San Juan Huts

Originally posted to RohJuh.com on Aug 22, 2005.

San Juan Huts, Day 0- At long last, our mountain biking adventure was finally about to begin! Judy and I left Belmont at around 11 AM on Friday. Since we would be passing right by the Sierra Trading Post in Reno, we decided to stop by and pick up some last minute gear. Rob hadn’t bought any arm or leg warmers so we picked up some for him. I needed some non-cotton socks (the only ones I had were for hiking or snowboarding and not ideal for biking) so I picked up some of those. I had brought a backpack, but the store had a really nice Platypus pack at a good price so, what the heck, I bought that too.

After eating dinner at the nearby Claim Jumper, we continued driving. It was still a ways to Moab so we pulled over at a rest stop about 20 miles from the Utah border to sleep for the night. We fell asleep to the soothing and relaxing sounds of cows mooing – a big rig full of cows had parked nearby.

We awoke at sunrise the next morning and continued on to Moab, arriving at a bit past 2 PM at the Apache Motel. This was where we would leave our cars and stay the night when we got back to Moab at the end of our journey. Ryan, Dave, Rob, and Brian had arrived earlier and were already busy getting all their gear ready. The Apache Motel parking lot soon became our staging zone.

It wasn’t long before we were all packed up and ready to go. Ryan and Dave had picked up the additional B.O.B. trailer from the Poison Spider bike shop, but we had to return to the shop because I needed to get one more water bottle and Dave wanted to buy a pair of cycling tights.

By 3:30 or so, we were all ready to go, but since our shuttle to Telluride wasn’t until 8 PM (when Judy booked it, she wanted to leave plenty of time for everyone to get to Moab), we had some time to kill. Judy’s repeated calls to the shuttle service to see if we could arrange an earlier pick-up time went unanswered, so our 8 PM pick up time held. We headed to Pasta Joe’s for an early dinner, then went to the market to get some food for our first day’s ride.

As we were waiting for the shuttle, Brian pulled out some tools and started making sure that all the bolts on his bike were tight. That seemed like a good idea so I did the same. As I was tightening one of my chain ring bolts (one of four bolts that screw through the front big ring to the cranks), I broke one of the bolt heads! It wasn’t a huge deal since there were still three bolts holding things together, but it certainly would be nice to fix it.

The Poison Spider bike shop had already closed so I drove back into town to see if any other bike shops were open. Both Moab Cyclery and Rim Cyclery were closed as well. Oh well. I’d try to hit one of the bike shops in Telluride the next morning. Hopefully there would be one that opened early in the morning because we didn’t want to get too late a start the next day.

Our shuttle, a Suburban with almost 200,000 miles on it, arrived about 20 minutes early. We helped the driver pack up the bikes, loaded up the Suburban, and were soon on our way. The drive took us through some windy mountain roads and a few hours later, we arrived in Telluride.

Our condo was big enough that everyone would have a bed. It was somewhat annoying, however, since it was on the second floor and there were no elevators. We thus had to lug our bikes and gear up the stairs. Several people complaining about being out of breath from walking up the stairs. Hmmm… probably not a good sign. :-) We spent some time filling up our water bottles and Camelback bladders and soon retired for the evening. A good night’s rest was key for tomorrow was a big day – the start of our 7 day mountain biking adventure!

Cumulative miles: 0
Daily miles: 0
Mechanicals: Roger chainring bolt (fixed)
Casualties: None

San Juan Huts, Day 1 After a good night’s sleep, we awoke to a beautiful morning and we were eager to get on the trail. We packed up, loaded our packs and trailers, and headed into town.
We went to the Resort Quest office to drop off our keys and to check out. During last night’s unloading of the shuttle in the dark, we had accidentally grabbed our shuttle driver’s backpack. I left the backpack with the attendant at the front desk and Judy left a message with the driver to inform him to pick it up.

I still wanted to see if we could find a replacement chain ring bolt for my bike. Since Rob was the only one who did not want to eat breakfast, he volunteered to ride further into town to see if any bike shops were open this early on a Sunday.

The rest of us got some grub at the small grocery store below the Resort Quest office and ate at the picnic table outside. It wasn’t long before Rob returned, two different crank bolts in hand. Although none of the bike shops were open yet, he was able to find someone in one of the bike shops who had come in early. Fortunately, he had some crank bolts, which he gave Rob for free, and luckily one of the bolts fit my bike. After the bolt was installed, we were all ready to go!

We rode out of town, first on the shoulder of the main road leading into Telluride, then on a paved bike path. I was out front, but should have stayed behind because the peloton rode effortlessly behind big Rob as he pulled the group along a fairly long stretch of the bike path.

Our first climb was the road leading up to the Telluride airport. Although fairly steep, it wasn’t too bad since it was still paved. Upon reaching the top of the hill, we soon turned off the paved road and onto Last Dollar Road. It felt like we were finally hitting the “real” trail and leaving civilization behind.

