, so the really no brainer stuff really gets my goat. Anyway, I took this the junction with what the gazetteer said is, again, a continuation of Cave Creek Rd, but the GPS says it’s Marshall Pass Rd. I still know where I’m going despite two completely different road results. At that point the road was starting to climb, and I would continue climbing for another 2 hours. 

Now the next turn, well luckily that was marked by the National Forest Service,  because again, my GPS indicated that I was turning on an “Unnamed Road”. Made the right turn onto Lone Pine Summit Rd and began climbing in earnest. The weather was still holding, but clouds were beginning to gather to the east, which is where the weather system was supposed to come from today. So I kind of felt this sense of urgency in getting to the summing and down the descent before all hell broke loose. 

Lone Pine Summit Rd was really just jeep track. And it was kind of soft from the recently melted snowpack, so I kept looking down at my tires fearing a flat. NOPE. It was just the supper soft surface. The track got pretty dang steep, forcing me into the little cookie in the easiest gear in the back, and there were times where I’d be out of the saddle and shlepping along at under 3 mph, about ready to tip over. I kept remembering my fall in CO last year and lacerating my medial knee, so I was keen to NOT creep over any big rocks going that slow. The last mile was just super steep and rocky, but I was able to ride the whole thing. Now don’t get me wrong, there were a couple times where I was so tempted to hike-a-bike for a few minutes just to give my legs a break, but pride kept me from dismounting. Made it to the top where I had this fabulous view down the canyon I was about to descent - Sawmill Canyon. 

Stopped for several minutes to put on my gortex and gloves for the descent, to snap a few pics, and to put on my GoPro hemet cam. The cloud cover to the east, by this time, was looking pretty darned scary, kind of blackish-blue, with the eastern ranges totally socked in. So I got rolling on the descent, and it looked pretty mellow at first - kind of like going up the initial rise of a rollercoaster before the big plunge! But then things really steepened up. Now I knew I’d be descending 3K, so I anticipated a monster descent. And soon enough it was. On the other side of the pass the road was covered in spots with lenses of drifted snow, like these drifts that were about 2-3 feet thick and 2-4 feet wide, and crossing either the whole track or damned near the whole track. 

The first one I hit brought me to a complete stop, about knee deep in snow, but after that they got slimmer and shallower - thankfully. Then the fun started, this full blow descent that lasted 40 minutes. I mean it wound down the canyon like a wild river, with all these switchbacks and dips on either bedrock or really loamy gravel, so I couldn’t let it rip, and had to feather the brakes. There were stretches were I was able to kind of look out over the amazing views that were whizzing by me, and other stretches where I had to keep my my eyes focused on the track in front of me. 

My favorite stretch was this point where I was riding in this kind of slot canyon area where the track was really all there was in the slot. The walls were several hundred feet on both sides. Once I got through this the track dropped pretty steeply yet again and then I popped out of the canyon and down onto the high side of the basin. Now this section I could just let if fly, and I got it up to a solid 30+ mph screaming down into the valley to the town of Lund. Meanwhile behind me was this wall of black, and the wind had picked up. Did my best to keep it fast to finish the segment in Lund where the ladies would be waiting for me. 

Well, I made it to the car with about 10 minutes to spare. All around us these massive areas were blacked out with giant sheet of rain falling. We did get some rain, but really it was pretty mellow compared to what was going on all around us. So I get some liquids and a yogurt and got rolling for the second, much shorter segment of 10-12 miles. Before I left, I had to tighten the bolt on my rear shifter hanger, which must have got giggled loose on the rocky descent. Did a short 2-3 miles of berm on Rt 318 north, then jogged left on the Preston Loop Rd, another 1.5 miles of berm riding before I got back on dirt, on CR-10.

Again, the storms were building behind me and the winds were whipping up higher and colder. Took CR-10 for about 5-6 miles where it deadended into Rt 6. Made it, and within 5 minutes of us leaving to go back to Ely, we got slammed by a couple good rain storms - lightening and all. So day 1 of what are supposed to be three days of rain, well made we it on this one - Me 1/weather 0. Watch, tomorrow I’ll get slammed!