TR: My wife's cousin's wedding

[cloud cult]

So the Cloudcultette wants to go to her cousin's wedding and take Lil' Cloudcult with her. I should go, but it's in Atlanta, and it's her family, so the stoke is low. However, she proposes, what if I drive there, spend 60 hours in Atlanta at wedding, et al., and then mosey my way back home doing whatever I wanted. Well, gas is still $2 a gallon and there's a lot of Grade B country out there to see.

Day 1:

Up at 3, out the door at 4. Gas in Butte where it's 37 degrees, then Billings and through Lame Deer, a slice of Wyoming, and all of South Dakota. Sunset in Sioux Falls and cross into Iowa; near midnight pull into a rest area somewhere near Sioux City and sleep in the back of the truck.

Day 2:

Up a 3.30, brew a coffee, and on the road. Brekkie in traffic in Kansas City, get the oil changed in Columbia, sit in an impressive traffic jam in St. Louis, and cross the river.

20160623_135724-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Miss my exit in Illinois and get to see Indiana. Cross into Kentucky to find the highways have names, not numbers. Stop at a gas station to ask for directions and am told I'm on the right road but to "not get off on any exits". Camp north of Nashville, have a slug of whiskey, and take a shower to cool off but even so after just a few minutes of setting up my tent sweat is rolling off my nose like I'm back in Saigon. As I'm brushing my teeth on the tailgate nice woman with a magnificent overbite comes to tell my my camp will flood if it rains hard for 3 hours.

Day 3:

Woken at 1 a.m. to continuous thunder. Campsite floods after just 90 minutes of air-filling rain. Sit in a pretty huge traffic jam in Nashville, which gives way to persistent traffic in Chattanooga, which bleeds into traffic in Atlanta which can really only be called extraordinary. The thing about leaving Montana and driving east is that every state you get to is shittier than the one before it, and I had a lot of time to ponder this while in traffic on 285. Reach the Cloudcultette, Lil Cloudcult, and Cloudcultette family by 2.

Day 4:

Traffic/wedding/casually racist in-laws/etc.

Day 5:

Post wedding lunch/traffic/Cuban food for dinner

Day 6:

Some work in the morning, sat goodbye to the Cloudcultette and Lil Cloudcult then the most magnificent traffic jam yet leaving Atlanta. Birmingham, Tupelo, Memphis (my god what a dump), and Little Rock by midnight. Sleep in a roadside rest area near Hot Springs.

Day 7:

Bike 16 miles of the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail, an IMBA epic. Pull a tick off and steal a shower from a nearby campground then bike 14 miles of the Womble, another IMBA epic. Both were nice and smooth but basically flat and not really that interesting.

Ouachita:

20160629_065358-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Womble:

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Drive through Fort Smith (could qualify as Memphis' sister city), then Muskogee and Tulsa and into Kansas. Sleep at Fall River Lake State Park.

IMG_20160629_110536-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Day 8:

Bike both loops of the Badger Creek Trail in Fall River State Park, neither of which were interesting though both of which were not as flat as you'd think Kansas to be.

20160629_075851-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Visit Tallgrass Prairie National Park. It preserves the tallgrass prairie but they mow parts of it. Go figure.

Ready to be out of the south/midwest but also kind of sad that I've left it so quickly. Scanning MTB Project and see there is another IMBA epic just off I-70, so bike half of the Switchgrass Trail, which was 100 yards of unbelievable singletrack, followed by 50 yards of sand and 50 yards of rock ledges, repeated for 12 miles.

20160629_164344-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

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Wait out a severe thunderstorm in a car wash on the Colorado border, and sleep at a freeway exit along I-70 (the rest area was closed).

Day 9:

Up at 4:30, brew a coffee, and pass through Denver by 6:15. Ski a run on St. Mary's Glacier, which was OK, but by 9 the mountain was getting crowded.

20160630_092428-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Ski a run on Loveland Pass in driving rain, which was not bad. To Keystone, and bike the 15-mile Keystone Gulch trail which connects to the Colorado Trail and was one of the nicest rides I've ever had anywhere.

20160630_172018-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

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Camp near Montezuma.

[cloud cult]

Day 10:

Rains all night, and to Dillon and sit for an hour siphoning wi-fi from Taco Bell and watching showers build. Down to the foothills where there is less rain and ride an exceptional 16-mile loop in an open space park around Centennial Cone.

20160701_104419-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Cross I-70 at Floyd Hill and can see idling traffic for a mile or so in each direction; I've read about I-70 traffic woes but never really understood it until now. Bike a nice 12-mile out-and-back at an open space park called Lair o'the Bear; nice.

20160701_165333-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Want to head back to the mountains but figure it's fruitless at this point, so to Denver to go to Trader Joes and a liquor store, then figure I can bypass the traffic on I-70 by going to Breckenridge via Fairplay -- anyway it's 8:30 at this point, how bad can it be? Sit in traffic in Conifer for 30 minutes; camp just past the turnoff for Guanella Pass.

Day 11:

Down to Breckenridge in spotty rain. Ride singletrack just above town and through a neighborhood of mansions; the trails were nice but there were so many of them I was constantly stopping to check my map. Sit out rain in Dillon again then up to Vail Pass; ride single track which turns into a dirt road and had Texans on it videoing themselves driving rented Jeeps through puddles. Down to Leadville and bike flat singletrack along Turquoise Lake; nice.

20160702_195809-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Camp at the base of Independence Pass.

