Fourth of July Epic

The Fourth of July is a time for family, barbecues, parades, and fireworks. Unless you're one of the forty-odd (and you had to be odd to contemplate this ride) folks who got on their bikes at 4:20 in the morning to ride up Monarch Pass, then follow the well-known Monarch Crest Trail all the way through.
So here's how things went down:

Six days prior: I'm supposed to go on the Wednesday Night Ride with the local crew, when it hails. So what to do, but get a beer with the guys instead? Somehow the topic of conversation turns to epic rides, and I hear about this singlespeed ride that leaves out of Salida, CO on the Fourth of July. The route includes the Monarch Crest Trail, a ride that I've done before and have no words to describe how beautiful and righteous and technical and everything else a trail can be.

Five days prior: I call the LBS (Local Bike Shop) and get more details on the ride.

Four days prior: I convince, befuddle, and generally fool Will into going on the ride with me. The conversation goes something like this: ME- "Hey Will, want to do the Monarch Crest round trip on the Fourth? It's supposed to be 95+ miles." Will- "OK"
See, it was tough, but I finally managed to convince him!

One day prior: I call the LBS again, this time looking for a good camping spot. Instead we get a great hookup, and have an entire guesthouse at our disposal. We make the drive from Colorado Springs to Salida, arriving sometime around 10pm or so.

Day of, 3:30am (all times are approximate): Three-thirty is not a time for normal humans to wake up. Ouch!

4:10: We ride out from the guesthouse to the meeting place, a fella named Don's house.

4:20: It's impossible to miss Don's house; About 30 or so singlespeeders mill around with more trickling in. This is supposed to be our start time, but of course it takes a little while to get the group rolling.

4:40: We roll out. There are about 45 riders. Everyone is silent. Knobby tires thrum on pavement, and the only light is from the moon and stars.

4:45: I think to myself, Holy Cow! These singlespeeders sure lay down the pace. I'm supposed to keep this up for how long?

~5:10: The group hits dirt for the first time. We settle in for the long haul, and people spread out to form sub-groups of similar pace. I'm very glad-those guys in the front were hauling the mail. Crazy singlespeeders!

7:00: We've been climbing from the moment we started riding. At first it was just a subtle uphill grade on the pavement, but once we hit dirt, we've been riding almost exclusively on railroad grade, two-tracks, dirt road, and bushwhacking. The climbing is more noticeable now, but never too strenuous. I'm surprised; I thought there was going to be more steep parts. Instead we just steadily parallel by all means possible the highway up Monarch Pass.

8:40: After four hours of continual climbing, we arrive at Monarch Pass, elev. 11,386'. We have just ridden up the continental divide. There is a tourist lookout and knickknack shop. I go in to fill my water bottles, thinking there's nothing I could possibly want to buy from this place, when I notice that a bunch of the guys are at the little food counter. COFFEE! For a dollar! Never, ever has tourist stop coffee been so good as after a four hour climb.
This is also the spot where normal people get dropped off to ride the Crest Trail. You see, only nutcases ride UP the pass. The rest pay $19 for a shuttle ride. I've done it myself, I'd recommend it for your first time on the Monarch Crest.

9:30: Well rested and refueled, our little crowd sets out again. From now on, Will and I stick together, but other members of the group stop and go as they need, to eat, rest, relax, so that we're all passing each other as the day goes by and we take breaks as well.

9:35: Commence perma-grin. This trail is beautiful. The first seven or ten miles is rolling terrain, riding along the ridge line as it drops and gains. This is what gives the Monarch Crest Trail its name. On either side of the crest, the land drops away for panoramic views of the mountains encompassing the entire horizon. The sun is up, and I feel as if I've just gotten on my bike--the hours of climbing we rode before the sunrise seem like a surreal dream.

10:17: This long ride would not be possible without little rests thrown in. We stop at a vantage point, eating a half sandwich or an energy bar, drinking our electrolyte mixes and enjoying the general splendor. Soon we will hit the high point of the ride at 12, 145'.

10:45: One of the singlespeeders shows us where a spring flows out of the rocks. Another rest stop, and some fresh, delicious mountain water.

11:00: The first real descent on the trail. We drop down on a narrow dirt road littered with waterbars (these are humps of dirt at regular intervals that run perpendicular to the trail or road, controlling erosion. They also have a habit of popping you into the air). Will jumps one, and lands thirty feet later. After that stunt, we decide that sucking up the jumps is the more intelligent option.

11:20: The dirt road drops us out at Marshall Pass Trailhead. The pit toilet and trailhead sign are the closest thing to to civilization we've seen in a while, and it will be many more hours before we run into other signs of developed society.

11:24: We come to a three-way intersection of two tracks, followed directly by a five-way, then a meeting of singletracks and two tracks. Ummm....

11:27: We pass a sign for Silver Creek Trail and realize we did go the right way. Whew!

11:30: Silver Creek Trail begins. Loose rocky descending marks this trail, and I love it. Again, perma-grin. Will and I are swapping leads the whole way down, and I can't decide what pushes me harder, keeping up with him when he's ahead, or trying to drop him when he's behind (never quite pulled that off. Sad.)

1:00: We've hit Silver Creek, paralleled it, at times ridden down the creek itself. Now we're at Rainbow Trail, and after six solid hours of riding, the best is still to come. Rainbow Trail is the best of midwest style riding, hiding in Colorado. It's like someone haphazardly let a ribbon fall on the mountainside, and that ribbon became the trail. It's flowing, loamy dirt, at times interspersed with rocks, sometimes off-camber, rolling up and down along the contour of the mountain. River crossing are frequent on the trail, always followed by a short, steep up, challenging me to be on my toes. I've been riding well all day, and this is the pinnacle for me.

2:45: After one last dodgy, loose, switchbacking downhill, we pass through a jungle of bushes and suddenly pop onto Highway 285. Cars whizz by as we savor the moment, knowing that it's all downhill from here. After enjoying another energy bar and cashing our electrolyte drinks, we coast the 5 miles into Poncha Springs, and time trial from there back into Salida.

3:50: Eleven and a half hours after first getting on our bikes, we roll back into the guesthouse. A quick change of clothes, a few bags thrown in the car, and we drive (yes) back to Don's house, where we met up with the all the group as they trickle back into town. We socialize and enjoy a well earned beer. Some of the group had gone on to the section of Rainbow Trail across Highway 285 (the road we had taken down into Poncha Springs). They hiked-a-bike for several miles before the trail allowed them on their bikes again, finally descending via one of Colorado's myriad Bear Creek Trails, for the full loop of around a hundred miles of mountain biking. Personally, I'm satisfied with our slightly shortened ride, and many of the other riders made the same call as us, opting against the hike-a-bike.

Ten days later: I'm back on the Monarch Crest Trail. This time I shuttled with my teammate Lumberg and our friend Jake, who we raced against in Collegiates. We run across a woman who knew about the Fourth of July epic, and she had some startling news: One of the people who we had ridden with, and had opted out at 285, had kept track of their mileage. Turns out Will and I rode 88 miles that day, far more than we had realized. Guess that turnoff didn't cut off much mileage.

Whew! Long post for a long ride.
Coming soon--MSC #4 race report.