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Grand Loop started Friday June 1 at 6:00PM in Grand Junction. Seven riders met at the Tabeguache trailhead (lunch loops). Ahead of us was 340mi of very difficult riding. A twenty mile ‘neutral’ ride over to Loma began our adventure. We then regrouped, and reorganized at the Kokopelli trailhead. ‘Official’ start went off at 7:45PM. This was great, as we’d have daylight to ride the singletrack sections. Dave Harris, Chris Plesko, and Stefan Griebel took off fast. I could care less. I was actually hoping to ride alone and not have my pace influenced by anyone else. ‘Come to ride and not race’ was the advice I intended to follow. I got to the hike a bike out of Salt creek by dark, and tentatively switched on my lights. I was using a slightly different lighting setup than for the KTR a few weeks earlier. I’ve used this light before, and had mixed results. Tonight would be a good test, I guess. Everything worked well. There was a full moon, and nice conditions. I made it to Dewey Bridge before daylight, and a rider was waiting to take my picture. It wasn’t one of the racers, but Lynda Wallenfels. She was out with a raft trip, and had come to watch us ride through. I sat down to have a big breakfast, and she told me that Stefan and Chris were just ahead. Dave was way ahead.

I headed up the Entrada Bluffs road. Surprisingly, I felt great here. Usually, I hate it. I caught up to Chris and Stefan at Hideout, but stopped to filter lots of water. I had a hard time at this spot two weeks earlier (KTR), but today was fine. By the top of the climb, and Fisher Creek, I had caught Stefan and Chris again. Stefan looked to be more comfortable, and headed out before us. Chris and I were feeling a lack of food and energy and hung out a little longer. I was able to fall asleep for an hour (not entirely intentional), while Chris struck out for Bedrock.. Ahead, I had seen the route as far as Buckeye Reservoir, but then would be heading into the unknown. I was carrying good maps, and descriptions, but routefinding difficulties are one of the main challenges of this ride.

Sure enough, I immediately rode off route. Ironically it was the well signed trail which was my undoing. The Paradox trail has actually been rerouted. The ’07 GL would be following the ‘old’ route into the Paradox Valley. However, I was following the nice new signs in a different direction. Stefan was actually intending to ride this route. I considered just following it too, but I had no maps, or idea where it would take me, and it was about to get dark. Reluctantly, I retraced my steps, and found the way to Paradox and the Bedrock store. I missed the store being open, but found Chris on the porch. He was still having trouble eating. I called Susan and Scott Morris (last year’s winner who was keeping track of us riders), sat down and tried to eat as much as I could. I had now been riding for over twenty four hours. Nothing seemed appetizing, and even the water from the store’s hose was not that cold. I got a little food down, and pulled out my bivy gear to sleep right there on the porch. I slept an hour longer than intended, but was rolling by 3:30AM. Chris had reluctantly decided to call it done, so I was on my own again. The next few hours had some easier riding, so I was able to get myself back together a bit. I stopped at Tabeguache creek to have breakfast and fill up on water in much better spirits. Just as Dave told me, the second day felt much better than I’d have guessed. Getting ready to go, Stefan rolled up. Wow, he had made good time across the new reroute. I had heard it was a much tougher option. Unlike the first day, I was now excited for riding company. The next stretch of the trail contained some tough routefinding, and a lot of hike a bike. Luckily, Dave had ridden through here, and left his tracks to point the way. It looked like he had turned around a few times, maybe dropping something. We hoped it was not his GPS!