The day was beautiful – sunny with plenty of blue skies and white puffy clouds – perfect weather for riding. After walking the bikes around a bulldozer parked in the middle of the road and going across what seemed like a dry stream bed (where a lady with her Subaru left only a narrow line through the rocks for Brian and I to pedal through), we began the tough part of the ride. Whether it was the increase in altitude (very likely), people being out of shape (likely for several of us), not being used to hauling such a heavy trailer (for sure), or some other reason, we all struggled up the final ascent. The trail didn’t look very steep, but our legs begged to differ.

We set up a tow system to help off-load the burden of hauling the trailer. In a tow system, an inner-tube (we actually used one from a road bike since they are less bulky than a mountain bike tube) is tied on one end to the seat of the “tow-er”. The other end is tied to the handlebars of the “tow-ee” (the one with the trailer attached).

Sounds like a pretty straightforward technique and it is, except in the case of Brian and Ryan. While towing Ryan, Brian somehow caused Ryan to veer off and nearly crash. We’re still not sure what happened exactly, but it was amusing nevertheless.

We used the tow system during the slow slog up the hill. Brian helped to tow me while Rob and Dave took turns towing Ryan up. It wasn’t too long until we reached the final approach to the hut. We had read about this approach from various trip reports so it wasn’t unexpected. The section is certainly ridable (at least without the trailer), but after all the tough climbing we just went through in addition to the altitude change, no one was in the mood to try. We pushed the bikes up the hill. If hauling a trailer up this far was hard, pushing it up this really steep hill was quite a bit harder – it was quite an effort!

Fortunately, the steep approach was relatively short, only a 1/4 mile or so. We were all really happy when the hut finally became visible at around 12:30 PM. We made it! This being our first hut, we were naturally eager to check things out. The hut size was about what I expected – not too large inside, but not too small either. It was basically a squarish area, with the kitchen area against one wall, food cabinets against another wall, and bunks against the remaining walls. The bunks were two levels, and it was somewhat of a relief that the “mattresses” were actually fairly comfortable. The top bunks, however, didn’t have very much head room. It was imperative that those in the top bunks remember not to sneeze while sleeping.

Most of the food was stored in two large cabinets and the selection was quite varied! Just to rattle off a partial list, there were candy bars (Snickers, Almond Joy, Baby Ruth), M&Ms, Oreos, crackers, Ramen noodles, chips and salsa, and a large selection of canned goods – tuna, salmon, chicken, ravioli, tomatoes, pineapple, oranges, pears. What was surprising was the amount of perishables – a good selection of apples and oranges, fresh eggs, cheese, and even bacon. There was no refrigeration, but since the temperatures never get that high and they stock the huts every three days, the perishables end up not perishing that quickly.

About an hour after our arrival, it started to rain. What perfect timing! We hung out inside the hut, warm and dry, shooting the shit while the raindrops pitter-pattered on the roof.

Hut #1 had a beautiful view that allowed us to see the tough uphill that we just suffered up. After the rain had subsided, Rob was alone admiring the view when a couple of dudes came hiking along and offered to share some “chronic” with him and the rest of the group. Rob kindly declined, replying “Thanks, but not this crew”, the implication of course being that he’d love to do some chronic with them if not for the square pegs that he was with. 

Apparently, Rob has not led as sheltered a life as the rest of us because nobody else knew what “chronic” was. Rob enlightened us that chronic is in fact marijuana, aka pot, aka weed, aka hemp, aka a word for every letter of the alphabet according to Rob. I did not know that. Huh, you learn something knew everyday!

Each hut has a bunch of water jugs and you’re supposed to try to use the water sparingly because they have to lug these heavy jugs to the hut. Even though this water was fully intended for drinking, Ryan had his doubts and insisted on filtering the water before drinking. So he puts the end of the water filter hose (that typically goes into the “dirty” water such as a stream) into the water jug and starts pumping. Of course, by doing this, he contaminates the water jug. Hmmm… I guess we’ll cut him a little slack because of the elevation. 

We went to bed after a hard day of riding and looked forward to the next day…

Cumulative miles: 13.4
Daily miles: 13.4
Mechanicals: None
Casualties: None
Notables: 2,700 foot elevation gain to ~11,000 feet

San Juan Huts, Day 2 Although I slept well, it was apparently a restless night for many others. People found themselves gasping for air throughout the night, no doubt a result of the altitude. Brian referred to the group’s night of sleep as an “orchestra” of various noises and loud snoring. Good thing I sleep like a rock!

Rested or not, we awoke the next morning, ate breakfast, packed up our gear, and were on the trail by 8:30 AM. We started by walking our bikes down the hill a bit (in a different direction from the steep hill we had to push our bikes up the prior day), not because it was too technical, but because the directions said so, probably for erosion control reasons.

