Grand Loop 2009

[MikeC]

Holy crapanoli Jefe is gettin' after it!

Definitely done with No Mas now and on to the last few steep/loose stingers.  Such a hard section to finish on...

I'd guess at a ~noon to oneish finish if anyone wants to meet him out there. 

Super impressive Jefe.  Super.

MC

[Eric]

Wow - those photos looked like a fun time!
Great job everyone!

[cat morrison]

I'm going to the finish and will get some shots of him.  In the meantime if anyone can fill me in on how to post pictures to this forum I'd sure appreciate it.....I'm a bit challenged when it comes to technology

[DaveH]

OK I'm a bit too thrashed for poetry right now...but it took 2 days 12 hours and change on the SS.  That is not including a~3 hour trip from LL to Loma.  I have full GPS/power data for the event, should be fun for some geeking.

Some sections were tortously slow (3-4 extra hours in Taylor flats area) while some sections flew by.  That last forever slickrock climb on the Tab nearly killed me.

Now for the most dangerous part of the event...the 7 hour drive!  More later...I took a camera but I don't think I touched it after I got shots of the birthday boy.  Tire tracks everywhere on the GL this year! 

[Pivvay]

Nice job DH, can't wait for the report

[Chad B]

Well done Dave!

[krefs]

Way to rip it up, Dave!  It's exciting to see all the different guys out their, starting at different places and times, going in opposite directions, and all around having a blast doing so.  I wish I could have joined ya'll!

[wookieone]

Hello to All, So I finished the loop, ah what a Grand Loop it was. Koko was a kick in the pants, as usual, and left me wondering what sort of fool I was to do this darn thang again. But persistance runs deep in this one and I pushed on. I meet up with Scott and Chad and they scared me about mud, snow, flowing trails of water. Then I actually got totaly wrecked by miles and miles of it. I slept a couple hours up in the La Sals in attempt to let the mud dry, here Matt caught up with me and we talked as we pushed through heaps of goo. What do ya do? He decided to bivy, but I just pushed on thru, dragging, swearing, laughing. I really wanted to go under three days but now I was seeing some cracks forming. So Koski was out, Bedrock was in, I cranked out to the Dolores river canyon and bivied again for about three hours. Got up around 2:AM and was rolling before 3. I was feeling good, the dreaded Paradox seemed almost welcoming, familiar, sure the steep hike a bikes were grueling, but the sun was not so hot, clouds not so far apart and most importantly, I was really enjoying myself!
 I hit the Divide Road about 1:pm, did the powerline loop, hopped skipped and jumped thru the down timber and snow drifts on the Tab singletrack and just kept the flow going on to the Robideau Trail. I have to say it all looked just as I remembered, but I was taken by how incredibly gorgeous it was, super lush green grass, flowers, birds, deer everywhere, elk, bear tracks, if you don't know you should find out! I was charged up by how cool this place(s) is, I felt so good, my legs would not agree, but too bad. A fire had been lit and I was gonna do this!
 So I pushed and pushed on, continously blown away by how cool and pretty the area is, keeping the fire burning inside, I Can Do This! I made it to Cottonwood Creek by dark, ate, filled water and pushed on. I kept it going all the way to just past Domingeuz Campground. Yet after 25 hours of intense riding and hike a bike my eyes wouldn't focus, my energy was fading and grumpies were getting the best of me. So I ate, curled up and slept for 45 minutes. I awoke confused, slowly got my head wrapped around what was ahead of me and threw my stuff together and was rolling towards Cactus Park. Up Nine Mile, then the plunge down to Hwy 141. As I dogged the angular rocks going way too fast, I was acutley aware of how much fun I was having, lots!
 Next was No Mas Hill, Bangs and Rough Canyons, last time around it was all in the dark, now I know what I was missing. Again I found myself traveling through a  completely captivating landscape, one to explore for sure. Then up the slickrock climb, I tried to ride it on the Singlespeed, but after a minute of vigorous arm pumping it was plain I was no match. Then Little Park Road, surprise Cat Morrison! We rode the Gunny Connector, and I started to talk to her about Matt. She then turned to me and said, "hey I think you have a record to break" I muttered some sort of "really?" and bombed down Widowmaker, to Ped a Kes, I was having so much fun railing singletrack that it was a shock that boom I was done! Hell yeah. My friend Zack was there with chairs, roasted chicken and cold Cokes, ah man Spot tech (and good friends) is cool! Then Dave H shows up and we all sit there and drink, eat, talk. The sun is out, but it's not too hot, good folks, the Grand Loop repeating in my head, man life is good!

