Saturday, November 28, 2009

Ripsey Canyon

Scott and I have been talking about the Antelope Peak Challenge course. I was thinking about taking the course. Scott, in all his wisdom, suggested we go north on the Boulders Segment of the Arizona Trail. This section, with the addition of the Ripsey Segment is brillant singletrack.

Scott passed me the GPX track for the Ripsey Segment of the AZ Trail as he left for UT. On Black Friday, Ty and I headed out from Freeman road to ride the 50-mile loop.



As usual, singletrack prevailed during the route













A simple reason to support the Arizona Trail Association...their belief in rideable singletrack



Photo Courtesy of Ty


Photos Courtesy of Ty

One of the best climbs anywhere. A few switchbacks were super tough, but on the whole, it is a very, very well built trail. Check out those switchbacks on the side of the mountain.





Here is the view from the top, courtesy of Ty. This is the first endurance ride on the geared bike in over a year. This bike is going to be a singlespeed by this weekend.





Stunning views, great singletrack...this route is going to be a classic.



The only thing this trail is lacking is some riders. We saw 2 cars in the 8 hour ride (on the Kelvin-Florence Highway). No tracks, riders or hikers.




After the riding the ridge for a mile, we descended down to Florence-Kelvin Highway and headed back around to finish the Ripsey Segment loop, before finishing the out-n-back on the Boulders Segment Trail.

The new 116-mile option for the Antelope Peak Challenge is going to start around 3am (need to confirm with Scott). More info to come.

5 comments:

Fishmonger said...

i'm still wondering if i should have been at Super Target buyind a flat screen TV instead....

thanks for making this ride happen Chad.

ScottM said...

Awesome to see pics from one of my favorite pieces of AZT...

Definitely needs more tires on it.

This bike is going to be a singlespeed by this weekend.

Boo! Hiss!

You would have preferred to walk up the switchies on Ripsey, huh?

Lame to the nth degree. You already have a siiiinglespeed, ya know?

Fishmonger said...

i'm with scott on this one.

chollaball said...

beautiful shots Chad.

Tom Purvis said...

Dude, what's the date for the Antelope Peak Challenge in 2010?? On the APC entry on the AES site it still has the '09 date. Need to get this on my calendar ASAP!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...