Shortly afterwards, we were able to ride down the semi-twisty trail and reached Last Dollar Road again. We bombed down a nice, long descent, and soon had the first cow sighting of many, many more to come. We rode past the ranch where the John Wayne movie “True Grit” was filmed. I’ve never even seen a John Wayne movie let alone know of that specific one, but it was neat nevertheless to ride by it.

The riding today was far easier than the day before, consisting primarily of gently rolling hills on dirt roads or double track. The weather was a bit cloudier, but they weren’t storm clouds and we didn’t worry too much about rain. All in all, it was a nice change from the previous day.

As we cruised along, Ryan and I started noticing that the mileage in the directions was off by a bit. According to the directions and our odometers, there was supposed to be a left turn but we didn’t see it. We had been riding uphill for a while and had reached the top of the hill. Either the left turn was further ahead at the bottom of the hill or we had passed it. Ryan and I decided to go on ahead down the hill to investigate while Brian would stop and wait at the top of the hill with the rest of the group. If we had passed the turn, we didn’t want the people with the trailers to go down the hill and then have to turn around and climb up it.

When we reached the bottom of the hill, we found the turn. We had regained our bearings so we tried signaling to Brian, but he was too far away to see. After several minutes, Brian decided to ride halfway down the hill, find out which way we were supposed to go, and then signal back up the hill to the rest of the group. That worked and the group was soon back together at the bottom of the hill. When Judy pulled up with the trailer, she tried to unclip, couldn’t, and fell over on her side. Slightly painful, but nothing too bad.

After a few more miles on the dirt roads, we reached a highway where we descended a bit before turning right onto another dirt road. From here, we started climbing. It wasn’t very steep, just a long and sustained low-grade climb.

Our next landmark was an “Aspen corral” surrounding a black hose. We were supposed to fill up all our water with the black hose before continuing on towards the hut. We came upon a clearing on the side of the road surrounded by Aspens. It seemed like this could be an Aspen corral so we hopped off our bikes to look for the black hose but didn’t find it.

We thus continued further down the road and soon came upon the black hose. It was on the right side, only a few feet from the road. It was next to a horse corral, a traditional one made from pieces of wood. While there were Aspen trees interspersed through the corral, I wouldn’t have called it an “Aspen corral”, but something more along the lines of a “horse carral with Aspens in it”. Semantics shemantics.

We began filling up our water bottles and Camelbacks. Quite inadvertently, I almost gave Brian a mini shower. I was using a brand new Platypus backpack for this trip which, unsurprisingly, uses a Platypus bladder. These bladders are unique in that they seal shut like a big Ziploc bag. The directions say that once you’ve sealed the bladder, you should flip it upside down just to make sure that the seal is intact. So that’s what I did. The problem is that the zip seal wasn’t intact and as I flipped it upside down, the seal opened and I almost drenched Brian. No damage was down; it was more amusing than anything. We all had a good laugh, especially since Dave had predicted that I’d have an accident with the Platypus bladder before the trip was over.

While we were filling up, a maroon truck drove up the road. As is typical, we moved to the side of the road to ensure that there was plenty of room for the the vehicle to pass. The truck slowed down as it approached us and then stopped. Brian, his back turned to the truck, was somewhat annoyed because there was plenty of room for the truck to pass. It turned out that the guys in the truck were from the San Juan Huts and were actually driving up to our hut to restock it. We chatted with them for a while and then let them go. We’d see them again before too long when we arrived at the hut.

After everyone had filled up, we continued on to the hut, getting in around 1:30 PM. We were greeted at the hut by not only the two guys in the truck, but their big dog as well. It was a really cool dog! It was really big and we were told that it was about 87% wolf and the rest Malamute. Despite being such a large percentage wolf, it was really mellow and friendly.

We helped the guys lug down some water jugs and they soon left. Everyone agreed that Hut #2 was really cool. It was laid out nicely and seemed to make optimum use of space. We had some time to kill, some of which was spent watching Ryan perform stupid human tricks on the hanging horizontal log in front of the hut.

Judy helped set the tone for the evening by replying to the simple “Where did you go?” with “I went to take a goddamn motherfucking shit. What the fuck is it to you?” Or something like that. ;-) After being laughed at, Judy decided to modify her terminology to something a bit less crass like “I went to drop off a few kids at the pool”.

Chef Robere was called into action to cook up some pasta. The amount of noodles came out just right, but we made way too much sauce. We ended up having to pour the extra sauce into zip-lock bags and throwing them away.

As we sat on the picnic table that would flip over whenever someone got up on one side, Dave and I tried to figure out how to get our odometers (we have the same one) to measure dual distances. Judy claimed to have figured out the most efficient way to set the computer, although we figured out soon after that her method involved the pressing of a button that, in reality, does nothing. We were happy to figure out how to use this function because I had been keeping track of cumulative trip miles but also wanted to keep track of the miles on a daily basis.

With a belly full of pasta, we hit the sack shortly after it got dark.