Up, up, up we went, eventually stopping for lunch on Pinto mesa. Stefan pulled out an instant pasta salad as I munched an energy bar. Hmmm. Further on, Stefan stopped to rest and stretch a bit. I rode ahead, hoping to get onto the Uncompahgre Plateau and get through as much of the notorius Roubideau section before dark as I could. There was some nice singletrack to greet me here. A welcome change from the crappy hike a bikes of the Paradox. I just wanted to be done with it though. Time, and darkness were now a major concern. I got onto the Roubideau with a couple of hours of light left, and found the going a little easier than I expected. I was underestimating the character of this section however. Up, down, up, down, the trail here simply crosses drainage after drainage as they grow into big canyons. The mesas in between get bigger too, and there are lots of 4×4 roads up there to add confusion. By the time it got dark, it was becoming obvious I was in over my head. Most of the meadows I was crossing were very grassy, and I would have to look for the most likely option going out the other side. If I was lucky, I’d see one of Dave’s tracks, or a Tabeguache sign. Now in the dark, I not only had lost my ‘clues’, I couldn’t even pick out the options leaving the meadow. Nervously, I started to realize I might not even be on the right trail at that moment. Reluctantly, I started to backtrack, hoping for a Tabeguache sign. Finally in a meadow, I could identify on my map, I bedded down. I thought of Stefan, who had no sleeping bag, and was sleeping early to avoid the cold. Good idea. I was sharing part of that strategy… so a full overnight was not the most appealing option. I had now been riding over fifty hours. It was a really, really cold night. Especially bothersome as I was waiting for first light, and knew I’d be there until 5:00AM at the earliest. A lot of shivering, and not much sleep got me to morning. Lo and behold, Stefan’s tracks were going right by my bike. He had passed me in the night. Damn engineers and their special lights! Of course, fancy lights or not, Stefan has ridden here before, and knows the way. At least those tracks helped me get through one or two unlikely turns ahead. Mostly though, the trail became much easier to follow from here out. Maybe an evening of panic just adjusted my perception of that.

One disadvantage of my bivy spot was a lack of water. I had been very stressed about being lost and riding off course in the dark. Honestly, I was also stressing about all the time I was losing. I should have been more focused, and realized that water was a much more basic need than any of that nonsense. There was water all around, and I was full and drinking soon enough. It is just hard to catch yourself up to where you should be during the third day of a ride like this. I could be haunted by this later. Through the morning, the riding was nice. A lot of well graded dirt roads, the climbing was not too steep, and the scenery was stunning. By early afternoon, I had started to descend off of the Plateau, and was calculating a sub three day time. Dominguez creek was a welcome sight, and I took full advantage of it. My spirits were sky high here.

Unfortunately, the last stretch of the Tabeguache was waiting for me with some surprises. I started the nine mile, ‘no mas’ climb planning to just ride within myself. Maybe three days would be tough, but I might still hit three days two hours (previous record). The trail gods must have been doubled over laughing at my sorry, naïve self. It’s safe to say the next several hours were some of my hardest on a bike. I couldn’t make it up any climbs, Barely down any of the descents either. The last twenty two miles took me six hours! I couldn’t eat or drink, or lose the nasty taste in my mouth. Horrible. Just after midnight, I rolled off the trail, and headed straight for the nearest motel. Luckily, the City Market across the street was open 24hrs.

All in all, I’m very pleased with my ride. I came third of the three finishers. Three days, four hours. Dave finished first in two days, nineteen hours! The placing is only a small part of the story for me. In retrospect, I’m pleased that I was able to deal with my night out on the Tabeguache. Also, that for the most part I kept in focus and had the food and water under control. I feel like a lot of things worked out really well. I’m not really worried about whether I could have gone faster because I know I could have done many more things to DNF myself, or use even more time to finish.

For those interested, here’s a look at some of what I brought:

Bike: Cannondale Rush
Pack:: Opsprey Talon 22
Bike bags: Jandd handlebar and saddle bags
Sleep system: AMK emergency bivy
Sleep pad: windshield sunscreen ‘pad’
Water treatment: MSR filter, and chlorine tablets
Max Water Cap.: 175oz.
Light: Princeton Tec headlamp 3W
Food: Various, 15000cal. to start
Raingear: GoLite ultralight top and bottom
Clothes: 2xPSB Sugoi shorts, 3xsocks, LS top,
SS trail shirt, knee warmers, warm hat & gloves