Ripsey Dreaming
I’m having a hard time getting my mind around the Antelope Peak Challenge 115 mile version. I know it’s a big ride, but adding up the moving time from multiple GPX tracks gave some shocking numbers. I’m not so sure it can be done!
And that’s a big part of where the interest lies.
Then there’s the riding, the country and the singletrack. Time for some Ripsey stoke.
Check the switchbacks in the background.
Views aren’t bad once you get up there. ~3 miles of some of the most incredible ridgeline trail I’ve ever laid tire to.
Ripsey is the furthest ‘out’ piece of AZT on the route. Well worth the effort to get there. But can we make it back, too?
Sometimes flowers occlude the trail (there’s a switchback in there!). A sign of how few people have ever been on the trail.
Megaton switchback attack on the descent to the Gila River (photo by Lee Blackwell, from ’05 thru ride)
Ripsey is a piece of trail I only get to ride about once a year. Here’s hoping we can make it there….
The ‘river’ in our river path does sometimes run! But that means lots of moisture has fallen. The APC has already been delayed until Sunday, and hopefully it’ll be enough.
On an unrelated note, I got this in the mail today:
Bob flats are no bueno.
Communication is so immediate these days, it’s cool that some people still send post cards! That’s from Nick Kindt, who borrowed a trackleaders SPOT unit from us. He’s touring across the country, and can be followed here: http://trackleaders.com/nick.
The irony of the ‘slow’ postcards (when my software is picking up points from him every 10 minutes) is not lost on me.