Cumulative miles: 40.92
Daily miles: 27.5
Mechanicals: None
Casualties: Judy fall (couldn’t unclip)

San Juan Huts, Day 3 The night passed without any incident and, being better acclimated, everyone was able to sleep better than the night before. The morning’s main incident was Dave slicing his finger when he tried to crush a tin can with his hands. Hut Tip #1: Don’t crush tin cans with your hands.

We hit the trail at around 8:00 AM and it wasn’t long before a few drops started falling. I was out in front of the rest of the group and when I saw the drops coupled with the dark clouds overhead, I decided to take cover. Good thing I did because the few drops soon turned into a torrential downpour which lasted about 10 minutes.

The rest of the goup had done the same. After the rain subsided, I stepped out onto the road to await the rest of the group. They soon rode by, a parade of rain-gear-clad riders. Ryan hadn’t followed Brian’s suggestions on the rain wear and bought the O2 cycling jacket instead of the O2 jacket with the hood. As a result, he had to create a makeshift hood using a plastic bag.

The rain made the riding much more difficult. With the dirt damp and muddy in places, it created a lot more drag during, especially when hauling the trailer. Despite having only a moderate incline, Ryan and I labored to haul the trailers up the hill.

Shortly after passing a cool Aspen forest on our right (unique because it contained only Aspen trees), the sky ahead started looking pretty ominous again. We decided that it would be prudent to take cover and wait for the storm to pass. That turned out to be a good move because the storm was soon upon us. It turned out to be no ordinary thunderstorm – it was a full-blown hailstorm! The ground was soon covered with little white balls. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit; it was certainly a unique experience.

The rest of the ride passed without much incident. When we finally reached the hut at around 2:00 PM, the hut guys were once again in the process of restocking the hut. In chatting with them, we were astounded to learn that the previous two groups had used 20 jugs of water! At 5 gallons/jug, that’s 100 gallons of water! Our group of six typically uses just over 5 gallons/hut, certainly no more than 10 gallons/hut. What the heck did these groups do, take full-on showers and wash their bikes??? Not only that, but the last group left the front door wide open when they left (a big no no because of all the little critters).

Because of the damp road conditions, today turned out to be a pretty tough day. Dave’s reward for himself was to polish off an entire roll of Oreos. As we lounged around, the weather became really nice, the clouds from earlier in the day being replaced with blue skies and sunshine. The nice weather prompted Judy to bust out her “camp shoes” – pink flip flops with sparkles on them.

With all of today’s riding through wet conditions, it was a good idea to clean and lube the bike chains. The open area in front of the hut soon became the bike cleaning zone. Rob’s chain in particular really needed some attention – that thing was filthy!

Judy killed some time by created her flower thingie centerpiece. Ryan was able to fix the sunglasses he broke with some duct tape, attaining in the process the highly desirable Poindexter look. Too bad there weren’t more chicks out here because Ryan would have attracted them in swarms.

That night, Judy went to bed feeling kind of sick. Hopefully it was just exhaustion from the day’s activities and nothing that a a good night’s rest wouldn’t fix.

Cumulative miles: 74.93
Daily miles: 34
Mechanicals: None
Casualties: Dave sliced finger

San Juan Huts, Day 4 Last night was cool because we experienced a thunderstorm while we slept. Lying in bed while hearing the sounds of rumbling thunder and the pitter-patter of the rain drops on the roof is something that we as Californians don’t get to experience much.

Judy felt much better upon awakening in the morning, which was a major relief because it would have really sucked for her or anyone to get sick during the trip. We were back in the saddle and on the trail by 8:10 AM.

Today was perhaps the most scenic day of our trip thus far with lots of trees, the occasional wildflower field, and expansive views of the valley below. Once again, we encountered many, many cows, both on the trail and off. This was much to the dismay of Rob and Brian who somehow managed to get cow dung all over their bottom water bottles. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that an easy way to avoid this predicament is to simply not ride over the cow dung. Hmmm… maybe they need to work on their bike handling skills. ;-)

With all the cow encounters, Judy was able to hone her cow herding skills. As I can attest to by watching Judy in action, shouting “Moooooo!” in a high-pitched voice at the top of your lungs is very effective in getting cows to move off the trail. I know that if I was a cow, I’d certainly move off the trail if that was what it took to get that sound to stop. :-)

DaveI realized partway through the day that all the air in my rear shock had leaked out. This probably meant that the seal holding the air in needed to be replaced. In retrospect, this wasn’t really surprising considering that I had not had the shock overhauled in the 4+ years that I’ve owned this bike. It likely wasn’t a big deal and would just require me to pump up the shock more frequently. At least I hoped that to be the case.

