Mr. Ionsmuse has strung together an awesome section of forest roads and singletrack in the Kaibab National Forest, adjacent to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. He's calling his legitimate child the Kabiab Monster Cross - 120 miles of dirty goodness this Saturday. It's not that far from Durango and most is new ground for me - how can I resist?
Here's what the mapping reveals:
Probably some wild inaccuracies in here so don't take is as gospel, not that you can read the details anyway ;) I come up with significantly less than expected mileage on the Rainbow Rim section of singletrack, so I may not have the entrance/exit points right. Or, maybe it really is that twisty...anyway, I get ~ 97 miles and 11k' climbing. The 120 miles is gonna be alot closer to reality though, this mapping technique always comes up short. In any case, it looks like a very fast 120 miles.
I have done the Rainbow Rim before - incredible views of the North Rim of the GC, and the only decent singletrack on the GC where bikes are allowed to my knowledge. That alone makes the trip worth it - toss in 37 miles of the Arizona Trail and a meeting of a bunch of enduro nutz in the deep forests of the Kaibab and you have a winner.
Post GLR recovery has gone better than expected - probably cause I stopped to eat and/or sleep whenever the urge struck. MC's take after reading my report: I was a Grand Loop tourist. What can I say? The best thing about not drilling myself into the ground is I get to keep on playing! Sunday I tested the legs out on 6k' climbing up the Colorado trail, all systems are go. OK, maybe the butt is still a bit tender...
If any local Durango riders are interested, give a shout out and we'll carpool it.
Chances are I'll be hauling a gas BBQ grill for the event, so bring some grillin' goodies!