RR: AZ Spring Fling 07 - South Mountain

[Von-Skipp]

Heres my South Mountain photos from the A group. I didnt take too many as I was busy riding.

The A group ride was up National to Buena Vista, past BV to Hobert. Hobert is a a super techy downhill that drops on the back side of SoMo. I had a hard fall on this trail and went otb landing hard on my wrist. At the time I though my wrist was done for, but after a couple min I was good to go. Everything enjoyed this trail even though it was brutal on us and our bikes. After getting water at the Boy Scout something we all very much enjoyed our hike up Jeromino. Not to mention it was in the high 90's. This was a long hike-a-bike all the way to Buena Vista. At BV we decensed all the way down National to the cars. It was a long hot day at SoMo, I need to start riding here more so I can ride like the locals!!

someone hiking up the waterfall


Calepic going down the spine of the waterfall


If you look close people ride this line going down the rock!!!

[LBmtb]

Man that rock roll is gnarly! Looks like a small drop off onto the rock with the deep rut?

[Ladd Jasper]

Originally Posted by LBmtb

Man that rock roll is gnarly! Looks like a small drop off onto the rock with the deep rut?

Gnarly pretty much nails it. There wasn't a drop onto the rutted rock, really, you just had to roll the very thin section on the left. The b!tch of it was that even if you cleared that and made it to the dirt, you were only 1/2 way home. You still had to make a quick left behind the bush, then a right to make it down another nasty rock face.

The one guy we saw try got about three feet down the initial face, then changed his mind. He got off the back of the bike, but it was so steep he could neither back up without letting go of the brakes--certain carnage--nor could he get back on. Dude was stuck. Had to have a friend climb up and hold the brakes so he could bail.

No thank you.

[guero]

nice pix kippie, thanks for the RR.

[TURNERob]

Originally Posted by Ladd Jasper

Gnarly pretty much nails it. There wasn't a drop onto the rutted rock, really, you just had to roll the very thin section on the left. The b!tch of it was that even if you cleared that and made it to the dirt, you were only 1/2 way home. You still had to make a quick left behind the bush, then a right to make it down another nasty rock face.

The one guy we saw try got about three feet down the initial face, then changed his mind. He got off the back of the bike, but it was so steep he could neither back up without letting go of the brakes--certain carnage--nor could he get back on. Dude was stuck. Had to have a friend climb up and hold the brakes so he could bail.

No thank you.

What, and Craig didn't try it?

[CalEpic]

Like Kipmeister I didn't take too many pics. The STR group got really large for this ride nearly overwhelming the group when combined with the OTB Club. We were joined by JFSH and Dan from Kernville, Tom the bomb, his brother, Mike, and another Tom, The Vegas boys Redmon and Beagledadi. We ran into Pain Freak and Steppie in the morning but they decided on a different ride.

The ride was led by Dirtbag on mtbr a skilled local rider (on a Turner of course). We climbed up National spending a good amount of time so everyone could give the tech moves a few tries.

JFSH:


Ladd Jasper flying his STR freak flag:


Tom the bomb sporting some sweet old school Oakley's:


We regrouped up at Buena Vista lookout before continuing on to the Holbert trail. This trail was the highlight of the ride. Non-stop technical, rocky gnar all the way down the mountain with a few hairy switchbacks thrown in for good measure. I had a blast! Carnage galore for both man and machine. I cleaned all the sections except the easiest switchback in the wash but ripped the bead on my rear tire ejaculating Stan's milky froth on the trail. Put in a tube and promptly had my rear derailleur cable ripped out somehow. Quickly repaired and made it to the bottom. I know Kippie went down hard scratching his new fork, Ladd Jasper turned his derailleur hanger into a pretzel, several flats, etc. from several riders.

At this point it was getting really hot. We made our way to a boy scout base and refilled our Camelbaks. We then began the death march up Geronimo. This truly sucked. Half the group peeled off onto a spur trail back down with the promise of another hike up Mormon in the heat. The other half of us said F' that. After an eternity we made it back up Buena Vista ready to die.

A few of the survivors:


On the way down National we were so worked we didn't even bother to look at the lines on the tech sections reasoning that it was too much work to get on and off the bike. Dell and I rolled down the waterfall one after the other. Unfortunately for Mike (Kranking Kiwi) there was someone hiking their bike up as he decided to come down. He took evasive action and had a horrific crash into the chunk.

Towards the end, one of the OTB guys was so dehydrated he got off his bike and laid on the ground in the fetal position. We became pretty concerned but he and his buddies assured us he would be ok with some water and rest.

We finally made it back to the truck with the thermometer registering 102*. Beagledadi saved my life with an ice-cold Gatorade from his cooler.

We immediately made our way to the hotel pool and consumed several cold beverages to cool ourselves.

[LBmtb]

So did Craig try that big huck that he crashed on last year? . . The one nobody else dared to try.

[CalEpic]

Originally Posted by LBmtb

So did Craig try that big huck that he crashed on last year? . . The one nobody else dared to try.

Nope. That drop is on Mormon. We didn't ride that trail this year. This year's humiliation took place in Sedona.

C

[roadkillross]

where's the crash pic?