Although the weather started out really nice, we soon saw thunderstorms brewing around us. At one point, we were surrounded by thunderstorms, one to our left, one straight ahead, and one to the right. We hoped to outrun the one in front of us, but it turned out that our paths would cross. Before getting too close, we decided to take cover. We didn’t do this in the most prudent manner as Brian huddled by himself under some trees while the rest of us all gathered together under another set of trees. This would not have necessarily been a bad thing for Brian because if we had gotten struck by lightening, he would have had his pick of all our gear and bikes/components. Perhaps that’s why he ran over to us, stuck a long metal pole in the ground, and then ran back to his hiding place. You’ve got to hand it to that Brian – always thinking. :-)

The thunderstorm turned out to be weak, barely releasing any rain (or hail for that matter). It was soon over and we were again on our way, but not before I stopped to take a picture of the dead cow that the vultures were busy picking at before we arrived.

Our directions informed us that we’d be hitting a campsite prior to the hut where we should fill up our water. We found the campsite and Rob and I took the opportunity to use the available faucet to do some quick laundry. We washed, or rather rinsed, the shirts on our backs and in the warm sun, it felt pretty good to put the still wet shirts back on. Everyone filled up their water and we made the final 3 mile descent to the hut, arriving at around 2:10 PM.

Hut #4 was situated on private property, specifically the Graham Ranch. Although seemingly a bit smaller (especially the minimal head room for the top bunks), the hut itself wasn’t much different from prior huts. It did have one unique aspect, however, in that it had a heavy front door made of thick metal that was secured by a difficult-to-reach padlock. We were perplexed by the rationale behind having such a bombproof door. In continuing with the metal theme, the hut had a metal roof. The downside to this is that the roof absorbed all the heat from the sun making it really warm inside. Hopefully things would cool down when the sun went down.

The hut also had a swing set in front which didn’t quite swing straight, and a large horse corral with three horses. One of these horses had a bell around its neck that rang pretty much whenever the horse moved. Hopefully horses sleep at night so we wouldn’t have to hear the ringing bell throughout the night.

For some reason, there was a lone horse that was outside the corral. This horse desperately wanted to be inside the corral and kept circling the corral trying to get in to join its compadres. It ended up trotting through the hut area several times.

We had initially set our bikes against the horse corral, that is until Dave decided to feed the horses an apple. This turned out to be a really bad idea because not only did the horses get agitated with anticipation, but as the horse ate the apple, it started dripping gobs of green drool. Brian’s bike was nearly coated with this natural Slime concoction. We quickly moved the bikes to a safer area and decided not to give the horses anymore apples.

One of the nice things about Hut #4 is the available shower facility. The Graham family is nice enough to provide a shower for riders of the SJHS. Although we really didn’t feel that dirty (probably because of the cool and dry mountain air), a shower would likely still feel pretty good so we all took one (not together mind you, although there were two opposite facing showers available). Judy had brought some Passion Fruit body wash for me to use and also had a packet of Lemon scented body wash which Dave took. Although they won’t admit it, it was pretty obvious that the other guys were jealous of our fresh and fruity post-shower scents.

For dinner, Dave cooked up his San Juan Hut Surprise, a cornucopias medley of canned chicken, canned corn, garlic, onions, rosemary blend, chives, and probably a bunch of other seasonings of which I’ve forgotten. Although quick and easy and shot from the hip, it turned out to be fairly tasty.

Judy carried on with her hut tradition of opening a can of fruit, taking one bite, and then pawning it off on some unsuspecting soul who would then have to finish it off.

We had hoped that the horse with the bell would go to sleep, but it didn’t. We were tired though and soon fell asleep to the sounds of clanging bells…

Cumulative miles: 111.5
Daily miles: 36.5
Mechanicals: Roger rear shock air leak
Casualties: None

San Juan Huts, Day 5 “Fucking horses” were the first words I uttered early this morning as I went outside to pee. Apparently, horses don’t sleep very much at night, or at least this particular one didn’t. The stupid bell rang on and off throughout the night.

After Brian, Ryan, and Rob struggled to close and lock the behemoth metal door, we hit the trail at 8:10 AM. It was somewhat disappointing because we had to backtrack 3 miles back to Uranium Road. Since those 3 miles were downhill yesterday, they were uphill today. We actually backtracked a bit further past Uranium Road so that we could refill our water at the campsite again.

Uranium Road presented more uphill and it seemed sandy which made pedaling tougher, especially with the trailer. We slogged up the hill, and when we reached the top, Judy decided to continue on to the long downhill while the rest of us rested and fueled up. This head-start set the stage for some interesting drama.

Brian left next, an estimated 20 seconds or so behind Judy, and the rest of us soon followed. The downhill was a lot of fun – not too steep – and was a refreshing change from all the climbing we had done that morning.

About 3/4 of the way down, we met back up with Brian who was concerned about the whereabouts of Judy. Brian had raced down “at downhill speeds” and was not only unable to catch up with Judy, but was not even able to get close enough to catch a glimpse of her. He feared that Judy may have crashed further up the hill. Since we were all behind Brian and did not see Judy, the only way Judy could have still been up the hill is if she had fallen off the side of the road.

