Trail school and rides

Sat AM dawned cloudless blue sky. After b-fast I headed out to Jug Mtn Ranch south of town for trail school.

Steve and Morgan of the IMBA trail care crew gave their presentation on trail care to less than 20 students. I won a pair of socks by stumbling thru an answer to a pop quiz. A free ride trail is not sustainable: no fix for a trail built on the fall line. Saw more of the core bike club members and several for the 3rd time. Hi Sid. Jug mtn is a family owned rand of 2000 acres for golfing and developing. Golf course is spread out such that a cart is necessary. The ranch fed us well @ lunch.

After lunch we all boarded these Swiss troop carriers for a bouncing ride up to our trail work project, the second part of the school to apply sweat equity to a previously laid out route. Others cut out the corridor while the rest of us moved dirt, chopped roots, then tamped down. Dirt lost its moisture almost immediately by turning into dust. Hot day. Reward was glasses of Millers from contributed keg from sponsor.

Visited w/ Steve and Morgan. Again it is cool to share stories about the same places and people we have ridden and met. I learned they no introduction visited Bill up @ his Zunni mtn cabin. They are neat people.

I was invited to dinner w/ Steve and Morgan and Sid and Dave to a Sushi restaurant. First S & M let me shower in their plush hotel room. Sushi rubs me the wrong way. Enjoyable conversation. Dave is central avalanche forecaster for the USFS, guided for RMI, back country skier, et.al.

Drove to grocery store on my way back to Bear Basin sleep spot. Saw a one white ring tail fox walking around in the parking lot. Learned that it is a common site. I suspected rabies for its lack of fear of humans.

Today was a group ride back @ Jug Mtn trails lead by David, the energetic and driving boss’ son. The mtn is putting # into trail construction and it is open to the public. The sushi was attacking my lower digestive track such that I almost begged off on the ride. The trails need to be marked and a map created to make heads or tails out of the trail system. B4 leaving Dave put together a shuttle ride of Goose Creek for early afternoon.

Goose Creek shuttle was enhanced by 2 drivers who dropped us off at the top then picked us up @ the bottom thus negating the car shuttle. 6 people in Dave’s Tundra pickup. We were dropped off almost @ the top of drop down a gravel road to start of ST. Strong winds blew dirt all around.  6 riders lead mostly by Fred as none of us could catch him on the ST. I was second and well ahead of the others but Fred remained way ahead. Trail is my kind of chunky, some serious rock dancing that I mostly made. Challenging. Used the visual goal setting several times to smooth out the chunk. Total ride was 7.39 dropping us 2123′. I still like my bike. Dave rode his PUSHed fork for the first time and reveled in its new suppleness. Me? I still smile.

Happy that the only thing moving is Goose creek. Me and Steve:

Short drive back to McCall. Dave lead Steve and I back to Salmon River brewing for a pint. Steve offered a shower. Bottoms up glasses and we pedaled back to hotel. After my shower Steve Morgan and I visited. Hard to part w/ neat people.

Back out @ Bear basin. Wind gusts blow dust around.

Tomorrow I move on. My front hub bearings need lubed as the wheel is getting harder to turn. I need to have it greased b4 my next ride which affects my ride plans. Figure I will drive thru Stanley and down to Hailey to Chip’s shop to have the hub greased then some other day drive back over Galena Summit to ride Fischer creek.