Baby Steps Out of Gaper-town

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I recently (2 months ago) started mountain biking after a few years of intimidation about the sport and the crazies here in Jackson that take it to the extreme. Well, much like every sport I do, I’m not very good at it, but I love it. (With me in this photo is a past Backbone staffer, Courtney Ludden, and our 7ft tall friend Ned)

I have been trying to slowly try harder trails, much like my attempt to slowly work my way up the spice scale at our local Thai joint, Teton Thai. I’m only at a 1.5 out of 5 on my Pad Ke Mao, so hopefully biking goes faster.

I began on Putt-Putt, a local trail named aptly for its easiness. Then moved on to Hagen, labeled Moderate in the bike books. Killed it. Over it. Moved on.

This week, I moved on to “difficult” and I tackled one of Jackson’s toughest downhills, Black Canyon. A long, technical 8 mile descent, requiring white-knuckled breaking and a few bike carries down steep roots drops. Heres the scoop:
Black Canyon
Difficulty: Difficult
Season: Late July to October
Mileage: 10 miles
Elevation Gain: 3430′
Top Elevation: 9460′
Trail Type: Paved road and singletrack
Summary: This is on e of the classic downhills in Jackson. Steep switchbacks, root drps, creek crossings, fast straight-aways, and rocks on the downhill keep one paying attention to the action. One can drive almost to the top of the ride, if an uphill grind is not desired.

I was feeling pretty great about my 1 mph descent until 3/4 of the way down I pulled over for some arrogant uphillers. Really? Up this thing? Just to make me feel bad about myself? Be Serious.Typical Jackson.

Anyway, trail completed. It wasn’t pretty but it was done. One pathetic step for mountain biking, one giant step for this young lass. Tonight…I try the clipless pedals. Tomorrow… I show up to work covered in Band-Aids. No blood no fun, right?

Posted in: Biking

Chape Goes Grand

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I’m a proud father no doubt.

My eleven-year-old son Chapin, my wife Kir and I summitted the Grand Teton on Sunday in perfect weather via the Upper Exum Route.

How would I describe it? Awesome, scary, humbling, burly, proud, beautiful, stunning, funny and a bit stressful.

Chape would describe it as WICKED cool!

We camped two perfect nights at the lower saddle, saw a bunch of friends and made some new ones.

It doesn’t get much better.

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Climbing \ Tagged:

Start Slow and Taper

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Pssshhhhh… 80 miles!

When I think of 80 miles, I think of:

  1. An hour and a half car ride.
  2. A long weekend road bike ride with more flats than steeps.
  3. A multi-day raft trip with a bunch of friends.

But when my friend and colleague, Kara Armano proposed that we do an 80-mile mountain bike ride over the course of two days, I thought, what the heck?

I signed up that day, ready to try a new adventure. Plus, I had never been to Durango before, so I figured it would be a great way to see/experience the area, which I certainly did (sometimes face first).

The event was the CT Jamboree, a two-day, 80-mile mountain bike ride on the Colorado Trail to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis. All proceeds benefited the non-profit Heuga Center, the Colorado Trail Foundation and Trails 2000.

Shortly after signing up it become apparent that I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. Turns out that most of the Colorado Trail near Durango is well above 12,000 feet. It’s also an incredibly technical trail with steep climbs, talus field descents and tight, sandy switchbacks.

Our group consisted of five people: Kara and her husband, me and two other friends. The plan was to leave Carbondale Friday, as close to 2 p.m. as possible so that we would get to Durango at a reasonable hour. Of course, we didn’t end up leaving until after 4 p.m. And that soon became the theme of the trip; things don’t always go as planned. Continue Reading →

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Biking, Colorado \ Tagged: ,