Chapter 11 (There is no Chapter 10 because I missed the ride because I got hung up at work because certain people who shall remain nameless didn’t get their act together in time for me to get to the ride!): The Standard Creek Loop-de-Loop

I did the Standard Creek ride with Dave James as a loop. Most people do not do it as a loop, so some of what I write here will not apply. We left Dave’s house at about a quarter to six Tuesday evening, the 10th of July and did not get back until 12:15 the next morning, after covering a distance of almost sixty miles.

We took off up St. Pat’s and got over to the Parks. From there it was a straight ahead climb up to the Old Nenana and then a quick little two-mile run over to the Standard Creek logging road where we waited for the others to show up from the other end of the ride on Murphy Dome Road. We could see Murphy Dome on our way down Old Nenana. It took us a little over an hour (we got there at around 7pm) to get from his house to the top of the ride. Dave kept a good pace (which I could not hope to maintain, however he didn’t get too far ahead of me; I had the food and the bug spray!) and the climb up the Parks was a great warm-up.

Burnside and the rest showed up about a quarter after 7pm and once Dave, myself, and Yates had done all the paperwork and everyone was set, we took just about exactly at 7:30. It took us twenty minutes to drop the eight miles down the hill to the bottom. The road conditions were perfect, the logging trucks and other traffic had packed the mud down and there was little mud or dust to trouble us on our way down.

Once we got down into the valley, we took off on the right fork of the road and crossed the valley through the main logging area. They’ve done quite a bit of tearing up and widening of the old trail, what with bulldozers and logging machinery going up and down the thing, it’s almost a superhighway now. Anyway, me, Burnside, Yates, Dave, and Soren Melchior ended up being in the back of the pack. We stopped to rest for a bit a little more than halfway through the ride, a little ways past the farthest extension of the logging area. We consumed the package of fig newtons I’d brought along and then pressed on.

The two or three miles between that point and the swamp were the best, slightly downhill, technical riding that I live for. I was getting tired, my legs were hurting going up and down the hills, and I was pushing the envelope, but I was having a blast. We got to the swamp at around ten or so and everyone regrouped coming up out of the swamp. Then we began the Long Climb Up Cache Creek Road, a/k/a as the Nine Miles of Hell. Everyone got strung out, the hammerheads took off, and I was riding alone for a while until Keely from All Weather caught up with me. After a while, the road leveled out and I (sort of) took off.

I got back to the cars at about 11:15. By then, Yates and the rest had been waiting for almost thirty minutes for us to show up. Burnside blasted in a few minutes after I did, followed by Keely. Doug asked for somebody to go back and get Soren (he’d bonked out coming up out of the swamp) and one of the guys complied. I had time to eat a few cookies, drink most of a Coke, and then Dave and I took off around 11:30. I was able to keep up with Dave for the first couple of miles on Murphy Dome Road, but after that, he took off. He waited for me at the intersection with Goldstream and from there it was an anticlimactic little ride over to Ester Dome Road and his house.

Like I say, most people don’t do Standard Creek as a loop. I am one of a few that have done it as a loop on a Tuesday ride.  It was an experience and not one I will be repeating any time soon. I am glad I did it and I am glad to have ridden along with Dave so he could prove once and for all that the accident last year is behind him.

Total distance from the top over to the gravel pit on Murphy Dome Road: a little under 34 miles. Best descent: the eight-mile descent down Standard Creek Road. Worst hill: the various hills on the Nine Miles of Hell out of the swamp. Percentage of time spent pushing/porting the bikes: about 10.

That’s my report for this week. See ya next week!

Liam Wescott

a/k/a The Doug Ryder

FCC Historian