It’s an awesome riding destination, but not something you want to talk about doing while drunk with your friends, lest you get accused of being a pervert. Just ask El Jefe about that one. Even his wife doesn’t leave him alone about that one.
Here’s me with a goofball grin at the top. It started snowing on us when we were up here!
My ride posse for Saturday was TJ and her other half, Bill. What an awesome ride! This (to me at least), is one of the best rides in Durango. The views from everywhere are spectacular, whether you are climbing or descending. Thanks to TJ, we even got some photos of those views since I forgot my camera.
Can you see Bill and me? We’re tiny little dots in this photo.
Here’s TJ, cheesing for the camera.
Bill and me smirking after checking out the remains of Graysill Mine.
At over 12,000 foot towards the top and about half of the riding above 11,000 foot, there’s a lot of gasping for breath, for me at least. A snack break was definitely in order along the ride.
Final stats? 5620 foot of elevation climbing, a starting elevation of about 8500, and a max elevation of about 12,000, about 25 miles total. We had a great loop that ended with taking Stage Coach singletrack trail back to the upper Hermosa Creek parking lot. This is super “secret” trail that really isn’t secret anymore, given how worn in the trail is now compared to last year when I rode with Jeet and Sue.
Thanks to TJ for leading another awesome ride!
Wow, snow? I am so not ready for summer to be behind us. Looks like you had a really nice ride on a very challenging course! Excellent job. Well, my new Voodoo Dambala SS 29er is built! I want to ride it tonight, but am still symptomatic from all the travel, so I may have to wait another day or 2. It’s the same frame Jeff broke in half, so wish me better juju.
Ahhh sweet mountain goodness.
Yay! Great ride and post. And wow, I didn’t realize it was over 5,000 feet of climbing – that explains a lot.
Man that ride looks nice! Did you ride the SS? Also good to see the FOO colors….don’t see many folks wearing the foo kit anymore around here for some reason. I thinks those kits were great.
Ride the SS on Blackhawk? Uhhh, no. That’s for Matt to do.
I have been keeping the Foo gear in Albuquerque, but recently brought it back home. I love those colors too!
I agree–the Blackhawk area is amazing and definitely on my top 3. We ended up taking hotel draw back down, then a few miles back on a forest road to Hermosa…You’ll have to tell me where this “super secret” trail is!
Gunn, instead of heading down (to your left) on the dirt road when you finish the BlackHawk ride, head up. At the top of the climb (it’s not that bad) look off to your left. You’ll see a big rock. Bike toward the rock, look for the trail…follow it back down to Hermosa.