This is a great, adventurous, rugged, remote route. It has a great variety of trails and roads. Some trails that are never used (the Grandview) and which therefore require some good route finding skills, and other trails that are regularly used like Thunder Mountain. The roads vary greatly from almost completely lost and overgrown cattle trails to paved highways. I love that variety. There are a couple places to resupply or get a cold drink – but they can be finicky with their hours, so this adds to the challenge. I carried 2 days of food from the start and never worried.

I do consider myself extremely lucky (and am very thankful for an understanding and supportive family!) to be able to see this beautiful country of ours in such an intimate way: riding its trails, sleeping on its ground, passing through its nights unseen with my lights blazing, the moon and stars shining down on me, drinking water from its streams, powering through its terrain with my legs and lungs (It is getting harder and harder in today’s world to live such a simple life as the one I get on these long bike rides) And I get no support, so that at the end of the ride I feel I have accomplished something true and pure and feel stronger and more alive for it.

Get Out There. Push Your Limits. Do Fun Shit! 🙂

The race started outside the town of Parowan, in southwestern Utah. The ‘Mother Town of Southern Utah’, whatever that means.

Racers getting ready early on the morning of race day.

At 7am sharp the group rolls out onto Second Left Hand Canyon for the long, 11 mile climb up to the Sidney Peaks Trail

Me, and fellow racer Scott S. behind (for the last time during the race!), on the first singletrack of the day.

The race route follows some less than defined trails, and here is a good example…nothing more than a couple tire tracks in the grass to follow. Several racers missed this turn.

The route follows many OHV (off highway vehicle) routes. This one through the Red Desert was especially scenic.

58 year old Rick Miller and I, on another section of ‘no trail’! Thanks for being an inspiration Rick! The guy is strong, and steady and finished almost 9 hours faster than me – with 19 years on me taboot. Awesome!

There was A LOT of this on the route. Dismount, schlep the bike over the tree, remount, ride 100 feet, dismount, repeat!

Our first view of the Markagunt Plateau stretching away to the horizon. The Virgin River Rim trail follows the edge of the plateau.

One of the many, scenic viewpoints along the Virgin River Rim trail

The Pink Cliffs south of the VRRT

More Pink Cliffs viewpoints – don’t slip!

Way off in the distance is the Paunsaugant (Pawn-sah-gunt) Plateau – just barely visible.

Food break at Tod’s Country Store. The grill closed at 7pm, I got there at 7:10pm…no burger for me. That hurt!

Who is that riding his bike out there with the cattle? I love riding at this time of day, about 830pm, sundown. I picture everyone in their homes cooking dinner, or watching TV, or putting their kids to bed, or getting home from work, etc. I think very few of us get the time, or take the time, to enjoy the magical hours of dawn and dusk. It’s a fleeting time of day that goes so quick…and I always feel very lucky to be out under the big skies, in touch with that special time of day.

I catch back up with Tom Wolf, an 8 year Army Vet and overseas contractor from Aztec, NM, who left before me from the Country Store. That Red Bull I drank really did give me wings! We chat for a bit (I’m surprised to learn that after 8 years in Iraq and Afghanistan he hates this desert heat!), and then I pull ahead. He will end up passing me at 12:30am in the dark, I’ll see his lights go flashing by my camp. And then I don’t see him again, I ended up passing him the next night…but never saw him camped just off the road.

There goes the sun on Day 1.

Jupiter, Venus and a Crescent Moon! Spectacular vantage point above the Sunset Cliffs on the Grandview Trail at midnight. This is what bikepacking races are all about.

This tree had to be 8 feet in diameter! Thing was a monster. I just stopped in front of it and laughed…and then got to work climbing!

Beautiful vantage point of these cliffs from the Crawford Pass Trail.

The Tropic Spigot, perhaps the single greatest moment I’ve ever had on a mountain bike 🙂 I was down to the dregs of my water, which was warm and full of sediment from the last stream I crossed. It had to be mid to high 90’s, and then this spigot appeared, drilled into solid rock, and cold and sweet and delicious!

AC/DC ‘Thunder Struck’ would have been just perfect for this ride.

Another unspeakably beautiful sunset ride on Thunder Mountain.

At 2am on some OHV route in between Highway 89 and Panguitch Lake. I really don’t remember much from this section, it was dark, I couldn’t get a feel for the lay of the land. It was cold, I remember that. After the searing heat of the day, I was impressed by the cold. I rode for another hour before climbing into my bivy on the side of the road for a couple hours of sleep.

The next morning found me once again struggling through dead fall – this time going UNDER the tree! Has the forest service around here never heard of a chainsaw and a work crew! Perhaps these trails really don’t get any use. Needless to say, 100 feet up the trail was another downed tree, and then 100 feet beyond that, and beyond that…A nice Fathers Day brunch with the family might have been a touch more enjoyable! 🙂

Still some snow left up high. This is the high point of the route, the Sidney Peaks Trail at near 11,000 feet.

A beautiful, magical section of the Dark Hollow Trail – which, due to its name, I was not expecting to be so airy, and bright!

After 215 miles (not sure where that extra mileage came from), I finished the route in 2 days, 3 hours with the 3rd fastest time (8 guys finished, 15 started). 92 miles on Day 1, 105 miles on Day 2, 18 miles on Day 3. It was so hot here at the finish and no shade anywhere, that I just packed everything in a hurry and jumped in my car and left…and then realized I was exhausted and stopped on the side of the road and napped in the car!