Thread: TR: I'll Be Your Dixie Chicken

What's not great about a 200 mile, self-supported Mt. Bike ride through some of Southern Utah's most remote and rugged terrain? I really can't think of a thing. I decided I would do this race a few months ago and since then have become obsessed with it. The planning and "training" consumed me there for a bit. All I could think about was the route, getting in shape, and getting my setup dialed in.

The route is a hair over 200 miles with about 30k in climbing. It's mostly single/double track with a touch of pavement sprinkled in. There is a nice balance of being in far off places and then having an opportunity to resupply a few times at key spots. For people familiar with the area, here is the general route:

Start at the bottom of 2nd Left Hand Canyon Rd. up to Sydney Peaks Trail>down Marathon to Navajo Lake>Virgin River Rim to its southern end>Harris Rim ATV roads to Highway14/89JCT>HW 89 to Paunsaugunt Plateau>Grandview Trail to Crawford Pass to Tropic Res>Freemont ATV>Thunder Mountain>ATV roads to Panguitch Lake>Clear Creek Cyn>Spruce Trail to Sydney Peaks>Dark Hollow>Beer!

http://2-epic.com/events/dixie200.html

Some pics:


There were 6 of us at the group start and one guy started a day early. Starting up the initial 4000ft climb



Topping out on the road climb



Jan, one of 3 guys from Moab is a climbing freak! It felt great to be up in the alpine single track nearing 11,000 ft on Sydney Peaks Trail



Going down the other side the GPS started coming in handy, this is not the Marathon Trail



This is though



"You know that thing in the back seat? It's not an air refreshener. It's a dead rotting deer carcass" - Name the movie that's from



Virgin River Rim Trail provides some rad views and rad singletrack



Hammering out on Harris rim trying to make the gas station at mile 73 before it closed. Jan and I made it just in time. I ate 2 corn dogs, a bag of chips, and a quart of hatorade and stocked up on some goodies for a few more hours of night riding and a long day to follow.



I left the gas station solo and had some easy cruising on paved/dirt roads up into the National Forest. Then there was some head scratching hike-a-bike on this "trail". This was around midnight or so, I was mostly following the gps track and generally enjoying myself.



At the top of the hike I slept for a few hours and was passed by Fred from Moab who got a 2am start on day 2. I woke up and started on the Grandview Trail which lived up to its name. It was, however, some of the slowest, hardest mileage I've ever ridden. Lots of sand, hike-a-bike and some low moments for me.



The trail winding under the cliffs. It was nice and remote though, I think I went about 10+ hours without seeing another soul.



I reached Thunder Mountain late in the day. Rolling through the Hoodoos at 8:30 on a summer night - trail magic



I was pushing kind of hard to make Harold's Restaurant at the bottom of Red Canyon before it closed. I rolled in to find Fred and Dave, the guy who started the day before, finishing up dinner. I was too late though so I settled on a soda. No sweat, I had some food left anyway. We rolled out together towards Panguitch Lake



It was nice to ride with those guys that night, we covered some ground until about 2:30 in the morning. With less mileage to cover on the last day to finish up the loop I decided I would sleep in a bit and take advantage of the Burger Barn in Panguitch Lake. The other guys rallied out early in the morning but I didn't get rolling til almost 9.



I'm so glad I slept in. My timing was just right, after 2 or so hours of riding I got to the Burger Barn just before they opened. I then proceeded to slam a burger with bacon and onion rings on it, sweet potato fries and a shake. Just as I ordered my food the 2 other Moab guys came rolling up. We had a casual calorie load and then set off for the last big push. They smoked me on the climb. Those boys can friggin ride!



I made it to Dark Hollow and took my seatbag off and stowed in my pack, lowered my seat, and ripped the shit out of that downhill! Such a fun way to finish a huge loop. I passed one of the guys on the DH and then cruised back to the finish. It was crazy that 5 of us finished within about an hour of each other.



On the drive home I made pit stop at the hot spring, it damn near put me to sleep

Winner winner chicken dinner!!!!

Wow. Solid effort, really impressive. How long did it take ya?

Damn, thats a lot of riding. Strong work.

Tommy Boy.

That's incredible, amazing pictures. A tip of the hat to you, sir.

You rode that on HighRollers?
BAMF

That looks awesome. That's a lot of riding.

Originally Posted by BraddA

Wow. Solid effort, really impressive. How long did it take ya?

Started at 8am Saturday and finished around 4pm on Monday. About 34 hrs moving time, far cry from a race pace but not a super slow touring pace either.

Nice work! Looks like an awesome route.

bad ass. now that this is out of the way, ready to ride the big bike a little more?

sickness man, thanks for posting! one of the best bike TR's i have ever seen on here.

That is an awesomeTR!! Thanks for posting!!

Most excellent, TR!

Very nice.

Epic ride, outstanding photos. Well done!

tasty ...

out-freakin-standing

Cheers, Mike. Congrats on the accomplishment.


You ready to run Speedgoat with me?

bad ass!

Great photos, looks like a great event. CTR next?

Also, what xtrpickles said about high rollers. Holy shit.

high quality TR including the TB quote

well done sir.

Awesome! Nice work.

wow!

wow!

wow!

great tr!!

congrats on an epic ride.

i'd love to hear about you're packing logistics, if you don't mind. it looks like you have a pretty spartan setup.

Um, like, wow. And stuff.

So how was Grandview? When I rode it around 10 years ago, I decided it been there, done it, never want to do it again. Also how's the downfall?

Nice ride and TR.