Had a nice big misadventure today! Planned to do Log Machine to Schubarth, and then come out via Deadman's Gulch. Followed 307 to 313, which looked right on the Pikes Peak Atlas. Somehow I ended up at the end of 311, where I followed a faint trail east into the woods. Ended up in the Hell Creek basin, then did an unbelievable bushwack down the mountain. A seriously character-building ride.
My planned 3 hour ride turned into a 5.5 massive sufferfest! I have never gone through so much dense scrub oak. It was so bad, that I employed a cycling technique I've never used before: Bike Tossing! When the scrub oak gets too thick to get both you and the bike through, raise the bike overhead with both hands, proceed to launch downhill as far as possible, then use both hands to bushwack through the bush to your bike. Repeat ad nauseum. I managed to finally make it down the mountain. I think it took 80 minutes to go just over one half mile.
Ever heard of a Spot II Satellite GPS Messenger? If you are a frequent dumba$$, such as myself, it may be the perfect tool for epics. I got one last week and used it for today's ride. The Spot II is a gps receiver / emergency communication device. It allows you to send out waypoints on a 10 minute basis, send out an OK message with your location, send a Help message to people of your choice, send a custom message, and most importantly, send out a request for Search & Rescue to find your sorry self. I hope to never use the 911 feature, but the tracking and communication will be invaluable when on big solo rides.
Here is a screen cap from the tracking webpage from today. Note the cluster of track points from 20 to 28. That was some serious character building right there! Track points 16 and 17 are where I wondered which way to go, and made the wrong choice. Oops!
Comments
did that mule trail video we took couple weeks ago (28nov) ever turn out? can you post video's on your blog?