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La Milagrosa, one very sweet buffet (or is it smorgasboard?) of trail.
Disclaimer: If you don't like anything that is not buff and 100% IMBA-friendly, you probably will not like La Mila.
Sundog (MTBR brother on the tire) offered to lead us ( ChadF ended up coming along for the ride ) on a just-after sunrise shuttle-run to bomb down the trail, and being the astute people we are his offer was picked up.
We met at Le Buzz coffee shop, Chad and I getting there early enough for a little noshing pre-ride. Sundog arrived, we arranged bike-crud into vehicles, and drove off.
We dropped my car at the bottom at the "new" official parking spot, since the old lot has been closed down for biker access. :^(
Then Sundog drove us up to Gordon Hirabayashi Park (formerly known as the Politically Incorrect Prison Camp) where we quickly suited up and hit the trail.
And promptly had our only mechanical of the ride, thank you Sundogo for appeasing the Cycling Gods for us. Somehow, I have no idea, he managed to fragment his derailleur hanger.
Thankfully, we had a spare, and in a few short minutes were rolling again.
My tired legs were feeling every climb, but it wasn't until attempting to get out of Molino Basin that the depth of my depravity over the preceeding days and weeks was showed in it's true colors. Not only were my muscles simply HURTING but I could not get any momentum and keep it up at all. I think I remember riding up some of the trail out of Molino, but man I would not want to make that claim while on the witness stand.
Thankfully, Sundog was being the ever patient guide and was awaiting me at the top where the cattleguard was, gave me a few short words of description of the trail, and then we were off.
And boy-o, was it a fun ride.
Down the steeps, scrub some speed, over the rock, around the corner, don't hit the cactus, whops hit that one (thank you Stan's), over the knoll, down the roll, up the roll, across, down, let the Quasi flow where it wanted to go (like I had a choice..), down into the valley and *whew* was that just sweet stuff.
And then, across the creek and into more climbing. I think. Maybe the Big Obstacle came next (video below), I dunno. The whole ride is a bit of a blur at the moment, to be honest.
Cruise down the trail, up the rock, over the WHUPS SQWAAALK! Maybe I'll *not* launch into oblivion here...
Walk walk walk walk, very, care, full, lee.
Back on the bike, bombing down, sweeping between rock and cactus, and the up up up up up up up ...
Whew, momentary break.
Look, there's Chad. That crazy XC boy and his climbing hardtail. :D
On we go, oh look, smoove trail, where'd that come from?
(continued...)
Down the rock garden - *wham* *bam* *boing* *slosh* (that was my brain, not my fork) *slursh* (that was my fork, did I mention I wound it out to full 174mm travel at the top?) - holy &*&^*&% scrabble with exposure and cactus - gently - feather - the - brakes - to - come - out - of - warp - 4 - *whew*
Down and cruising the saddle, up the next climb. Climb? CLIMB! Grab that granny gear!!!
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Made it!
Okay, so now I think my legs were warmed up.
At least I could pedal uphill now. Not that it didn't, er, let me know it was, er, uphill.
Down the slab,
Across the scree,
Switch backs!
Oh,
So,
Tight,
Niiiiiiccccceeeeeee.
Chutes!
Suck it in baby, roll on!
Whups! Didn't get that one, almost got me, better walk a few.
At least my breathing will ease up.
Down again!
Pa-whooom - boy, it sure is hard keeping up with Sundog.
waitaminutewhatthefuqamidoingtryingtokeepupwithhimbetterstartfeatheringthebrakesNOWWWWWW!!!!!
At the creek crossing, *sigh*, friggin gorgeous. Photo does not catch the impact, no way.
Easy cruise, up over and down, and back to the car.
Ride summary: 10.37 miles, 1659 ft up, 3679 ft down (!), 2:19 time traversing (including stops)
Wow, only 2:19, that was pretty quick. If you take up stopping time I bet we rolled it in less than two hours easily.
Doesn't do justice to Milagrosa for sure, there's more than a couple spots that should be revisited, explored, and Alternate Lines Attempted And Taken.
All under adult (?) supervision of course.
Somebody has to call in the location for the helicopter to come to.
:D
I, almost, maybe, could, have lapped back up and done it again.
But I think not. I am, as they say, "cooked."
I do, so strongly believe, that this was truly the cherry on top of the heaping pile of fresh cream, on top of the banana sunday, that has been this rolling roadtrip.
I also must say thanks for those "training days" skiing in Durango, really paid off with all this crouching downhill action.
The GPS tracklog is available in both GPS Exchange and Google Earth KML formats.
Can you believe it, broken d-hanger less than a mile in!
Hang the luck. However, a spare was handy and in less than ten minutes we were on the way again.
Rolling into Molino Basin
Hard to see, sure, but this is a completely un-retouched photo. Amazing.
And what goes down must go up ... and up ... and up ...
To the cattle guard, where Sundog was found to be one Patient Dude.
The view into Belotta Ranch
View looking south-easterly off the hillside shorting after crossing the cattle guard.
Another Where's Waldo - as in where's the trail...
Officially, the only "smoove buff" section on the ride.
View of Tucson, from some hill or the other.
Part way day, a very VERY cool creek/draw.
I wonder if it is perrenial?
Sundog rolling the major obstacle bringing you into La Milagrosa for real
Note: The above picture is a clickable link to a QuickTime video of Sundog rolling a nice rock obstacle.
I almost fell on the obstacle when I rolled up to it, so I chose to just video him cleaning it and making it look easy.
Which, in truth, it probably is, technically.
One of the easy chutes.
This section of trail, I dunno, maybe a 1/2 mile or so long, was densely populated with rock shutes to flow through. All very rollable. All a lot of fun. Some had some very strong turns involved. I did *not* clean the section.
After the ride, the best equipped Subaru in the world.
Yes, that is two, count 'em two, 7" travel equipped Quasi-Moto bikes on there. Scha-weet!
On the way back down the hill, Chad appreciates the view of what we just rode.
And there's great places for the rock climbers in the area too.
Although it doesn't really show well in this picture, it was a very impiring climbing area.
Tomorrow? I start my journey homeward.
Dark and early.
Somewhere between Las Cruces, NM, and Balmorhea, TX, I will find a place to stop and rest for the night.
I have some Very Important People waiting for me at home.
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