Brian and Ryan decided to ride back up to look for Judy while Rob would continue downhill in case Judy was actually in front of us. They would each bring a Talk-About in order to communicate. Since Dave and I had the trailers, there wasn’t much we could do but sit around and wait. To help pass the time, Dave was gracious enough to show me his proprietary, patent-pending, Farmer’s Tan Removal System. I’ve gotta admit that the market opportunity for such a product is potentially enormous.

Time ticked by. Partway back up the climb, Ryan heard Judy’s voice on the Talk-About. Unfortunately, it didn’t come across very clearly and all he heard was “I’m on top of a hill” in what sounded like a disoriented voice. Uh oh. They continued climbing back up the hill.

After they had climbed back all the way to the top, Judy came in clearer radio contact and indicated that she was OK and was in fact ahead of everyone. It was a line-of-sight oddity that Rob could talk with Brian and Ryan and Judy could talk with Brian and Ryan but Rob and Judy couldn’t talk with each other despite being much closer to each other.

Not only did Brian, along with Ryan, climb all the way up the hill for nothing, but Brian had a crash coming back down when his handlebar case popped loose. As he tried to save it, he took his eyes off the road, got caught in a rut, and crashed. It was nothing serious, but he did get some cuts and scrapes on his arm.

We joked that this escapade called into serious question Brian’s downhill riding skills. The reality is that Judy’s new bike has improved her downhill riding considerably and it probably improved even further just on this trip. The main lesson learned is that nobody should let themselves get too far ahead of the group.

After regrouping, we continued on. The fun downhill was more or less over and we began climbing again, and boy did it seem like a really long climb. The hot sun only made the climb seem even longer. We would hope to see the end of the climb at every turn, but were instead greeted with another stretch of uphill. I don’t think any of us had heard so much foul language come out of Dave before! :-)

Compounding our uphill woes was the fact that Rob started noticing a clicking sound in his bottom bracket. We had been pretty lucky with mechanical issues thus far. Could this be our first major one? There wasn’t much we could do about it at this point so our best best would be to take a closer look once we got into the small town of Gateway.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached the top of our ascent. It was about time! We looked forward to an easy downhill, but alas, that was not to be. The descent was extremely steep and while the road was fairly wide, you certainly didn’t want to slide out and fall over the edge – the exposure was pretty serious and it was a long way down. In order not to overheat the brakes, we tried to pull over and stop on a regular basis to give the brakes a chance to cool down. As an example of how hot the brakes got, Ryan burned his thumb on the adjustment knob of Judy’s brakes.

The plus side to the hairy descent was the spectacular views along the way – truly beautiful! After the descent, we reached a long, slightly downhill stretch of sandy wash. This was a flash flood zone so we wanted to move through as quickly as possible. The sandy section was kind of fun as your bike slipped and slid around beneath you. Judy cruised through the section like a pro!

Soon we reached the main road that leads into the very small town of Gateway. Fortunately, they had a cafe where we stopped to get some cold drinks and some real food. Most of us got burgers (which were delicious!), Brian got a turkey sandwich, and Judy got some hash browns and fruit.

Using some tools borrowed from the cafe, Rob, Brian, and Ryan disassembled Rob’s bike to see if they could identify the problem. Unfortunately, there was nothing obviously wrong and they didn’t have the right tools to troubleshoot further. The cafe informed us that there was a bike shop just a ways further down the road so we decided to head there to see if they could help.

Based on what we had seen of Gateway, we weren’t really hopeful that the bike shop could help. We were afraid that the “bike shop” would be nothing more than a gift shop that sold inner tubes. When we reached the bike shop, we were very pleasantly surprised to find that it was indeed a real bike shop. In fact, it was part of a newly built shopping center.

The guy (Lucas?) and girl at the bike shop were very friendly and eager to help us out. We found out that the shopping center was owned by the same person who owns Team Discovery, the cycling team that just helped Lance Armstrong win his 7th Tour de France. A bike shop at this location is a perfect place to catch riders of the SJHS. The shop sells lots of brake pads, a fact that surprised us very little considering the steep descent into Gateway that we just experienced.

The shopping center also had rooms available and apparently many SJHS riders end up staying in one of these rooms rather than the hut. Soft pansies! In addition to catching riders of the SJHS, the intent was to expand the town to become more of a travel destination. One of the concepts they’re thinking about is to combine mountain biking and water rafting into some type of package outing. Seems like it has potential.

With the help of the bike shop and their tools, we were able to find the problem with Rob’s bike. Somehow, a piece of debris had found its way into Rob’s bottom bracket and lodged itself underneath a label that was attached to the BB. After this was removed, the clicking sound went away and everything seemed to return to normal. Just to be safe, however, we had the bike shop order an extra bottom bracket (BB ES50). It turned out that the husband of the girl at the bike shop was in Durango, CO and was returning that evening. He would be able to pick up the right part and then they could drop it off at our hut that evening.

