[The Toninator]

First we got on the road for a LONG drive. Stopped over night in Lubbock then early out the door through New Mexico and into Colorado. We passed by Fort Sumner so we had to make a quick stop over at William Bonny’s gravesite.

the drive also included miles and miles and miles of this

Ok it took forever to get to Durango but finally we made it and started to ride. We were a little tired from the long trip so we decided to do a short ‘easy’ ride to warm up our legs Sunday morning. This is from the Animus city trail. It went straight up for like ever and we were VERY high up in the mountains, remember I’m from sea level and this ride started out at 6500 feet
The up was brutal but manageable, after some rest stops for the group. The down was fast and furious!

so after being completely and totally spanked we went back to the house took a nap, ate lunch and decided to try another ‘easy’ ride. This one wasn’t as bad as the first. The telegraph trail was way more fun as a first day easy ride and we came back to it a few times throughout the week.

is this a telegraph pole or a foreboding cross of death?

 

[The Toninator]

So after a long day of riding we retired to the local pub ate, drank and be’d merry. Then we all passed completely out not a word to be heard in the hizzous after 10pm.
We got up early and shuttled up to Hermosa Creek. We had some friends who had been there the week before and told us to do it as an out and back be we opted for the shuttle out and the ride back to town.
This trail was AWESOME!!! I only almost died twice as I was in the lead on the down hills. Fun fun fun. This one rates 2nd to Kennebeck pass. Unfortunately my crappy $50 camera from Fry’s didn’t get any good pictures of this trial.

on the way back to town we had the mtber Barney train. I did however record my fastest speed on my mtb coming back down to town at 42mph.

after that ride we had another light day of riding to prepare for the biggest ride of the trip KENNEBECK PASS!! A few of the guys from the group decided to do the ride as a round trip from Durango. It’s the same route the rest of us did but they added a lot of road climbing, not interested.
We drove up to within 5 miles of the pass and dropped in there. That was enough for me. The dirt road was steep and challenging but I liked it. Then we went over to the old mining house and looked around at almost 12,000 feet.
From there we went back down over the pass and through the scree field that was pretty cool. The downhill section after the scree was awesome!!! Fast flowie and fun. Then ½ way through a nice challenging climb comes, it’s not so bad. At the crest it’s 2500 down to town. That was the best part of the trip, totally worth all the climbing we did that day. Unfortunately my tires we wore out and I started flatting towards the end but still got a great ride in.

 

[The Toninator]

At the end of every hard ride we treat ourselves to Flurry’s and Sippin 40’s with our homies!

Awesome trip, sucks to be home, cant wait till the next trip.
t

 

[-dustin]

sweet, man.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Awesome trip report, man! I did trail maintenance on that Kennebeck Pass trail way back in '95. The pictures look familiar.

 

[motomike]

Man, I go to Durango every year. This year, we drove 33 hours from NC. NOT doing that again! Durango is probably one of my favorite places ever. And I must agree that the Telegraph trail is soooo much fun! When you got to the top, did you hike up to the top of that ridge, to the right?


Great pics too!

 

[The Toninator]

Man, I go to Durango every year. This year, we drove 33 hours from NC. NOT doing that again! Durango is probably one of my favorite places ever. And I must agree that the Telegraph trail is soooo much fun! When you got to the top, did you hike up to the top of that ridge, to the right?


Great pics too!

it was 17ish for us, that's a long trip.

No when we got to the top we took the right hand turn up the hiking trail and 2 guys tried to climb it. There was another group of our friends who were there the week before and bet us we couldnt do it.
the 2 guys made the whole thing but each person had to take a break about halfway though.
my camera sucks, this is the only halfway decent pic i got of nick and it was of him bombing back down that climb.

 

[splat]

Nice Tony , Very Nice !

 

[Heidi]

Glad you had fun Tony!

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

gapers!

 

[hooples3]

sounds like one heck of a time!!!!

 

[Skookum]

i woulda got a peanut buster parfait. Looks like good times.

 

[The Toninator]

humidiston sucks. i'm going to start monstering right away.

 

[SkaredShtles]

humidiston sucks. i'm going to start monstering right away.

I think Loco said it best.........

 

[Squeak]

Glad you had fun man! I love Durango too. I went to that little college there for 2 years

 

[Bike Shaman]

It looks like a great trip. I'm sure you couldn't wait to get back to Houston. Do you notice increased endurance? Must be the extra oxygen now that you're back to sea level.

 

[The Toninator]

It looks like a great trip. I'm sure you couldn't wait to get back to Houston. Do you notice increased endurance? Must be the extra oxygen now that you're back to sea level.

maybe if i was there to train instead of just hammering each day till we dropped. I was pretty tired when we got back and took a few days off.

 

[The Toninator]

nice little panarama