As you have seen from previous posts, the Sierra Nevada’s are still covered in snow, preventing any trail riding on these mountains whatsoever. Fortunately for us Nevadans, there are over 300 other mountain ranges to pick from. Sunday’s adventure began 20 miles east of Carson City in the mostly snowless Flowery Range, on Jeff P’s Iron Mountain Singletrack.
When we pulled up to the trailhead, I was shocked at the great turnout we had! We had twelve riders show up, and probably half of them I’ve never met before. After exchanging pleasantries, Pecos Potter (aka Jeff P) announced that it was time to ride. We headed north up into the mountains along a gently graded double track, the perfect warm-up for the singletrack to come.
Like other Jeff P built singletrack, you pretty much need to be shown where they’re at. He does a good job of concealing the entrances, as proven by the little use this trail has seen. Although primitive, the singletrack was smooth, and easy to ride. The dirt is still drying out, so the ground was a little soft. There was even a little bit of snow on some of the less sunny exposures. I was glad to have a full range of gears for the day.
The trail was neither fast nor slow. There were a few grinder climbs and a few fast downhills, but for the most part, the terrain was rolling. This kept the group together and made for a good social ride.
There were only a couple of casualties on the trail that I heard of. I heard talk of Jeff P endoing on a gully crossing, and one of the guys had a flat tire after we skimmed through a couple of spiny desert peach plants. But overall, we all returned back to the cars with nothing more than tired legs.
Near the top of one memorable switchback climb, we had to port the bikes across the side of a snowy hillside. I love little challenges like this, as I think they add to the adventure of the ride.
The scenery of the day had me constantly thinking of old western movies. We saw many wild horses throughout the day too, but they kept an eye on us and kept a safe distance. You could almost hear an old west cowboy theme playing as we rode along the barren landscape.
I think all the riders would agree that we had a very successful day, both in riding and making new friends. I was glad to see the Cycling Carson City blog act as a tool for getting this many riders together, and I imagine that we’ll see even more riders on our next outing. For those of you who missed out, I wouldn’t be surprised if we did the Iron Mountain Singletrack again real soon.
Here’s a little video that sums up how the day felt to me.
We had three cameras going on the ride, and got a lot of great pictures. Browse the rest of these great pictures over on Flickr by clicking HERE.
