Sideways

Ever since I put the trials tire on my bike I have been dying to get back up to Left Hand Canyon and try this gnarly trail that Wayne took me on last year. We had to push and pull our bikes up over several sections. But now I have a new bike with longer wheelbase, better tires, and more power. Since everyone seems to have a job or a broken bike, I figured I would very carefully try doing the trail by myself.

A few shots of the trail.

The trail goes to the right, with lots of exposure pretty much the whole way.

Since this trail starts and ends at the top with the middle the low point, my approach was to work my way down the way that we went out, and each time I came to an area that we struggled with, I would turn around and try it. That way, if it was too much I would only have to deal with one of the problem areas, not all of them. This approach worked pretty well. I ended up making it past all the obstacles and making it to the bottom of the trail. Then I went up the way that we came in, and to my amazement, it was easier than the way that we went last year. After reaching the top on the other side, I went back down and up the way that I had come from. Me and Wayne had 3 areas that we really struggled with, this time the first area was much simpler, but still took some pushing. No problem with the second area. The third area, well...
(notice the little piece of white fluff below the bike, that is some of the foam from the seat where I ripped it open on the fall.)

Same result as last year.

So, lots of pushing and finally made it past. Only to struggle with one that I had made just fine earlier. This one was pretty tricky, it was so far to the side of the trail I could barely get it back onto its wheels without losing it down the hill.

The line was in the notch to the right. I had to lower it off that big rock and down to the left.
Once I had it back on stable ground, I started it and stalled it and fell over again to the downhill side. I was so tired by this point I could barely see straight. But, I finally made it back out.