The Yawp Company in Gunnison

Faceplanting, Bonking, and Getting Ill with the Best

Photo: Ian Murphy

Some days go according to plan and some do not--if you're more than three days old you already know this. However, so many mountain bike rides go so dreamily well, it can be a surprise when small troubles compound and leave one a bit unprepared for even a short ride.

The Yawp Company went to Gunnison in May, and a few things did not go according to plan. In fact, we'd planned to go to Durango but the trails we wanted to ride were still snowy. So we went to Salida and Gunnison, where we wrecked, bonked, and got ill (not in the urban dictionary way). Also, I forgot to take photographs, so nearly everything you see below is the work of other photographers to whom--for the use of their material--I am grateful.

We stopped en route to say hello to some friends at Oveja Negra Threadworks and to ride a few trails in Salida's Arkansas Hills trail system. (If you have yet to make your way down to Cañon City, the trails there are quite similar to the 'S Mountain' trails in that they have similar sandy soils, similar pointy rocks, and run through similar geography. One thing Salida has that Cañon City does not is a jeep road that has sinister plans for you. You have to ride it to access some of the S Mountain trails.) 

Photo: Steve Kirshner

Photo: Steve Kirshner

Photo: Melissa Hession

We left the jeep road and descended Sand Dune. There is, toward the bottom, a short sandy section that I suppose could be considered a dune in the way a dalmatian in a red helmet could be considered a firefighter. Most of the trail, however, is moderately rocky and technical. The area is surely a habitat for rattlesnakes that I suppose could be considered dangerous in the way that a bear with sharks for arms might be considered dangerous. We didn't see any (snakes or bearsharks), but we were in mild danger from bad puns such as 'Been There, Dune That,' 'Get 'er Dune,' and many more that I shan't recount here (you're welcome). 

Rebecca smooched a rock garden but came through it smiling. (Kneepads, we later found out, would've been a huge help here, as by Sunday one of her knees was too swollen to ride.)

We finished our ride on Burnpile. It's been redone fairly recently, and one can see why some riders spend their entire day doing laps on this trail. Jumps, berms, jumps into berms--you'll blow your grin out trying to ride it more than three times.

We headed on to our campsite near Gunnison, and it was as ugly as they come:

Photo: Steve Kirshner

On Saturday we went to Hartman Rocks to stand around and look good.

Photo: Ian Murphy

Can you count seven Surly Bikes in this photo? No, you can't, but they are there.  Photo: Melissa Hession

This is Dan and Cullen, making our hearts go on (and on and on):

Photo: Steve Kirshner

If you haven't ridden Hartman Rocks, it is the Almond Joy to Buffalo Creek's Mounds. It is smooth and flowy but also relentlessly rocky and technical. A full day of riding there can feel similar to The Ball Thing in I Heart Huckabees where Albert and Tommy hit themselves in the face with a giant rubber ball until the pain makes them numb. 

In a place like this, it's easy to wear yourself out in a hurry. One of us bonked and then felt pretty bad about it. Feeling bad about bonking is unnecessary, but as Tommy and Albert say, there's no escaping human drama. 

Anyone who rides both trail bikes and road bikes knows that the former can exert you in ways that the latter do not. Technical features on singletrack require that you use fast-twitch muscles and small bursts of energy, and rocky terrain quickly wears you out. Many folks liken this to having a book of matches at the beginning of a ride, and each of these short efforts burns one match. Once you're out, it becomes very difficult to continue the ride. For those who are new to the sport and haven't built up strength in those fast-twitch muscles, that matchbook gets empty in a hurry. However, life is complicated and you can't plan for every variable. Most riders sometimes bonk or have off-days. Everyone has pushed their bike back to the car. Water bladders can spring leaks and leave you dehydrated. Squirrels can run off with your snacks. The food you thought you put in your bag might still be on the counter at home. It happens to everyone, but when you are new to this very difficult and demanding sport, it's easy to feel like no one else is bonking and you are the only person who's ever bonked and you're lame and you mom has always hated you and people can barely tolerate your taste in music and you have ugly knees (the ugliest).

I've given up mountain biking more times that I can count in moments like these, and I've cried while eating some strawberry gummies that a passing stranger was kind enough to give to me. It happens and it's no cause for shame. If you have a good bonking story and feel like leaving it in the comments section, that'd be rad. 

Photo: Ryan Klucker

Photo: Ryan Klucker

Photo: Ryan Klucker

Mostly, though, we rode bikes over rocks and had a great day. Then we drank some great Clintonian Pale Ale that Call to Arms kindly sent along with us and had a campfire. Hard to beat.

Photo: Cullen Mahaffey

Our band was much diminished on Sunday due to sickness, injury, and prior commitments. A few hearty folks returned to Salida for one final Cottonwood descent. It was probably awful, and things likely went wrong, and small trouble doubtlessly compounded. Nobody really seemed to mind.

Photo: Ian Murphyf

The Trucker Slush Fund is the Best Idea Ever

If you've found your way onto this blog, you probably like bike stuff. If you like bike stuff, there's a good chance that you sometimes break your bike stuff. One way or another, you've likely found yourself thinking either, "I wish I could afford those $500 hypercolor grips that launch fireworks at cars that pass too close," or "I wonder if I can glue this broken crank arm back together until payday." Well, our friend Tiffany came up with an idea that basically solves both of these problems.

The Trucker Slush Fund!