[wookieone]

Hey again, so Matt, JimL and myself left the Koko TH at 7:40pm on friday, I rooled back into the Lunch Loop at 12:13 pm, I think, thinking is hard right now, that adds up to 2 days, 16 hours, 33 minutes, holy cow I did That!  Peace Jefe

[Pivvay]

Awesome work Jefe, you on a SS as well?

[wookieone]

Yes sir, one love one gear, all fun....

[Marshal]

I am not so good with links & stuff, to lazy to try really so.........

19 GL pics here, including Scott, Chad & Dave

http://desertmountainride.blogspot.com/2009/06/birthday-loopy-pictures.html

[Bob_P]

Whoa...I am inspired by everyone's rides out there!  Dave and Jefe... 2 1/2 days?...Yowza!  Piper and I are starting on Thursday morning for, hopefully a less than 5 day tour.  Doing the Bedrock route, "normal" direction.  We have a SPOT, so if y'all are inclined to cheer for us, maybe, just maybe, we'll gather the + energy for success.  We were leaving on Wed AM, but decided to wait a day on account of the mud reports.  
bp
Almost forgot... Chris is raising money for Parkinsons Research.  Check this link if interested:
http://tinyurl.com/grandloop

[Bob_P]

Great pics, Marshall. Thanks!

[ScottM]

Dang, super impressive rides, both Dave and Jefe.  With the mud and snow too, very nice.  Guess it was the year of the singlespeed out there -- before no one had finished on one, now there are three!

Replaying the Grand Loop is still bending my mind.  It is not a thing easily understood, and I like it that way.

[wookieone]

So has anyone even tried this on a singlespeed before? I am not sure, but I swear it really wasn't bad, I didn't really think about it most of the time, it was simply my bike, ride it when you can and walk walk walk.....

[ScottM]

I don't think it has been attempted on a SS before, no.  It's funny, I rode only slightly more than Chad out there, and oftentimes the stuff I did ride was of questionable benefit (not worth the energy expenditure).

The only exception was climbing all the techy stuff after Rose Garden Hill.  That was a hoot, and one of the highlights of the ride.

[Stefan_G]

Fantastic rides this year everybody.  Just, Wow!  So much energy being spent out there and such fun watching and dreaming.   I never would have dreamt of all the mud out there this year though.  I would have taken a SS anyday if I knew those were going to be the conditions...

Max and Josh, I think you guys hit the muddiest window, eh?  Forced detours, heavy bikes, uggghhh.  Hopefully you won't want to kill me for psyching you up on the GL...

Scott and Chad, geez you guys were just killing it at the beginning.  Your uphill times were comparable to my downhill times in the other direction.  Without the mud it looks like you would have hit Bedrock that 2nd day no problem.  Also, sounds like downhill up on Taylor flats was the preferable direction.  I thought for sure you were on a sub 3 day pace after that first day.  Can't wait to hear your thoughts about backwards vs. forwards...

Marshal, great work, and bummer about your knee.  You got to experience the "worst" of the Paradox, and I'm sure you will have another crack at it sometime.

Jefe and Dave, Holy-freaking-cow you guys!  Record smashing times, both of you, and in muddy, sloppy conditions to boot.  I'm floored.  You guys are just honed multi-day machines!

Chris and Bob - looking forward to keeping track of you guys out there.  Hopefully the ground conditions will have improved for you this year.  And no worries about getting lost now, eh?  Just follow the ruts.  :-)

[wookieone]

It's kinda funny how many tracks there were out there, in 2006 it was Scott's track and Scott's track only, in some places there were 4-6 sets of bike tires going through, it was great. even with the GPS, it feels good to know someone else was out there, traveling the same route. Heck maybe the GL will become a bike tourist destination, just kidding...and by the way Stefan, I still think you are crazy amazing with your sub three day w/Koski. I was thinking about that alot out there, I've riden a bunch of that traverse and you must have been flying to pull that off. Ok hope that anyone on course is OK? Peace Jefe

[DaveH]

A'ight, here's what I pull from the GPS files.

Classic route: 2 days 12 hours 44 min.  This does not include the LL to Loma section (traditional untimed prologue).

Complete loop, including the "prologue" miles:  2 days 15 hours 39 min.

Starting at Westwater was certainly different - for one thing it meant I got McDonalds at mile 315.  BTW I don't recommend that option.  The first gluten in over a month was not pretty.  In any case since it may be considered an advantage to have GJ before the last leg of the ride, I leave it up to y'all whether or not to start timing the beast as a complete loop or stick with the untimed prologue, or something else I'm not considering.  I think its legit to exclude the prologue so long as it doesn't include an extended stay (& rest).  The Super 8 was tempting me!!!

My tanita told me 2.4% bodyfat this morning.  I gotta get back to eating.