It was quite a relief to have Rob’s bike fixed because it would have been a real bummer had he not been able to finish the ride. We stopped by the grocery store to get some cold drinks and ice cream (mmmmm…..), and then hung out for a bit in the shade in front of the grocery store. There was, after all, no rush to get to the hut. It was nice relaxing in the shade waiting for the sun to go down a bit and for things to get a bit cooler.

We rode back up the road to the turnoff for the hut. The directions warned of potential flat tires due to “goat-heads”. Nobody knew what a goat-head so we approached cautiously. Goat-heads or not, we didn’t see anything on the trail that might puncture our tires.

Conditions had been pretty dusty that day and since we knew that we had the most grueling day of climbing the next day, it was probably a good idea to have another bike lube fest. Later that evening, the gang from the bike shop showed up with Rob’s bottom bracket as well as Piper the Explorer dog, a springer spaniel who bounded all over the place in an endless pursuit of sniffing. Although they had actually picked up the wrong bottom bracket part, it looked like it would still work if required. Hopefully, we wouldn’t have to use it.

Tomorrow would be the most grueling day as we’d be climbing over 4,000 feet in a single day. Since it was much hotter at these lower elevations, we decided to try to get as early a start as possible. We aimed to be on the trail as soon as there was light.

Cumulative miles: 145.61
Daily miles: 34.1
Mechanicals: Rob’s bottom bracket starting clicking.
Casualties: Brian crash while trying to save water bottle case.

San Juan Huts, Day 6 Dave set his alarm for 4:45 AM. When it went off, Dave woke up, turned off the alarm, looked around and saw that nobody was getting up, and then reset it for 5:00 AM. When it went off again at 5:00 AM, we started stirring and slowly started to get up.

It was still dark outside but by time time there was enough light to see, we were all packed up and ready to go. We hit the trail around 6:15 AM. Ryan and Brian had the trailers first as we started the ascent out of John Brown Canyon. Fortunately, the weather was nice and cool, and the canyon did a pretty good job of keeping the sun at bay for most of the morning.

Partway up, I took the trailer from Ryan. The weather was still nice and I was feeling pretty strong so I decided to try to go as far as possible without stopping to rest. The steepest climbs of the canyon were still to come so I certainly had a challenge ahead of me. I went surprisingly far, finding a steady pedal rhythm and just cranking up the hill. Judy wasn’t far behind me so it was looking like all our training was paying off!

After finally finishing our long and hard ascent, we continued along some rolling hills. Before too long, we were at the state line of Colorado and Utah – a major milestone! We rode on a ways further. I still had the trailer and decided that it was time to pass it on so I pulled over at the next suitable rest stop. When the rest of the group pulled up, the consensus was that everyone was pretty pooped, understandably so considering the amount of vertical feet we had climbed. The warm sun felt good and we were nearly ready to just plop down and take a nap in the middle of the road.

We took a longer rest than usual, basking in the warm sun, nibbling on some food, sipping on some drink, and enjoying the scenery. But alas, we had to move on before our muscles got too used to the rest. I transferred the trailer to Rob’s bike and we carried on.

We arrived at Hut #6 at around 12:30 PM. The hut was notable in that it was situated in an open space with no shade nearby. It was pretty warm inside the hut so we hung out in the limited shady area to one side of the hut. This was where the water jugs were stored so we fashioned the jugs into little seats.

It was kind of sad to know that this was our last hut and that our weeklong adventure was quickly coming to an end. We fell asleep with the knowledge that tomorrow, our last day, would likely be a fun one as we make our final 6,200 foot descent into Moab.

Cumulative miles: 167.44
Daily miles: 21.9
Mechanicals: None (Rob’s BB appeared to be A-OK)
Casualties: None

San Juan Huts, Day 7 Today was the final day of our trip and what an experience it has been! We started the day with some nice downhill and some beautiful views into Moab. Shortly after leaving the hut, we came into view of the Fisher Towers which Ryan and Kelly had climbed a few years back. A bit further down the road, we were treated to a nice view of the unique-looking Castleton Tower.

We decided to take a little detour out to an outlook to see if we could get a better view. Although the view wasn’t much, we did get to see genuine dino footprints. Almost right after the lookout, the road turned to pavement and an interesting discussion ensued. Two falling objects should fall at the same rate, regardless of mass. So why is it that the heavier you are, the faster you seem to coast downhill? This sure seems to be the case among the different riders of our group as well as when each of us took the trailers. While everyone felt that mass played a role in downhill coasting speed, we couldn’t think of the justification. mgh=1/2mv^2 would seem to apply, but the mass (“m”) cancels out, as would be theoretically expected. Was it just a psychological illusion that heavier riders coast faster? Was it just rolling resistance factors at play that hold Judy back from coasting faster? We didn’t want to ponder too hard since we were, after all, on vacation. However, the question still remains so if you know why, post your answer below!

