Talamh reoite, sonas orm

Went for a little spin around Crev-Mo and Keppler today. First time on a bike since last weeks ass-chapathon. Wait, no, I played around a little bit the other day, but not for more than an hour... Anyway. Temps were right around 30, trails were frozen and fast. Threw the SSStump into it's girlie gear and left it there for the duration of the easy ride.

Some instances of interest:

Plastic shopping bags suck. Part of this trail system butts up against the Palmer dump. There's no odor that I've ever noticed, but the strong Matanuska wind blows hundreds upon hundreds of plastic shopping bags into the surrounding woods.



Seconds after taking this photo, I ran into one of the valley's chainsaw gnomes. Anchorage has chainsaw fairies, the Valley has gnomes. He was cutting out a bunch of the blow downs that were blocking the trails. I helped him get some branches off the trail, thanked him, and rode away. He was riding with an ancient looking frame pack and what looked like a 20" bladed Stihl... I ran into him a few times throughout the ride. For someone carrying a chainsaw and stopping to cut trees along the way, he was keeping a pretty damned good pace. Real Gnomes don't show up in photos, so I didn't bother.

Saw some fungus.



Had some fun.



Fell down a bunch.

Untitled from sean grady on Vimeo.

Lost my keys. Purty sunset. Beer. The end.

Ag leim don deireadh.

Finally got my lazy ass out the door, on my bike and over to Crevasse Moraine for a bit of fun. It's been way too long, and I really have no excuse. The leaves have nearly all given up the fight and fallen helplessly to the ground, where I crush them with my wheels of fury.... or something like that. I was surprisingly not feeling like Jabba the Hut, and had little problem getting up the steeper hills. Took my usual route, west side parking lot at Loma Prieta, up the gradual ski trail climb, into the University singletrack. The trails were frozen and fast, with a little bit of tack where the sun had managed to beat down.




Hard left onto the powerlines. Noone else seems to go this way and that's fine by me. Right turn, over the log pile get's me through Mooseberry Mesa's backdoor, which frankly, is way more fun than the front. Hit the switchback head on and go right. Fly down hill, catching little air off the humps. Stop to take some photos of the mini-meadow before heading back up again. Left at the 4-way, right onto Moose Poop Loop. Much more fun in this direction. Nice work repairing the bermed turn where the tree was uprooted by VMBaH. Out to the ski trails again and go right.












Right at the picnic table, left at the Y. This lolli-pop loop is much more fun for me in this direction. A little disappointed at the log crossing being gone, but understandable on that trail. Back up to the picnic table, pushing the lungs a little, feels good.



No stopping for photos for the rest of the ride. Right turn on Long Lake, and left into Crev-Mo's finest. Rooty didn't get the leaf-blower treatment Moose Berry Mesa got, and I like it that way. It's a more primitive trail, and the leaves don't detract from it's goodness. Legs are starting to burn on the short climbs, getting winded at the tops of them. Right onto Tighty-Whitey. No stopping, cleaned all the trees. Those short steeps near the end always hurt. Are they really as steep as they seem?? Left onto the old trail/alternate exit. Log hopping goodness. Keeps me happy. Cruise home.

The end.

tiocfidh se...

it's getting to be about time i started thinking more seriously about my upcoming second Iditarod Trail Invitational, aka Alaska Ultrasport, aka Iditabike. yeah i said second. in my year plus long blogging hiatus i managed to barely finish my first attempt. i still intend to eventually get the writeup on this thing, once i've had a chance to fully digest it, of course....

but anyway, i need to start 'training', or at least riding/hiking on a daily basis. no more of this lollygagging i've been doing of late. time in the saddle and miles in the legs will be necessary if i don't want to repeat last years dismal, although somewhat dramatic showing.



so, with that in mind, i headed out to crevasse moraine today to play on the very few, semi-hush-hush log features in the place. not hush-hush because they're illegal, but hush-hush because alot of people up here have hard-ons for chainsaws and have decided that the perfect outlet for their love of motorized cutting is to remove all fun from trails... bastards.

crevlogs from sean grady on Vimeo.

the yellows and golds are still hanging in there, as are the understated reds. the trails are firm and grippy, despite the cover of leaves. scenery can't be beat and it was a beautiful fall day in the valley.