After sleeping briefly on the side of I-15, I got to his place early Thursday morning. I took my pup to Dog Beach and laughed uncontrollably as he learned from the other dogs how to swim in the surf. Before long he was crashing into the waves and stealing all the tennis balls like an old pro.
My friend and I rode Thursday and Friday at little canyons right in the middle of San Diego. We got some miles in and it was fun, but Saturday was the real deal. Saturday morning we both drove out to set up a shuttle on the legendary Noble Canyon ride in the mountains.
Noble Canyon started with a small climb among the shady pines, crossed through a burn area, then got deep down into the shady canyon. Parts of upper sections deep in the shady canyon are some seriously worthy riding. The trail becomes more consistently technical as you drop into the lower desert sections. Then after a sandy 300-400' climb, Noble Canyon finishes with another combo swoopy/technical downhill finish.
We had parked our shuttle car at the grocery store in Pine Valley, so we had a few miles of road riding to get back there. Total ride was about 14 miles.
I headed back towards Colorado at that point with a vague plan for the next two days before returning to work on Tuesday. I thought I might ride in Flagstaff, but when I got there I wasn't tired yet so I kept on going towards Colorado and Phil's World.
I slept a few hours aside the interstate in far eastern Arizona, but I was back on the road as soon as the sun rose. I was pretty tired, but extremely excited to ride Phil's World after everything I have read and heard about it over the years.
Phil's World is one of these rare places like 18 Road in Fruita & Mcoy Flats in Vernal, where locals riders have taken matters into their own hands and designed and built MTB-specific trails on BLM land that would otherwise sit idle.
I was road-weary, malnourished, and just plain tired when I started my ride at Phil's World, but that lasted maybe five minutes. The loop started out super-fun, but it just kept getting better and better. The flow of the trails was beyond exceptional. I'm already looking forward to bringing my friends here and watching their faces contort with sheer joy. Thank you Phil's World, thank you Cortez trailbuilders. My loop was 21 miles in exactly 2 hours. What a Ride!
I debated hanging in the area for another day and sampling some Durango trails, but the road warrior mentality set in and I decided to push on back to Frisco. I got home at midnight and slept all the way through until noon on Memorial Day. Then I ate lunch, watched some TV, and took a nap.
Finally I dragged my ass up and took my first Summit County mountain bike ride of 2013. Most everything up high is still snowed-in, but not the Frisco Peninsula. And the Perimeter Trail on the Peninsula is actually very fun. I never ride it once the higher trails are clear, but I should. It is such a change from the typical, and necessary, long grunt climb to be followed by amazing stellar descent that is usually required in Summit County.
And the Peninsula reminded me of another thing I've been taught over and over, yet still try to deny when I'm weary. Singletrack trails are fun, always. It doesn't matter how tired you are or whether you think you've ridden hard the last few days and should maybe just chill.
Get your shit together and ride. Start slowly. Just head out and the Trail Warrior will take over from there.
(On a quick note, this is probably the longest roadtrip I've undertaken in such a short time. It taught me that I can cover the miles and still easily hit the rides and other activities that surrounded me. It changed my perspective for my future roadtrip planning. Total: 5 days, 6 states, 2300 miles, 5 MTB trails, 4 Beach trips, and a few other hours of Pacific Beach nightlife.)
Here's a photo of the inside San Diego trails....
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