Tiffany has been riding a Surly Long Haul Trucker to work for awhile now, and every day she keeps track of her mileage. For each mile she pays herself twenty-five cents. At the end of the week, she deposits the appropriate number of quarters into a savings account, and though twenty-five cents a mile doesn't seem like much, there's always plenty of money in the account to cover repairs. Over the course of one year, Tiffany rode 10,000 miles and she had enough money to buy herself a new ECR for winter commuting.

The system is great for both budgeting for repairs and for making sure that upgrades are justified. Brilliant.

Obviously how you keep track of your mileage is up to you. Because I don't want anyone to take away my Ludite Card (which is actually too heavy for anyone to take away because it is chiseled into stone), I use maps and calculate mileage and write it down in a dumb little book with a quill pen.

You are free to use all sorts of GPS data and spreadsheets. You could track your earnings for each bike you own. You could charge/award yourself for all sorts of activities.

However you do it, you'll be more motivated to ride your bike (which you already like doing, even when you forget you like doing it), and you'll have every reason to keep your bikes in good repair. It's a win!

Surly Trail Sale (Insert Your Preferred "Steel" Pun Here)

Surly is putting four exquisitely rad trail models on sale. If you feel like reading about them, click on the links below. If you don't feel like reading about them, just absorb the prices below without going into shock.

Karate Monkey Ops  $1382  (Originally $1749)

Krampus (and Krampus Ops)  $1342 ($1453)  (Originally $1699 and $1849)

Ice Cream Truck  $1775  (Originally $2700)

Instigator 2.0  $1312  (Originally $2900)

Yawp! Kits and Wool Jersey Pre-Order

As someone who often rides his bike in jeans, clogs, helicopter hats, and other assorted bits of clothing poorly-suited to the activity, I'm happy to announce that Yawp! is ordering some fancy clothing. We're getting both a Helix kit from Primal and a wool jersey from Soigneur. If you're interested in any of these items, you'll need to place your order by February 24th, 2016 at 6pm.

The Primal Helix kit is one of the most comfortable and durable that they make. If you like, you can read more about them on Primal's website. They are in the process of tweaking the design and adding some sponsor logos, and we'll post updated photos as they become available. In the end, though, the kit will look something like this:

Revisions for the bibs will be a little more involved, but this will give you the general idea:

If you don't know what size you are, there will be kits of every size for you to try on at Yawp! until February 19th. Also, to see some sizing information, click here.

If we reach a minimum of 10, we'll also be ordering women's kits! Yay! If we can hit a minimum of seven, we'll but the extra kits for the shop.

Cost of the jersey is $88. The bibs are $105. They hope to have them ready for us by the end of April.

We will also be ordering a wool jersey from Soigneur. They will look something like this:

    Cost of the wool jersey is $150 and they should be ready for us in mid-April. The sizing info for these is as follows:

    ▪    XS – < 34.6 inches

    ▪    S   –  34.6 - 36.6 inches

    ▪    M–  37 - 39 inches

    ▪    L – 39.4 - 41.3 inches

    ▪    XL –  41.7 - 43.7 inches

    ▪    XXL – 44.1 - 46.1 inches

If you want any of this stuff, give us a call or stop by the shop to place an order. If you're happy with your cutoffs and tank tops, we can certainly understand.

Moab (and a Little Schmaltz)

The Yawp Company recently took a trip to Moab. Depending on traffic and the lead content of your foot, driving to Moab usually takes about 5-7 hours from Denver. This time, driving to Moab took 22 hours. At least it was pretty.

Missing a package? Here it is!

Thanks to an interstate closure, Rebecca and I were a day behind the others, and we missed what sounded like a great ride at Mag 7. We had our own short ride on Pipe Dream, near town. It runs along the side of a mesa and is extremely well-designed. You never gain more than twenty or thirty feet of elevation at a time, and the trail takes advantage of the hillside's best features. The front range could really benefit from a similar trail that would traverse the foothills instead of climbing straight up them. 

Style.

There's a no-dab challenge on this trail, which was kind of fun. It seemed fairly easy until I fell into a yucca bush on the flattest, smoothest section of the entire trail. I later dabbed on this leafy path through town:

On Sunday, we drove out to Amasa Back in order to ride Captain Ahab and harpoon the white whale.

This here is a slideshow of Rebecca descending a section of pretty nasty jeep road:

Cullen took a bunch of great photos, too. Some of them you can see below and others you can see in this here video:

Just in case you missed this incredible group photo.

Ahhhhhh! Moab!    Photo: Cullen

We haven't any photographs of the excellent trail called Captain Ahab. If you were to believe one particular bold-faced lying member of the Yawp Company, Captain Ahab begins with seven punchy climbs and then descends all the way to the end of the trail. However, the truth of the matter is that there is one strenuous climb at the beginning of Captain Ahab, and then lots of descending punctuated by many punchy climbs. Because there are no pictures of that awesome trail, here's more of this:

Moab was our seventh trip this year and it marks the end of the Company season. Of course I have something obvious and sentimental to say about it.

When Yawp opened, we made building community a goal of ours. I was a little nervous about it--to an extent we don't get to have a say in the community that forms around the shop. As a hermetic introvert, I was especially nervous about the Company and spending precious weekends away from the shop with people I didn't know very well.

The folks who've joined us on these trips have really been a joy to spend time with. Thank you to every one of you who rode with us, and who hung out with us but didn't ride. Thank you for sharing without being asked, for playing well with others, for showing kindness to strangers, for allowing space for contrasting opinions, for riding at the speed of a group, and for never complaining about anything (except Itch and Scratch in Eagle, which more people should complain about). It's been a pleasure getting to know all of you, and next year's trips are the high points on my horizon.

Video of the Week