Tuesday Night Mountain Bike Ride, September 2nd, 2008 -- Moose Mountain Rabbit Traill

By Tom Clark

Ten of us (pretty good, we are getting better turnouts, now it's almost over) started out, pretty lazily. Even when everyone was ready, nobody really showed signs of wanting to leave the parking area in the gravelly pullout thing near the bottom of Spinach Creek road. Dave James finally chased us all out of there and got us underway. We rode up Moose Mtn road to the "T" intersection and veered left to ride over to the clubhouse at the base of the ski runs. There's a fine double-track trail that winds up the hill quite gradually, though the beginning is a little steep. We followed it all the way to where we intersect Moose Mountain road again, right below the upper gate. There, we got on the trail again, all the way to the top. Seemed like everyone was gabbing the whole way up. Two abreast, and chit-chatting all the way through the pack. Jose rode beside me for much of the way up, to avoid riding behind me (he said "you stink", referring to my armpits, I think). Good company.

At the top, Tom Moyer decided to go back down, as he was about finished, energy wise. We tried to talk him out of it, to no avail. Tom, if you are reading this, the whole rest of the ride sucked because you weren't there. No fun at all. We've decided to disband, unless you come back.

The nine of us continued on, following the powerline that connects Moose Mountain and the old Love Site (E-Battery). There's some fast descents and good climbs on that trail. Everybody rode the trail without incident, and the only falling down happened trying to climb that steep little dumb rise up to the road that goes up to the Love Site. I fell over two or three times trying to ride up that hill without momentum. I gave up, but I think that I'll have to try it again. It's just a matter of picking the right line, I think. I bet that Jeff Gimbel could do it.

We had a BS session here, enjoying the last little bit of sun, enjoying the view. Finally, someone got us going again, and we zoomed down that dodgey little road, floating back and forth on that loose gravel. I hope I never wipe out on that stuff. Seems like I'd just keep rolling, all the way to the bottom. Near the weirdo multi-way intersection at Old Murphy Dome road, there's a large puddle that forces traffic around the edges. The edges are lined with alder. Geoff Orth got jousted by one of the alder, smack in the left shoulder. He might've even gotten shoved off his bike, I dunno. Anyway, that was injury number one.

We took the sharp left, sending us west on Old Murphy Dome. It's a little freaky for the first half of a mile or so, with lots of ruts and greasy dirt. It has been graded or something, so it's a lot better, but still somewhat scary. Nobody wiped out there though. Woo hoo. Right near the bottom of this descent there's a wide open area to the north, offering quite a vista of the terrain. I guess that it is part of a fire-break that appears to be constructed along much of Old Murphy Dome road. We gathered there and admired the view for a while, wondering what this or that feature in the distance was. Again, someone lit a fire under us again, and we were off.

A short distance up OMD road, we paused to get lighting systems ready. When you go into these woods after sundown, it gets dim pretty quickly. I led the pack for a short ways until my light unplugged for the second time, and Todd Redinius passed me. He'd had fun chasing me, now I was having fun chasing him, until my damn light unplugged again. Fuck!

When we got dumped out on the big powerline, I scavanged some electrical tape from my bike and taped the little connector together. Fixed! Eventually, everyone rolled in. Jose got gored by the dumb head-banger tree across the trail that isn't quite high enough to ride under, if you are Jose. That was injury number two. We took off and a few of us crossed the little creek and made it a ways up the trail before hearing the call moving through the pack, "broken bike! broken bike!"

Some turned around and rode back, Todd and I dumped our bikes and jogged. Not surprisingly, the joggers made it back first. That rough terrain is slow-going on a bike. Makes me think that it would be a fun trail to jog sometime. Anyway, the "broken bike" belonged to Dave James, who did an endo ALL BY HIMSELF, WITHOUT MY HELP. Evidently, a stick got tossed up and not only stopped him dead, but neatly folded about a third of his front brake rotor at a 30 degree angle. Cool trick. John Huffman had a multi-tool with the necessary Torx bit, so Dave was able to remove his rotor. He was pretty sore, too, and a little stove up from then on. Injury number three.

Todd and I jogged back to the bikes and we rode pretty closely grouped together to the next water crossing, the one with the really crappy bridge. It was only marginally rideable to the bridge, and a few feet past it, it was pointless to try. I had just cleared the bridge and dismounted when there was a "Ow!". Todd banged his shin pretty good on the lip of the crappy bridge. Then another "Ow! Fuck!" Geoff Orth. Same thing. Injuries four and five.

Eventually, we all regrouped on the dry side of the creek, bog and bridge, and most folks even had dry feet. Cool. We were just getting going when the word came up that Todd needed a minute or two. I asked him how his shin was doing, and he said it was fine. The problem was that he'd crunched certain soft dangly parts on the knob of his seat. Oy. This was injury six (or would that be six and seven, if he crunched both of them?) There was a little more riding along the flat, and then we came to the three dips. Each dip has a really mucky bottom and I don't think that I've ever cleared all three at once. This night was no different. In fact, at the bottom of the second one, I got bogged down and fell over. I was thinking "no big deal, soft tundra landing", just before I landed ribcage first on a log in the grass. Jeez. Injury number seven or eight? God.

After we cleared the next low spot, it was relatively smooth sailing. There's a few tight corners, some off camber roots, but that's what makes it fun, especially in the dark. I took off at maximum speed, and almost got into trouble around a couple of corners, but dumb luck and not knowing any better saved the day. The trail dumps out on the straight stretch of Moose Mountain road, as you are headed down to Spinach Creek road. Folks arrived, and off we went, with some folks like Pat Druckenmiller saying "that was awesome" and others remaining fairly silent. I guess that bombing through the woods over roots on a grassy, windy trail at night isn't for everyone...

We did the little detour at the bottom, where we parallel Spinach Creek road and Murphy Dome road on the way back to the cars, riding through the creek just before the parking lot. Some folks rode through the creek, some cut over to the road, all got back in one piece. There was extensive discussion of Jim Brader's fascination with cornholes and playing with them, but since the ride was over, I really shouldn't get into that...

Ester Community park next week, and who knows after that! Less injuries, I hope.