Big rides are fun?

by Clint Hosman on December 1st, 2008

For the first ride back on the 29er I decided to take the 288 road north out of Young and climb the Mogollon Rim. My Dad made his famous whole wheat bread the day I got up to their house. I lived off the stuff it seemed like; nothing quite gives me the carb boost for a big day on the bike like whole grains.

There is only about 10 miles of actually paved road in the town so the first 1000 feet of climbing on the day was done with the fork locked out.

Eventually the pavement went good bay and it was all dirt all the time.

To get to the actual top of the rim you have to climb a lesser rim below the Mogollon called the Naegelin Rim and so combining the two you have 25 miles of dirt road up and out before you hit highway 260.

Upon top you get to actully ride through some Aspens which is differnt for Arizona.

The plan was to make the climb, hit some single track, enjoy the view off the top of the rim and then come on back down to a forest service road marked 128 which would then loop me along the top of the Naegelin Rim looping me back west where I would intersect with a couple other forest service roads connecting me to a road called the â€œChamberlain Trailâ€ which would intern take me back south east to Young. Here is the top of the rim looking west.

This is looking south to Young.

I got back down the rim and to the 128 trail and then took it east on the top of the Naegelin Rim. A few miles in I came to a road block where the forest service had dead ended the 128 but people had promptly created a cut around to bypass the obstructions put up. No problem I thought I have directions on which roads out there to take so it wonâ€™t be an issue. As it turns out though it was a problem. When they took out the road they then went out there and took down all the other road numbers beyond it. I didnâ€™t really think about it until I was a good 10 miles out there and realized â€œI dot know where the hell I am.â€ By this time it was getting later and the sun sets early this time of year so light was becoming an issue or at least it would in a little while.

I followed my gut and ended burying myself way down at the bottom of a canyon that ended up being a dead end and on the north side of the rim, which as it turns out is the wrong side of the rim. Now I was pissed, while I knew how to get out it was just 10 miles of back tracking. So I started back.

As I climbed out of the canyon I saw that birds where beginning to roost in the trees for the night and the sun was actually almost down. There wasnâ€™t much I could do though in the way of moving faster because by this point I was pretty well blown out.

I got back after dark and found myself very thankful that the majority of the road home once on 288 was down hill. For the day I climbed 7000 feet, rode 80 miles and did it all in 7 hours. Not supper fast but today speed wasnâ€™t the point.

I found myself thankful to have the Ergon BD2 pack today though. I was able to fill that thing up with food and all the extras. Next time though I will take more then just written directions in it and add a map as well.

Nothing says good times though like a post ride cool down at the cowboy bar called “The Antlers” in town. Any establishment with a hitching post is good in my book.