The Doug Ryder Reports

Chapter 5: The Mystery Is Revealed At Last (In Which We Learn the Truth of the Tom Clark Mystery Ride of May 29, 2001)

Folks,

I am trembling as I write this, for mine eyes have seen the Glory and the Revealed Truth at last. The information I am about to impart to you must never be revealed to anyone. You must promise to never, ever reveal it to anyone else on pain of having your innards ripped from your flesh and your eyes picked at by ravens for eternity. Empires and kingdoms have fallen for want of this information; entire nations and whole tribes have died in search of this Holy Grail of mountain biking. Many have died for this and many more would kill to know what you are about to know.

I am about to reveal to you the route of the Tom Clark Mystery Ride.

(I’d suggest you skip this part if you have a heart condition and/or some other physical infirmity that makes you weak)

Parents may want to send their children to another room, for the information I am about to reveal may be too much for their sensitive constitutions.

You should probably be sitting down for this.

Are you ready?

OK, here goes:

We went up Ester Dome along the Marathon Trail up to the top and then down this really cool downhill over on the west side of Ester Dome that came out at the head of Quartz Creek and from there we rode back to the cars.

We gathered together at the Ester Community Park and left at around 7:30. We went over to Goldhill Road, took a cool trail uphill to the Ryan Load Mine, then up Henderson for a bit and then up the Marathon Trail. From there we slogged along up to the Alder Chute, climbed that, and came out at the top about an hour and a half after we started. From there it was a short ride over to the west side and then to this cool downhill.

This downhill branches off the double track that goes down the west side of the dome. You go about a mile or so past the intersection with the one we went up on May 22nd. It’s a little ways before the turnaround point of the Equinox Marathon route. It goes down for a while, levels off and goes through the woods along this spur off the side of Ester Dome and then eventually intersects with the Fireplug Trail. From there, you have this truly awesome, rooty, bumpy, very technical downhill that finally comes out at the head of Quartz Creek.

When we got there, we discovered the Land that Time (Or At Least Spring) Forgot. There was still overflow ice down there and we passed a truck that had been frozen in same up to its windows. It looks like the truck will still be there for a while.

We reformed just past the truck and once everyone was there, Tom took off down Quartz Creek Road with the rest of us in mad pursuit. I caught up to him and tagged him on the shoulder. Now he’s It. He’ll probably get back at me next week, I’m sure.

Anyway, we got back to the cars a little after 10pm, not quite three hours after we left. Total time: 2 hours, 45 minutes. Total distance: about thirteen miles. Approximate elevation gain: around 1800 feet. Worst hill: the Alder Chute, of course! Time spent pushing the bikes up hills and/or through mud: about 33 percent. Best downhill: coming down the Fireplug Trail. Amount of time having fun: over 50 percent.

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

Liam Wescott

a/k/a The Doug Ryder

FCC Historian