Still in Spokane. Sitting in Yokes parking lot here in the valley. 80s @ 8PM. And I have a terrible headache.
Yesterday I drove over to Beauty Creek off Lake Coeur d’Alene to ride a loop around namesake mtn, one of my favorite rides.I drove a ways up the creek so to speak and parked under cedars shading a pull out. I ride up the non maintained old paved road about 1/2 mile to where the road and trail 257 intersects this gives a little warm up b4 257 climbs away from the creek. Dry, no rain, but few riders to chew up the dirt. I will attempt to link the garmin connect web route later. (Garmin Connect doesn’t play well w/ WordPress. If you have a free Garmin Connect account you can view each of my rides, my user ID is craigbierly) The trail is classic old hiking trail that can be mtn biked. 257 climbs up and intersects w/ a logging road, a short gravel road ride connects w/ the continuation that drops 2.5 miles down to intersect w/ trail 227 climb out that connects w/ trail 79, Caribou Ridge, before the Scareabou section a well used trail snakes down to join an abandoned logging haul road to intersect 257 part way down and then back to the pavement. The ride is only 13.28 miles long but climbs 3119′; an 0.83 mile piece climbs 924′. Lots of push a bike uphill but the downhills are so sweet. Incredible effort required. To me this is what mtn biking is all about. 257 is all rideable both up and then down, however, 227 lacks deference to gravity but every step uphill puts a rider closer to the intersection w/ Caribou ridge and the start of almost 6 miles downhill. I have sweat equity in this trail. Moose bones are now hidden by the trailside brush on 257. 3 years ago perhaps a winter kill moose took its last breath and collapsed almost on the trail. The first year smell alerted its presence. Finally this year just weathered bones. I encountered one group of hikers on the way up and a couple on Caribou who wondered if anybody rode the trail. They are mtn bikers from Spokane and had no clue.
Caribou ridge drops off the mountain side w/ plenty of exposure. Its nickname Scarabou captures the sense. I have never even hiked to it to learn first hand. The little side trail was created to maximize the downhill on 79 but exit before the scary. The trail is purpose built mtn bike trail. The overgrown haul road was brushed out to create a turny traverse on a single lane road.
Back @ the van I rinsed off the wood grime and blood from several scrapes then continued eastward on I90 to Fourth of July Pass area for the night. Today I earned the gravity assist, tomorrow I am going to ride lift serviced downhills @ Silver Mtn using a gift ticket from Devon @ The Bike Hub in Spokane. Devon and I go way back to Bicycle Butler days. Maybe 9 firewood cutters passed my camp spot on their way out of the forest. Last night the sky was filled w/ stars preceded by a red sunset.
Today I drove the remaining 22 miles to Kellogg and the gondola. Except it wasn’t running. I learned a power surge blew out the telephone communication system necessary to run the gondola. It was closed yesterday also. There were maybe 25 riders all in full on downhill bikes and gear milled around hoping for a shuttle up. I scored a ride from a maintenance crew driving a crummy up. 7 riders and bikes were crammed in. The road up is the road skiers took before the gondola upgrade back in 1990. One lane steep loose rock first gear climb. No wonder hardly anybody skied here. Rule was road was uphill only till lunch then it was downhill only. Scary and a long time up. I was the only rider w/ less that 6″ travel bike and no pads or full coverage helmet. Chair 3 was supposed to be running that would provide shorter runs but it was shut down prolly because of the gondola. I was adopted by a female Helena rider for a short drop to 3. She saw my van in Helena during my last visit. Another rough truck ride back to the mtn lodge. I was done, I have no interest in this kind of riding. The trails traversed across the hill to a massive berm turn, repeat left right left right. Tread is dry and loose sharp edged cobble. From the summit lodge I rode blue square trails to the bottom. total descent 4092′ I skied the mountain a bunch of times in my past, quite different descending on 2 wheels instead of snow cover on 2 free heel skis.
I will return the unused lift ticket to Devon.
I’ll pant and sweat any day on mt cda than this lift riding.
I drove back to C d’A and an Anytime Fitness for a shower. Location was correct but the site is being built. Continued to Post Falls for clean up then drove back to cda to Moon Time, a sister pub to the Elk and Ginos. I sat at the bar and watched Seattle Seahawks score first in overtime against Denver and win. Thrilling. Seahawks defense let Manning pick them apart but the offense was spot on.
Cooling off.
This week will be frenetic cramming in chores and appointments in preparation of my next Monday departure. I get stressed out.