Riding Mount Antero

#followcamfriday continuing the high-elevation social distancing initiative with James Weingarten. Type 2 fun. 

I think I may have spent too much time in Sedona this spring. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, but this may explain my recent desire to spend extended amounts of time in the alpine. It was just getting hot when I left Sedona, 5 weeks ago. Now I find myself wrapped in down, standing on the top of some desolate peak. Change of scenery. 

Antero stands at 14,276ft above the ocean. The summit is strangely flat and featureless. Devoid of rocks and any sign of life, aside from the other three people that were up there on this day. All three were drinking summit beers and smoking weed. Colorado things. I guess I was the asshole flying my drone around, so.... We all have our vices. 

As a mountain biker, the summit of Antero is a novelty. It's not actually rideable from the top and not really worth carrying bikes to the top just to get a summit photo for Instagram. That is not what it is about for me. I just wanted to go up there, bike or no bike. The top 600ft is a pile of scree. It's hard to walk. It should also be noted that the first thousand feet of the descent are down a 4WD road. An amazingly sketchy and fun road, but yes, a dirt road. Sometimes you just go to the top for the fun of it, riding 6K of perfect singletrack back to the car is rarely the reality. Harden up. 

The whole reason to do this ride is for the Little Browns Creek descent. This gem of a 3,200ft dh is absolutely world-class. To sum things up, picture a sandbox with toaster ovens and microwaves mixed in. This is not a flow trail. Quite the opposite actually. It's hard. I fell down. So did James. But you know what.... I wouldn't have it any other way. I am not looking for the easy, feel-good route. I want to suffer and get punched in the face. Somehow, this means more to me at the end of the day. 

This is Type 2 fun. Let me summarize. Type 1 fun is basically fun to do, fun to remember, not necessarily challenging or hard. Flow trail is type 1 fun. Meh. Type 2 fun is not necessarily fun in the moment, but seems fun when reminiscing. This is my zone. Things are hard. You feel like you suck, but you overcome adversity. Type 2 builds skill and character, as much as it actually sucks in the moment. Type 3 fun is not fun, ever. It is just a survivable endeavor that will not be repeated. 

To be clear, this is not everyone's cup of tea. James and I both exploded and left blood on the trail. Skin heals, chicks dig scars, bla bla bla. Neither of us had ever laid eyes on any of these trails and after spending 7 hours on the mountain, this bowling-ball strewn descent was amazingly abusive. Thank you baby heads. Much love for the jank. Much love. If I ever see someone moving rocks off of a trail, we are going to have an issue. 

Cliche tourist waterfall photo. We came upon this in the first hour. Little did we know how much suffering was to come. There is just something attractive about the unknown to me. Not knowing the exact route, how much was rideable, how much pushing, how many baby heads would throw us on the ground. It is basically a mental game to be okay with the unknown. I suppose this is why I enjoy "blind" racing so much. You only get one "first run", so you had better make the most of it. 

Natural alpine singletrack is where it's at. Tools and machines can't create the natural jank that exists in these mountain environments. These are hiking trails. Horse trails. Many years of weather and erosion have shaped these masterpieces. No berms, no manicured sidewalks, just natural jank. We are very fortunate to experience these places, devoid of sanitization. This is hard. This is why I am still interested in riding bikes after all of these years. Type 2 trails. 

So, if you are up for an adventure, give Antero a rip. It will be hard, bring snacks and a down coat. We climbed Wagon trail to Browns Creek Falls to start. We left our bikes 600ft below the summit, walked up there, and back down. Little Browns Creek Trail is hard to find, but begins in the saddle below the peak, and descends one valley north of the one we climbed. Browns is one of the better descents in the state. no question. This intersects the CT and then back down Wagon Trail to where we began. 5,700ft, 7.5 hours, 1 million baby-heads, 2 crashes, no flat tires. Great success. Good luck fuckers.