Tuesday Night Mountain Bike Ride, July 22, 2008 -- Pipeline Viewpoint

By Tom Clark

This is the Pipeline Viewpoint ride, and if you look at the Tuesday Ride schedule, you'd note that on the difficulty scale, this one ranks a 9 with an option for a 10. We did that option this year, but it didn't feel like a 10. We all felt pretty good at the end, if a little used up.

I started off the night absolutely miserable. I've got this anal fissure thing going on (aaaa -- TMI!! TMI!! you seem to say) that at times is pretty f*ing bad. I popped 400mg of ibuprofen, and drove out to the meeting place on the Steese Expressway at the viewpoint. I immediately lay down in the grass, taking pressure off the works, for about ten minutes. Riders filtered in, and before too long there were six of us, ready to go -- myself, Will Daniels, Jeff Gimbel, Dave James, Geoff Orth, and Eric Troyer.

Off we went, climbing the pipeline corridor to Gilmore Trail in, what, 20 minutes? I was second guessing my choice of clothing for the evening -- two layers on top, and longies on top of shorts. Hot. At Gilmore Trail, we lazily (but steadily) climbed to the top, not stopping anywhere, not even at the turn to Gilmore Dome along the so-called Trapper Trail. I'd really like to know what that trail is called. Supposedly, it is Gilmore Trail, but so is the trail going off to the Smallwood swamp, and the continuation on up to the house at the end of Gilmore trail. I digress.

Once we got on the steep uphill bit up to the rocky outcrop on the Trapper Trail, I about gave up. I was ready to pack it in, but decided that a few more ibuprofen would see me through, so I took another 600mg and pushed up most of the hill, not wanting to get right back on the saddle. Towards the top, I got back on the bike and pedaled so that everyone at the top would think that I rode up the entire hill. Probably shouldn'tve mentioned that... After listening to a lengthy bullshit session on top of the outcrop (which I don't remember much of thanks to butt pain), we took off down the trail and up to Gilmore Dome. We teed into the ridge trail and veered left, going uphill past the radio tower.

The powerline over to the intersection with the Fort Knox mine road was fast. There, we elected to cross the road and take the four wheeler trail in lieu of the road. Good choice, as the trail is in excellent shape. I whined a little more about not finding any blueberries to Jeff G. He's a good sport and a good guy to whine to -- nothing seems to bother the guy. Very soon thereafter, things got seriously chilly. At this point, I was starting to feel pretty smug about having a second layer up top and longies. Everyone else was in shorts. Poor bastards. Cold toes were had by all, and those without gloves were regretting it. At the intersection of the Steese at Cleary Summit, we lost a rider. Eric Troyer put on a windbreaker and took off down the hill. I'm sure that he froze solid somewhere along the way. The rest of us continued around Pedro Dome to the Silver Fox trail -- the one that goes from Pedro Dome to the Elliot highway. We did another B.S. session at the trailhead, this time about various drunks that people knew.

B.S. session over, down we went. At the overgrown clearing thing, we lost Will Daniels. He wanted to head down the trail to the Pedro Monument, so off he went. Us four remaining riders continued across the short Silver Fox trail. Towards the end of the trail, before it turns into an actual improved road, it goes steeply downhill and gets really eroded and rutty. Scary, but a lot of fun! Jeff G. and I got to the bottom and waited for Geoff and Dave. Geoff is a Trail Freak, and uses terms like "grade reversal" and "sustainability". He even knows what they mean. So, when he got there, I said that from a sustainability and trail damage point of view, we should both be very upset and frown a lot over the trail we'd just ridden, but from a mountain biking point of view, "it was awesome!" It's true. That trail is completely boogered, but it is a hoot to ride at speed. Got really scary a couple of times, but that's the edge you look for -- right between something you can handle and "oh crap, I'm gonna die!"

At the Elliot, there wasn't even any discussion. We just all crossed the road and turned onto Old Murphy Dome road. Far out. Buncha die-hards. It's only a little over a mile from the Elliot to the pipeline, but it felt like a couple of miles to me. There, we turned left and we rode up the pipeline corridor towards Fox. Eric said that we should look for a trail to the right somewhere on the last hill, if we wanted to avoid the creek. At the very top of the last hill, indeed, we found a fine quality trail that crossed the corridor. It was nearing midnight however, and this was not the time for exploration, so down the steep hill we went. I stopped partway down due to the stink that my brakes were making. Like a burning car or something. At the bottom there was a tree fallen (felled?) across the creek that three of us used. Geoff opted for a refreshing push through the Goldstream Creek. Then, it was a quick matter of riding back to the cars. We took the four-wheeler trail as much as possible and followed the pipeline service road back to the pipeline viewpoint.

So, a good ride, my keester notwithstanding. Geoff Orth really wants his bike back -- he's currently riding Sheryl's, as his is in the shop. Jeff Gimble turned out to be a robot, which is what we all suspected. He rides just as strong at the end of a ride, and doesn't flail about. Dave James proved that he is familiar with all of the "The Onion" and other works - capable of reciting many skits and lyrics. Eric Troyer we'll thaw out sometime this week, in time for the next ride. Will Daniels' car wasn't there, so either it was stolen or he made it back. Hope it's the latter.

That's it -- L8ers!