Shuttle The Mice - July 2012

After getting up far too early to watch the spandex hordes ride pavement... er..., moving right along then, a group of us packed our kit and headed up to shuttle the Mice from the water reservoir down.

As usual, Rainbow / High Pony / Bronco / Southern Dancer / Mr.Ed and TsweetTsu offered us all of the excitement that we crave in riding and more.

Long-time MIA rider Andrew A. joined us, buggered up shoulder and all - for one of the most challenging, high-speed technical descents on the mountain. I think perhaps it was his way of getting moved up the medical waiting list...

Gary Floats One Over The Rock-Log on High Pony




Curt On The Rainbow Bridge (it looks much steeper in person)




Brent, Eying His Line On TsweetTsu




Kurt on the Green, Green Grass...




A.

Haven't done much with it, just some highlights.
Isn't finished uploading as of , but it will probably be up and running by the time you see this unless you are a PACA forum keener.

FYI, I never watched the compiled clip. I don't know if I forgot to cut anything or chopped too much.

(remember to set to HD in YouTube)

The line dropping into the Rainbow Bridge is hosed / snarfed / shot / sheiite / and a whole lot more. If anyone reading this is into a little alpine maintenance, then pack a foldable shovel and stop to do a few minutes of trail re-route onsite; it really friggin needs is!

Andrew

I wouldn't call it "hosed / snarfed / shot / sheiite / and a whole lot more"; more like "exciting / unknown / just-sharted-my-pants"
Kinda like some of the CODE4/Knuckleduster descents.

It would probably be just fine anywhere but just before a feature.

The catch is that its not really satisfactory anywhere outside of a gravel pit or a site that's about to be bulldozed and turned into a construction project.

Anything that is as F'd up as that run-in will only gets worse and worse. I remember when that structure first went in; that slope was already loose. The beauty ramp should never have been build there in the first place. Can you freekin' imagine what the run-in is going to look like in 10 years! Its only been a half dozen or so years to date, and look how trashed it is now - and it aint gonna' get better.

I always wonder WTF the people who build trails directly down steep, loose slopes are smoking!? In my almost never humble opinion; that's the fools way to build trail and its freekin' lazy. I believe that the problem, as exemplified in all three major Bog trails for instance, is that the builders started at the top, perhaps not fully flagging the entire trail beforehand, and just built as they went along.

After many weeks / months of working from the top down, they simply got lazy or were in a hurry to finish the trail and 'fudged it' in order to get the damned thing done. CODE4 / KnuckleDuster / Panchos all have (((really))) crappy, loose, out of control, erosion-fest sections near their bottoms. And those sections SUCK! What a waste of the ultimate drug; Vertical!

I'd say that the only solution would be to cut in an angled, properly bench-cut trail to the start of the Rainbow Ramp. That, or move the ramp a little to the left or right and then cut in a bench to it. There is quite a bit of room between the ramp lead-out and the bridge run in. One doesn't need speed to make that ramp, and you sure as hell don't want to carry too much as you break over the crest of it...

The cat who built that structure is no longer living in the valley (moved to Pemberton a couple of years ago) so we'll not get an argument out of him. I'm going to bring a couple of collapsible tools in via backpack through the Rainbow Trail or full-size tools into the area via the Greyback Mt. road on dirt-bike.

Speaking of which, if anyone ever wants to see the south entrance into the Mice, ending at the creek which one reaches beyond the Rainbow Bridge, just follow Greyback Mt. Rd. up and every time you hit a major split in the road, just keep left. you'll find yourself following a nice old two-track and pop out at the creek / top of High Pony. Its an excellent dirt-bike ride up; haven't tried it via mountain bike yet...

Andrew