Blame Loney!

Growlers Gulch Trail Report

Secret Garden - Paul & Mel – The Norrises have ribboned a line across the street from Cooley’s Loop. It should be pretty mellow. We will be working on this on Saturday.

Secret Garden – New Down – I have always hated having to ride gravel from the SG to the creek crossing as you head toward the Ridge Trail. I have a line that will remedy this. When you finish the regular SG downhill, start back up on the line to the south. About one-third of the way up, you will veer left and have a chance to bomb down. This one will put a smile on your face. I think we can get a good share of this done on Saturday.

Secret Garden – Blame Loney – Eric asked me to see if I could find a line that would eliminate some of the gravel climb up the Lament. Since I am partial to anything that involves stupidity, I decided to give it a try. If we use the regular Secret Garden downhill for the 5K, we can have people climb up that nasty southern line to the base of the hill we used for the climbing championship. From there, I started veering southwest and heading toward the blue gate. Unfortunately, I think it is marginally possible to put a semi-doable line in there. Normally, I don’t name trails before they’ve been ridden, but while I was mapping the line I was coming up with possibilities – BDM (Bataan Death March), Sick Puppy, and WTF? came to mind immediately. I ribboned places for 6 to 8 switchbacks. It might take a little work but I’m pretty sure that we can make these off-camber. If we are able to put it in, this climb will have you begging for the climb up Jekyll. You’ll start thinking of the 313 hill as “a gentle incline.” Basically, this climb involves gaining all the elevation you gain when you do the Lament, but in about half the distance. Don’t worry. I found a couple of wide spots where people can stop to hurl. Eric is right – This will probably cause problems for the roadies. Meanwhile, the rest of us will have to get our asses handed to us in order to watch them suffer.

JLS – Dave, Ryan Hicks, Ryan McMaster, RM’s friend Don, and I refurbished JLS last Sunday. As usual, I wanted to keep it smooth and flowy. Unfortunately, Dave was along, which meant that we had to spend time creating ridiculous overs for no logical reason. Because you guys have such incredible technical skill, there hasn’t been much on that trail that’s a challenge, so we tried to be creative in a couple of spots. Check it out.

Between Double Down and Canoe - Dave, Ryan Hicks, and I have been working on some line in this area. We are almost ready to start hacking away. Our goal is to eliminate most of the gravel between these two trails.