A new Findley Ride

We finally got the opportunity to try a little different ride starting from Findley.  I had seen several trails coming up towards findley road off panther gulch.  These are all motocross trails.  I thought that they must connect with some of the roads up into Findley.  I studied these from the ariel photos in google maps and it looked pretty promising so Dan and I tried it out today.  What a climb!  Coming up from Findley road to the top of the ridge system was 2000 vertical feet.  The top of the ridge was 3300.  Amazing vistas of the williams and thompson creek valleys- next time bring the camera.  The climb was in the span of about 4.5 miles.  Total Mileage was 18.  Great ride.  There were some sections with lots of Buck Brush starting to grow into the old road.  Lots of rocks and other debris to naivigate around- very technical.  Once we hooked up with the motocross trail it was pretty steep downhill with lots of ruts- a very fun section as well.  Once we hooked up to Panther Gulch Road it was an easy downhill back to the house.  (I hit 41 mph on the way down)- it was on the paved part..  Fantastic workout and a lot of fun!

Muddy up Findley

It has been raining lately- a lot actually.  I got up pretty early so I decided to head out for a quick ride up Findley Rd.  Since it was pretty muddy I knew I wasn't making great time.  It was right at 37 minutes to the top- not a great time but not the worst I've had.  I turned on my stopwatch at the bottom of the hill and it took 32 minutes from the bottom of the dirt road.  I'm going to start timing how long it takes from the bottom of the hill rather than from my house.   

The Findley Grind

Dan and I headed out about 6:00 for a quick ride up Findley rd.  It has been rainy and cold lately.  It wasn't short sleeve weather- even for the climb up Findley.  On the highway we had a pretty strong headwind that we were going against.  Once we hit the road we kept a brisk pace to the top.  We got to the top in 35 minutes.  We are decided that we will start the timer when we get to the bottom of the hill.  Dan's altimeter said we had about a 1300 vertical feet to the top.  It is a strong incline when you look at how many miles it takes to get to the top of the first saddle.

Cold be gone!

I had enough time to get to the top of Findley Rd.  It has rained really hard the past few days.  There are a few spots on the road that are back to being muddy again.  It certainly isn't as muddy as mid-winter though.  I am just about over my cold.  I wasn't feeling 100% on the way up.  Regardless, I was able to get to the top in 36 minutes.  Not my best time.  I got back to the house with a round trip time of 50 minutes.  I actually got pretty muddy.  Good workout, i'm ready to be rid of this cold...

Clapboard Gulch

I'm still not 100% yet, still feeling a little under the weather. Not too sick to get out on the bike.  Dan and I headed out after a pretty hard rain last night.  Everything was soaked and a few places it was muddy.  It had been raining periodically throughout the day and it finally stopped.  It was pretty cool compared to the temperatures the last few times we had been riding.  I went long sleeves and shoe covers.  There was a strong head wind on the way up there.  1hr 19 minutes and 17.5 miles.  Good ride other than Dan broke  spoke on his new epic.

Ferris to Findley

Lately I haven't been feeling too well.  A cold.  It seems like the wrong time of year for it.  I made it all winter without one and now it has caught up with me.  Regardless, I still wanted to get out on the bike.  Dan and I wanted to go on something a little "easier".  Clapboard gulch is probably the easiest.  We thought riding up Ferris Gulch and down Findley road would be fairly easy since I wasn't 100%.  It wasn't that easy...The ride up to the top of Ferris Gulch was quite a few vertical feet.  Then down into the actual Gulch and back up to the Findley saddle.  It took 1 hr 13 minutes round trip and was 14 miles.  I haven't been on a ride that long in quite a while.

Findley Ride

The last few times I have ridden my bike it has been some quick rides up findley part way and back down. Only about 35 minutes round trip. Today I had the time so I decided to go all the way to the top. Even though it had been a while I was still able to get to the top in 35 minutes. I haven't reached my goal of not using the granny gear yet...

Short Findley Ride again

It was pretty late again but we wanted to get on the bike again. Dan picked up some new pedals in anticipation of his new bike he won off eBay. The basic Shimano m 520 pedals a big step up from the circa 96' ritchey logic pedals. Rode up to the spot marked on the map and back down. Still a great workout and about 35 minutes.  I dropped the pin in the turn around location- click on the location link.

Abbreviated Findley Ride

It was very late by the time I was able to ride my bike- about 7:25 or so. Regardless it was still very light and I was really wanting to get out on the bike for at least 30 minutes. I rode up findley road for about 25 minutes and turned around. about 10 more minutes and I would have been at the top but I needed to get back home. Good workout- total time 35 minutes. I dropped the pin in the "location" where I turned around. Cool new feature for Blogger- add location. How long has that been there?

Clapboard gulch again-

It has been too much time between rides lately.  I am hoping to get a few more rides in per week.  We headed out to clapboard gulch early this morning.  It was a little chilly- there was a freeze last night.  Very sunny but a little cool.  We really started to warm up after we hit the off road portion.  A few wet areas on the road but mostly things are drying out.  The bottom of the draw (single track section) where we cross the creek was still pretty muddy.  There are 3 large roots that you have to make it over once you climb out of the creek.  The second root got me and I had to put my foot down.  Dan made it all the way out of the draw- nice work!