Ride Report Bootleg and Gooseberry Ramblings

glattime

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Tired of the psuedo summer we have been having and ready for some sun we packed up the truck and headed towards the desert for some mountain bike fun. Rolled into Bootleg a little after lunch and set up camp in the parking lot. We were a little road weary and needed to start off easy to get the riding mojo back. IMBA trail was perfect for that and 5 minutes into the ride we started hitting the fast rollers like these:
Bootleg%20IMBA.jpg


The hard packed gravelly dirt was a little slippery at first and caused this:
Bootleg%20nac%20Nac.jpg


The rolling hills keep coming though:
Lower%20Lake%20View.jpg


After climbing to the top of the hill and hitting the dual slalom track which left a nice bruise on my arm we headed down Snakeback to Reaper. There was a big race after Interbike and lots of practice runs had the trails pretty loose. After playing on Lower Lake View for a little bit the sun was getting low when we found this series of 4 gaps. The first one is below:
Night%20Gap.jpg


Lots of fun stuff to do in the dark:
Teeter%20Totter.jpg

Roll%20In.jpg


Gooseberry Mesa was next on the agenda. Camped right on the side of the trail which runs twisting and turning through here:
Gooseberry%20Pano.jpg


There are lots of little playgrounds scattered throughout the sandstone. The trail flows real good and is pretty different from Moab slickrock. Lots of short steep technical climbs and short descents with some real tight twisties make this trail one of my favorites. No pictures were taken through most of the singletrack sections because you just don't want to stop! We did take a couple at the playgrounds though:
Goose%20Gap.jpg

Goose%20Whip.jpg


The sun sets on another day:
Zion%20Cliffs.jpg
 
Little Creek Mesa

Gooseberry had left us in need of some repairs so we headed to Over the Edge in Hurricane:
Spam.jpg


They did everything they could to get us riding again and even offered to loan a set of pedals for the day. On the the way out Troy from the Fruita Over the Edge invited us to join him and some industry folks from Ibis, Pivot and Knolly for a guided ride on Little Creek Mesa. The trails on Little Creek Mesa aren't marked real well yet because they are in BLM limbo so having the locals show you around makes it a lot easier. The slickrock on Little Creek Mesa is a lot smoother so there are more drops, jumps and technical lines than on Gooseberry. The trails have really cool names like Mystery Trees and Window Licker, but I couldn't tell where one ended and another began.

Little%20Creek%20Mesa.jpg


Jumps!!!

Little%20Creek%20Gap.jpg

Little%20Creek%20Cross%20Up.jpg


On the trail out to the point there are these rock bridges over cracks that drop to infinity.
Mesa%20Bridge%202.jpg


This picture shows the exposure on the cliff side. It is only a couple of feet to the edge!
Bridge.jpg


Typical Utah scenery at the point
Little%20Creek%20View.jpg


I rode a bit with Noel from Knolly and he explained how he started Knolly to have bikes that didn't break. He rode some insane lines. This one below is vertical at the bottom with a skin eating 90 degree turn to avoid a wall.

Knolly%20Drop.jpg


Last jump in Little Creek.
Little%20Creek%20Stylin.jpg


Stayed one more night on Gooseberry and then headed for home. Getting some gas we decided to ride Bearclaw Poppy even though it was well over a hundred degrees out.

Any trail with a name like this has got to be cool:
3%20Fingers.jpg


Like a giant rollercoaster
Bearclaw%20Pano2.jpg


With some 20 foot gaps
Bearclaw%20Gap.jpg


And a giant pump track at the end
Bearclaw%20Pump%20Section.jpg


On the way out we rode the Barrel trail. This trail is part of a DH course so it has lots of cool stuff. There are huge jumps that none of us would do:

Huge%20Gap.jpg


and a series of rock ledges connected by slickrock of which this is the last one.

Barrel%20Drop.jpg


We ran out of water and were baking at this point so we headed back home.

Whip%20It%20Good.jpg
 
Awesome report. Looks like some amazing riding locations.


After climbing to the top of the hill and hitting the dual slalom track which left a nice bruise on my arm we headed down Snakeback to Reaper. There was a big race after Interbike and lots of practice runs had the trails pretty loose. After playing on Lower Lake View for a little bit the sun was getting low when we found this series of 4 gaps

Hahaha. You must not have been there for the race. 6 Super D racers and a record setting 21 Downhillers. From what I heard and saw the trails were super groomed up. Holes/drops on top of snakeback filled in. Reaper chute almost 3 ft wide and rockless. But I didnt see the whole thing.
 
Damn Gerry! You've got to share some of your AIR abilities secrets next time we ride! Great pics bro...extend the invite next time :)

Did you clear that 20 foot gap?
 
Andy - I did miss the race because we left on Friday. I am going to try and make the next race day though because just watching practice runs was awesome.

Binh - I did make that gap and I'll make sure to pass on an invite the next time. Might make an early November trip depending on work.
 
Nice air guys, I missed a good trip Gerry. Will not miss the next one. Ride with you soon.
 
Andy - I did miss the race because we left on Friday. I am going to try and make the next race day though because just watching practice runs was awesome.

Binh - I did make that gap and I'll make sure to pass on an invite the next time. Might make an early November trip depending on work.

The race was fun but small. The plan of hosting it right after interbike was to get more people to come. But after a week in vegas everyone jut wanted to go home. the next race out there is Halloween weekend
 

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