Curly Lake Epic

Hi Its Erik again...
Well today was the third ride of my time out here. Howie had planned to ride Curly Lake today and the map/ride guide for the area claimed it was a difficult advanced ride due to the terrain and climbing.

It claimed an opening 13.5 mile climb which would take us past Curly Lake (below) at about 10 miles up (8600 ft elev). The trail was mixed hardpack and loose rock but amazingly rideable even in the steepest sections. It was also amazing to see Howie and Kevin still going strong after 7 weeks with only a few days off total. After reaching the lake we all knew the toughest part of the climb was still ahead taking us up about another 1200 feet.

Many loose switchbacks and about 2 miles later we reached an area just short of the top (above pic). From here Howie took a picture of the lake we passed on the way up (below pic) The size of the lake in the picture gives you an idea of how far we climbed. Another mile or so up and another 600 feet of climbing we reached the top and the view was incredible. After eating and adding some layers for the long descent ahead we pressed on. After some rocky switches and singletrack we reached a saddle in the mountain which suggested we were starting to head down.

Coming over the top of this area revealed the longest, gnarliest, benchcut downhill I have ever seen. I couldn't believe my eyes. It ran like a ribbon along the mountain and ran into a series of heinous switchbacks (above - click on it to expand and you can see Kev an I coming around the turn). I felt like I was in a Bike magazine photo shoot. The peak where we started this descent was at about 9800 ft and would drop us back to the trailhead at 5800 ft in around 11 miles - just to give you an idea of the scale of this descent. This took us through a series of levels with very different terrain and wooded areas. The singletrack was mixed hardpack with loose rocky section and stream crossings. The switchbacks were tight and sketchy. Some were banked real well to give a real fast, smooth carve. Our downhill dream would be interrupted briefly by a 250 foot or so CLIMB. This really got the burn going after all the climbing earlier but we knew several more miles of downhill followed. The piece that followed was sweet gnarly singletrack through dense wooded areas with stream crossings and was even interrupted by a local cattle rancher driving his herd through the woods to get to what I guess was a remote pasture. Soon after the cattle drive Howie busted his second rear suspension in two days. He was not hurt and it was not a long walk out at that point luckily. This was a ride for the record books. This may be best single ride I have done and it ranks real high with Howie and Kev but these guys have quite a history of these kind of rides. Big thanks to these guys for giving one my best memories.