Biking West Magnolia trails
near Nederland CO (2011)
In early summer 2011, I sign up
for another hike near Breckenridge, but am thwarted for lack of a carpool ride
to the meetup location near Denver. Happily, I
discover a Plan B meetup alternative. The Boulder
Mountain Bikers meetup will join with the Boulder MountainBike Alliance to offer three levels of riding skill
at the West Magnolia trail system near Nederland.
After hearing the three group
leaders describe the level of riding they will offer, I optimistically opt for
the “fast, long-distance” group. After all, I now have a newly-acquired BAD BOY
full-suspension mountain bike which a few days earlier I had tested out, and
had the bike pass with flying colors (pun intended – this bike can FLY).
In addition, I had just trained
for a ran the Bolder Boulder 10K run, so I was
confident I was in shape for such a ride.
I was wrong.
The West Magnolia trail system is
almost entirely forested (pine and aspen) single track. We start out on a
fairly long, steep climb. For the next hour and a half, I am severely tested by
seemingly countless LONG, STEEP uphills on the outer
loop trails the leader takes us on. Besides being steep, many of the uphills are within narrow, rutted, rocky, tree-rooted, dry creekbeds. I find myself repeatedly having to dismount and
walk up hills. At one point, I am so utterly exhausted and pathetically GASPING
for breath (not terribly shocking, since we are at 9,000 feet) that I must walk
my bike even though I am on level ground.
Occasionally, we are rewarded as
we ride through relatively level meadows that are just starting to explode with
colorful wildflowers.
The big reward, though, is the
second half of the ride. Here, we joyfully find fast, hair-pin twisty, rocky, big-tree-root downhills. Many of the
sharp turns are banked, enabling higher speeds.
The full range of technical skill
is demanded.
At one downhill section, I have
no riders in front of me so I opt to open up my bike to see what it can really
do. I find myself riding screaming fast down a rocky, relatively narrow
single-track realizing, somewhat to my horror and consternation, that my speed
is putting me WAY over my skill level. I am flirting with disaster on a trail I
have never ridden before. Somehow, though, my iron horse gets me down the trail
in one piece.
How crazy fast was I riding?
During the ride and after, a rider behind me (who was clearly more skilled than
I) let me know that I road that downhill section extremely impressively –
apparently better than he ever could. Another confirmation
that I was riding WAY too fast on that section.
The final section of our loop
starts at Schoolbus trail and includes the Hobbit 2
and Hobbit 1 trails (appropriately named), and the new “Re-Root” trail. Here,
we find quite enjoyable ups and downs. On Re-Root, the rider is able to enjoy
exhilarating banked and S-shaped turns throughout. For me, it was paradise, as
I love S-turns, and lots of rollercoaster ups and downs.
So after the ride, I am dead
tired.
But I have a smile on my
face. :^D
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