Remember how I said not every day could be amazing? Well, today wasn't one of those days. Okay, to be honest, it wasn't AMAZING, but it was pretty great, and far more exciting than the last two days.
Today was the day to do the Bald Mountain downhill. Bill and I had both been really looking forward to doing this run. When we woke up, it was still rainy and we weren't sure what our (hour long) drive to Ketchum would result in - good weather and a kickin' downhill mountain bike run, or an uber disappointment if the lifts weren't running due to the nasty weather. We decided to risk it.
We took the dogs because the forecast for Stanley was supposed to be scattered thunderstorms all day long. Merlin is afraid of storms and we didn't want him to be alone freaking out in the trailer so we put them in the truck and off to Ketchum we went. It was 40 degrees when we left, so we weren't concerned that it would be too hot for them. Our theory was that we would do a run down the mountain, swing by the truck, check on the Boys and do another run or two if weather and time permitted.
The drive there was nice regardless of the rain. Even icky days here are beautiful...
We arrived in Ketchum and the weather was still sketchy. In fact, it was cold (42 degrees) and raining but we rode our bikes over to the shop (Pete Lane's) and after convincing them that yes, we are going to ride up in the rain, they swapped out our pedals and put them on the Kona downhill bikes that we were renting for the day. The $60 (per person) price included the $25 all day lift ticket so it was pretty much a steal. It also included all the gear (full face helmet, body armor, hydration bladder, repair kit, etc) - none of which we took except for the repair kit.
The rain stopped right before we went up on the gondola so we quickly stashed our raincoats but kept our longsleeve stuff on.
Part the way up, there's a switch from the enclosed gondola to the regular chair lift. Uhhh....BBBRRRRRRRR.
Some pics of the Cold Springs trail from above...
Since we were the first bikers up the mountain that morning, the operators of the lifts weren't expecting to see bikes and they almost sent them down the mountain. :)
They hit the emergency button and stopped the lift so they could grab them at the last available moment. Nice.
As I mentioned, it was cold at the top, but we were so amazed by the view and the excitement of riding a 12 mile downhill that we weren't concentrating on the cold - too much.
Based on the recommendations of several mountain bikers we had spoken to, we decided to take the Warm Springs trail. We were assured that it was the more exciting of the two and we would enjoy ourselves immensely.
About a mile or two in, I was NOT enjoying myself immensely. In fact, I was hardly enjoying myself at all. Those bikes, which I expected to rock, SUCKED. They were ridiculously heavy and the front fork, which I expected to actually MOVE since it had 7 inches of travel, barely moved at all. Obviously, this bike was not set up for me or anyone under 250 pounds. This resulted in a ride rougher than my old school rigid. I got the crap beat out of me.
The first few miles of the trail was very rocky and very narrow. Not a place for taking in the views at speed. Definitely not a place for mistakes. Falling off a mountain bike hurts. I know this. I have the scars to prove it. Falling down a MOUNTAIN must be excruciating. I was not about to find out. I took it slow through the rocky sections and didn't really start moving until the trail tucked back into the woods (where it was still steep drop offs, but it somehow felt safer). :)
After the first few miles, I relaxed and got a little more into the groove of things as the terrain changed from loose rocks to a more comfortable hard packed narrow singletrack that zipped through the trees. Ah...finally. Bill led as usual - this works out for both of us. He's faster than I am so he can go full speed and I can watch his lines or listen for him to call out any super ugly stuff in the trail. This has saved my butt on more than one occasion. :)
There was an area where the downhill portion of our ride ended and we had to climb a couple hundred feet to pick up where it left off. NOT fun. NOT fun because I'm now riding a 45 pound beast of a bike uphill and NOT fun because we're at 9,000 feet and it's hard to breathe. Stay calm, stay calm. Big deep breaths....okay, stay calm, stay calm, quick shallow breaths...breathing is breathing...air is good...asthma is stupid.
We continued on and found ourselves slowing in some sections just to take in the views. It was really quite beautiful.
We hooked up the ole GoPro helmet cam and Bill took a few minutes of video. The rest of the run was faster with a couple little jumps and then some tight switchbacks as we neared the end. We took the paved bike path through town and back to the lifts.
I had decided that I wanted my bike back. They had swapped pedals for us so we could wear our Times, but I knew that, regardless of my inferior V-brakes, I would do much, much better on my own bike. We waited for my pedals to be swapped out and then we rode back to the truck to eat our lunch and check on the Boys.
Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for the Boys, it was no longer cold outside. It was 70 couple degrees outside, but of course it was much warmer in the truck. The dogs were panting and drank tons of water. I cried. No, it wasn't stifling or cook-their-brains-kind-of-hot, but I felt like a horrible Mommy anyway for leaving them. Granted, we were gone less than 2 hours between checking on them, but again, not the point. It was (in my paranoid, guilt-ridden opinion), now too hot to leave them again.
At this point I didn't care about doing another run - I did one - it was fun - the end. All I cared about was keeping the dogs healthy and not worrying that they'd overheat if we went out again. I told Bill to do another run if he wanted, but he too was satisfied with one run and was content to call it a day.
He returned the Kona and we loaded our bikes into the truck and headed "home". He joked that this was probably God's way of keeping us from doing it again and getting hurt. After all, now that we knew what to expect, fear of the unknown was removed and hooliganism would have replaced it. Hooliganism, on the mountain bikes or motorcycles, is a great deal of fun, but it generally comes with a high price.
Feeling guilty for our bad parenting, we were looking for a place to let the Boys play and make it up to them. It was still early after all - we had arrived in Ketchum around 9:30, got up the mountain and hit the trailhead around 10:30 and were back to the truck by 12:30. We had all day.
We had debated doing Fisher Creek again. Bald Mountain was fun, but it was too hyped up and our exceptionally high expectations of a kickin' downhill resulted in slight disappointment. We both agreed that Fisher Creek (despite all the work to climb to the top) was FAR MORE ENTERTAINING than Bald Mountain. We shouldn't compare them - they're totally different rides, but even still, all we've talked about since Fisher Creek is how awesome Fisher Creek is. The problem with doing Fisher Creek was that my arms were now totally shot. My thighs were a little sore too, but my arms felt like Jell-O. For some reason, I assumed that I wouldn't be putting any effort into riding downhill for 12 miles. I was wrong. It takes a great deal of effort. I'm not certain, but I think it might classify as a full body workout. :)
Anyway, we decided to stop at Alturas Lake to see if there was an area where the Boys could play. We were in luck. We found a day use area and had it all to ourselves. Yet another little piece of paradise...
The Boys promptly located some sticks...
and I located some natural clay in the water. I suppose all clay is natural, I really don't know, but I do know I've never seen anything like this and it was highly entertaining to play in the mud like a 3 year old. :)
I decided to commemorate our visit with some artistic impressions...
We decided to call it a day just as a rain cloud moved in. Perfect timing.
Overall, it was a pretty great day. A new experience - the first downhill mountain bike trail we've ever done, coupled with a familiar experience - playing stick with the Boys which always makes us happy, makes for a pretty great day. :)
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