Day 12:

Up Independence Pass at first light but it's baked; this is a disappointment because I was hoping for a few July turns here but it's simply not worth the effort. Nice hike, though. To Aspen and bike beautiful trails in Hunter Creek.

20160703_122907-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Then to Snowmass, and bike fucking awesome trails on Sky Mountain.

20160703_154235-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Drive to Fruita and camp there.

20160704_093055-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Day 13:

So nice to wake in the desert after two weeks of humidity followed by cold rain. Bike two great loops at Fruita but not the IMBA epic.

20160704_072100-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Backtrack to Grand Junction and ride a few of the Lunch Loops, though they were more technical than I care for. Also, I was afraid of snakes.

20160704_104510-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Wait out the heat at a Starbucks, then I-70 west. South toward Moab and bike the slickrock at Monitor and Merrimac.

20160704_180058-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Another hour of day light left to do a short loop at Moab Brand Trails.

20160704_194721-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Camp near the Gemini Bridges Trail.

Day 14:

Up in the dark and am the third car at Dead Horse Point. Bike the full rim loop. Fantastic.

20160705_062308-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

20160705_091735-01 by redpinecanyon, on Flickr

Drove to Provo and had dinner with friends and slept at their house.

Day 15:

To Park City and bike the Nowhere Elks Loop, which honestly was not interesting at all. Made it through Salt Lake City and into Idaho, past the sprawl of of the farmland there, and then noticed at one point I could not see a car ahead of me or behind me as far as I could see. Entered Montana and was home by 9. To the airport at midnight to collect the Cloudcultette and Lil Cloudcult, who spend the remainder of their time at the beach in Florida and in traffic in Atlanta. Joyous reunion.

[Hott Butt Mud]

DAMN!!!

You hit all the good trails. Even Deadline!

I just realized there are no turtles in CO high country... such a shame.

[Tye 1on]

FKNA!!!!

that's one hell of a great TR! What bike joined ya for the trip?

[406]

The thing about leaving Montana and driving east is that every state you get to is shittier than the one before it

sig worthy

Looks like you got some good riding in, but might have been better to drive to DEN and fly roundtrip to ATL? :-)

[plugboots]

Well done.

[LightRanger]

FKNA awesome.

[Phall]

Man that was awesome, but, you drove to park city to ride one of the most mediocre/early season loops when the whole other side of the valley is filled with amazing riding?

[hawkgt]

dam good job!

[BrokeSomeRibs]

Sweet TR. What truck were you in for the drive? Always curious to see how other people have their caps set up for stealth camping in the back.

[TahoeJ]

"Brekkie" - I haven't heard that term used since I was in Australia. Nice TR.

[muted]

Man that was awesome, but, you drove to park city to ride one of the most mediocre/early season loops when the whole other side of the valley is filled with amazing riding?

It's like going to Moab to ride the sandy Dead Horse Point loop. Looks like a relaxing fun trip, but...well Colorado looked sweet!

[plugboots]

It's like going to Moab to ride the sandy Dead Horse Point loop. Looks like a relaxing fun trip, but...well Colorado looked sweet!

I remember a long time ago on my first trip to Moab, the guys at the shop said to ride there. Later, I asked why, and they said since it rained, it might be the only time you'd get to ride it without it being a sandpit. Good advice.

[Garth Bimble]

No pix of the bridesmaids? Epic fail!

[warthog]

You missed out on Asheville and Pusgah, but otherwise looks like you nailed it.

[powdrhound]

That makes me want to go for a ride. Good trip.

[Eluder]

Classy ass shit right here

[cloud cult]

FKNA!!!!

that's one hell of a great TR! What bike joined ya for the trip?

The only bike I have -- 2013 Specialized Carve 29er. Nothing fancy.

[cloud cult]

Sweet TR. What truck were you in for the drive? Always curious to see how other people have their caps set up for stealth camping in the back.

2009 Nissan Frontier extended cab with a 6 foot bed and a Leer top. I don't do anything special -- just two inflatable sleeping pads and like five old pillows. There's enough room for me in there on one side with skis and whatnot on the other side, and for this trip I had the bike mounted on a Swing Daddy off the hitch. I sleep with a water bottle, keys, wallet, phone, watch, and bear spray; I leave nothing outside. Never had any real problem, even in sketch interstate rest stops.

[cloud cult]

Man that was awesome, but, you drove to park city to ride one of the most mediocre/early season loops when the whole other side of the valley is filled with amazing riding?

I know, that trail was a disappointment. It was a last minute decision and within a few hundred yards of leaving the truck I knew I had made the wrong one, but I had to be back in Missoula by midnight to pick up the Cloudcultette and Lil Cloudcult at the airport, so I did not think I had the time to pack up and switch trailheads and start all over. Next time.

[cloud cult]

I remember a long time ago on my first trip to Moab, the guys at the shop said to ride there. Later, I asked why, and they said since it rained, it might be the only time you'd get to ride it without it being a sandpit. Good advice.

There had been a good amount of rain the three days prior and the loop was nicely packed down. The trail where sand really bothered me was Switchgrass in Kansas, mostly because the sand almost always seemed to end at an uphill rock ledge.

I'm not clear on why something like Switchgrass gets an Epic rating, really, other than its length and perhaps the novelty of the thing.

[jono]

Well done sir, thanks for the TR!

[jhyatt]

Well played!

[garyfromterrace]

Great TR man! Well challenged.

[plugboots]

Free bump, but really, I'm with Garth.

Not even one picture of the bridesmaids???
Dude.