2008 Tuesday Night Ride - June 17, 2008 -- Amanita Descent

By Tom Clark

A dozen of us met up at the grassy area (the pipeline corridor) at Steel Creek and Chena Hot Springs Road. The skies were really heavy and had been all night and all day. Not much rain, but no direct sun or blue sky either. Jeff Gimbel was there so I gave him the 12-pack that I'd promised for his climb up the mean hill on the Treasure Creek ride. Dave James, performing his duty as "Ride Leader" for the last time this season, called folks to order and quickly described the course.

"We'll go down Juniper, follow Tom into a ditch that he likes, take subdivision roads all the way up to what used to be a rabbit trail but is now another subdivision road, turn right on Gilmore Trail and follow it. It turns to dirt after a while, and we'll pass the trapper trail then veer right at a wye, take our next left and follow that trail down, up, down, up and join up with upper Amanita. Eric Troyer will then lead us down some great trails to Esro Road, where we turn left then right on CHSR back to the cars."

From that description, you could probably get all the way to Amanita with little trouble. Eric's trail might be tricky though...

Anyway, we got going and followed Juniper. We climbed the short hill, and at the bottom of the other side, I led people into the ditch (avoiding the water) and up the nice little four-wheeler trail that one of the neighborhood residents pointed out to us. Ferocious climb at the top. After everyone had a chance to catch up and annoit with some bug dope, we pressed on, following subdivision roads. Not quite a mile later we got to the intersection of Powellite (which we were on) and Tungsten. We turned left and rode Tungsten, well past the point where it could be considered a proper road. Somewhere past all the cool signs, where it levels out a bit, we veered right onto the new subdivision road that wiped out the rabbit trail. Sigh. Progress.

We lamented the passing of our cool old trail for a bit, then pressed on, up Gilmore Trail (took a right at the pavement.) We got a little spread out, so we regrouped at the top of the hill at the basketball hoop just before the pavement ends. While waiting, some Mormons found us and engaged part of the group. I was glad that I wasn't in that part of the group, though when I eavesdropped, it sounded like they were talking bikes and not religion. Good for them. After a filling of tires, we rolled down the hill, past the young lady in the Suburban getting driving lessons, and up the other side, happily on dirt again. It was a little greasy, but if you scouted around, you could find ground that was reasonably dry.

We rode for however many miles it takes to get to the intersection of the trail that goes to Gilmore Dome and points beyond (Cleary Summit). It's really not a trail anymore. It has gone from four-wheeler trail to a crappy dirt road in just a few years. After regrouping (which never took long by the way -- the "slow" riders weren't slow, just not quite as fast as the rest of the group) we continued along Gilmore Trail, and veered right at the next intersection. For some reason we didn't quite veer: there was another regroup and bullshitting session there. It was a wide open spot though and a dirt jump to play on, so I didn't mind.

Just a short way further up the road, we found our turn -- left, onto a wide road that gradually got narrower and steeper downhill. We found the cool detour over some berm, and most everyone cleaned the berm, then a little ways down the road came to the next berm. There's road around both the berms, but it's fun trying to clean the pile of logs and debris. My first attempt failed with my chain jumping off the middle chainring. It's a new chainring and a new chain, so I don't get it. The cassette is the same old cassette, but shouldn't it skip back there? Anyway, I tried a lower gear that would have me putting less power into the drivetrain, and cleaned the pile.

The trail turned into an eroded descent that really kept me on my toes. There were a couple moments of "oh shit, this is it", but they passed with a lot of clatter and bumping, and no over-the-handlebars gymnastics. The bottom of the descent arrived, with the full view of the ascent in front of us. It is a ferocious climb, particularly near the top. We regrouped there, and while Geoff was off reading a sign about a trapline, I tightened the rear outer pad on his Avid mechanical disk brake. A surer sign of immature, childish behavior would be hard to come up with. Anyway, when we set off down the trail, he seemed to have trouble getting going. His rear wheel was locked up for some reason. I let him mess with it for ten seconds, then said "someone must have messed with your brake pads..." He had the situation rectified almost immediately.

More fine descent, combined with ruts for the occasional heart stopper. We veered right and left, just following the main traffic. There was some uphill too, and when we got to a proper intersection, we went right, going uphill a short ways. This was essentially the end of Amanita, and we could have followed it all the way down to CHSR. Thankfully, Eric Troyer has come up with a much better descent. We bombed down Amanita for about a third to a half of a mile, and then exited right, onto a four-wheeler trail. This is a way fun trail, but there are logs angled across the trail with stumps mixed in for fun, ready to hurl the rider who catches it just right. This night, though, everyone did well on the trail. All we had to do was follow the main trail, and at a four-way, go downhill. Easy. I arrived at the bottom with Dana. We were both stoked, but I was glad we were done: I figure I can cheat fate only so long...

This put us out on Esro Road, and turning left we were little more than half a mile from CHSR. Once there, we made a right and rode about the same distance back up the hill to the cars.

Snacks and beverages were enjoyed by all and much chatting ensued. Like I said earlier, good group. We covered somewhere over 15 miles and climbed about 2500 feet, and took three hours to do it. Looking at the GPS stats, I see that my stopped time was about an hour. That's more than I would have guessed, but time flies when you are having fun.