What followed was a really long descent on pavement, and it was a blast. I finally started to get the feel for leaning into the turn and pushing on the outside pedal – it really helps in maintaining control through turns at speed. Ryan and I had some fun experiments in which Ryan would catch up so that we were coasting at the same speed. If I went into a tuck, I would start to pull away from Ryan. If he then went into a tuck, he’d catch back up. Going into a tuck doesn’t make you feel like you’re going any faster (at least not for me), and even though you know that a tuck should increase your speed, it was cool to see the effect first-hand.

The group gathered again at the bottom of the hill and Judy took another spill because she couldn’t unclip. Like the last time she fell, she was with the trailer which makes sense since there is more weight wanting to tip over. It was only a minor fall and we were soon on the move again. To our dismay, we had some fairly steep climbing ahead of us. The good thing was that it was on pavement.

I set up a tow system with Judy to give her a little assistance. Soon we passed the trailhead sign for the Kokapelli Trail. We opted to stay on the road because we didn’t know how technical the Kokapelli Trail was; with the trailers in tow, we really didn’t want to have to do any technical riding.

So we continued on the main road. It looked like our climb was finally over and we’d get to go downhill. Unfortunately, the section ahead was the world’s lamest downhill. It sure looked like it was downhill, but there was way too much pedaling involved. Later, a bit further down the road, we could look back and see that it was just an optical illusion; the section that we thought was downhill was actually pretty flat.

A bit further ahead we reached the start of a genuine downhill. We coasted down for a while and soon hit the turnoff for Sand Flats Road, not exactly the best named road if you’re on a mountain bike.

We rode by some nice scenery on Sand Flats Road, including a section with a bunch of sunflowers along the sides of the road. Soon, we came upon the red and orange rocks and unique sandstone formations that Moab is known for. It was much hotter, but still bearable, and the riding was much more fun than the dirt roads we’d been riding. So fun in fact that Brian blew out his tire on one of the rockier descents. It was probably a pinch flat, but he couldn’t tell for sure as his inner tube was basically a big glob of Slime.

The landscape soon opened up and we were greeted with expansive views of red rock canyons and the valley below. Most everyone liked this section because we could just coast along while enjoying the awesome views. We came upon the renowned Porcupine Rim trail which would have been a blast to ride, but not with the trailers. Oh well, that will have to be for a future trip.

We continued our descent, the next major landmark being the famous Slickrock Trail. When we reached the parking lot for the Slickrock Trail, a quick poll was taken to see if anyone wanted to ride the 3-mile Practice Loop. It was mainly for Rob and Dave because the rest of us had already ridden it before. Rob declined (we were all kind of tired and it was pretty hot by now), but Dave decided to do a quick toot around the very beginning part.

It wasn’t much further before we arrived at the Apache Motel. We got in at 2:36 PM and the final reading on my odometer was 205.21 miles. Wow, what a ride!

We unpacked and then headed back to our motel room where we watched Kerri Walsh and Misty May squeak out a victory against Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder (women’s AVP beach volleyball for those who don’t know) while taking turns with the shower. We decided to hit Buck’s Grillhouse for dinner. Ryan, Judy, and I had been there before and it was pretty good. The restaurant was supposed to open at 5:00 which would work out perfectly after we returned the B.O.B. to Poison Spider.

Upon arriving at Buck’s Grillhouse, we found out that they don’t actually open until 5:30. We didn’t want to wait so we went to the Sunset Grill instead. Ryan, Judy, and I had gone to the Sunset Grill during our previous trip to Moab, and they were memorable because of the delicious smoked salmon appetizer. It’s also pretty neat because the restaurant is situated at the top of big hill with a nice view down into Moab.

After riding 205 miles and eating “hut food” for the last week, our appetites were primed for some real food. Everybody with the exception of Judy got the prime rib and it was delicious! As an added reward, I got the chocolate mousse cake (delectable!) and Dave got a fruit cobbler.

Brian and Rob were set to drive back that night because Rob had to make a 4:00 AM flight to Finland on Monday (blech!). They took off while the rest of us headed back to the motel to sleep before heading back home the next morning.

All in all, this was an awesome trip and a fantastic group to do it with. Everyone had a great time we all have a bunch of wonderful memories that won’t soon be forgotten. Of course, if you do forget, well, that’s what these trip reports and the gazillion pictures are for. ;-)

Cumulative miles: 205.21
Daily miles: 37.7
Mechanicals: Brian flat tire
Casualties: Judy fall while unclipping

Original comments on post:

Nice post. Great pictures too. My friends and I are planning on doing this trip in August. We now have a good idea of what to expect. Thanks for sharing.
Left by Bob on February 23rd, 2006

Ditto what the last guy said. I’m going with a group in June. Looks like you guys had a good time. Thanks for putting this up.
Left by Larry on May 24th, 2006