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My first official lunch ride of winter. I recommend the Supes. Today it was the perfect temperature, low 80s. It could have been a bit cooler, but those days will be here soon enough. No one to dine with today, everyone else had to work through lunch…I guess I’m a lucky boy, I get to eat lunch whenever and wherever I want.

The converted Avalanche singlespeed was great fun riding today. I climbed up the Lost Goldmine MTB loop to the LG proper trail junction. Sat down on the rocks and ate some PowerBar Gel, GU Rocktane and Jelly Belly Sport Beans (from my Interbike stash), sipped on some watered down Gatorade (I really need a new sport drink), and soaked in the views.

The MTB loop of Lost Goldmine is a really fun trail. The primitive singletrack twists and turns in and out of washes like a roller coaster. It’s a little tough to keep speed up, but it is great for practicing cornering or testing out a new front tire. My Maxxis Crossmarks do an excellent job rolling, and a fine job cornering. I’d like to try some new tires out though. Maybe the WTB Wolverine. I’ve heard really good things about that tire for Arizona desert conditions.

A gorgeous morning on the Lost Goldmine MTB Loop.

If you like bugs for breakfast!

The first few weren’t bad, but the last few dozen or so were a bit much. The Monsoons last night pushed out the heat, but brought in humidity and bugs. They hit my body like a hail storm, a constant peppering throughout the trail. Sticking to my wet skin then squirming as they struggle to fly free.

Aside from the bug action, the trails were just a few hours away from perfect. Just a bit soft in only a few spots. Tomorrow will be bwetter.

After all the exploring out on Lost Goldmine I thought it was about time to see how the singlespeed rolled through the new loop. Rode From the LG trailhead on Cloudview clockwise to the new singletrack then followed it back to the TH. It was an 8 mile loop of nearly all singletrack (excepting a short jaunt of Jeep road connectors). This trail is ready for early morning summer riding, and would make a great night ride.

I was surprised to find a fresh singletrack connector from the Red Rock Vista trail (the elevation peak at mile 6) to the Apacheland singletrack.

Going clockwise was challenging. The 34:18 setup on the Avalanche was just a bit high for me. I had to walk just a couple of steep spots that I couldn’t grind through. I’ll have to give it a go again ccw. It feels like it would flow better that way.

I highly recommend a tubeless setup with a hefty portion of your sealant of choice. The avalanche is running on tubed Maxxis Crossmarks with nothing but a tire liner to deter flats. That’s just not enough out there. You need a tubeless setup or slime tubes. The trails are still primitive enough to be strewn with spines. I flatted both tires, slow leaks that needed a CO2 shot just to make it back to the TH.

See my MotionBased log for the gps tracks.

What a great weekend. The Pacific Northwest like conditions in late May in Arizona made for some great desert riding.

I spent Friday and Saturday exploring again out near the Superstition Mountains on Lost Goldmine Trail. After finding the awesome trail that shoots off Lost Goldmine last week, I headed back Friday afternoon to find the connector singletrack to Apacheland.

I not only found it, I also found a family of Javelina’s on the trail. At least seven or eight of them went a running and screaming as I approached. They were gone before I could even get the camera out.

Further down the trail I rode into Kevin, the local mountain biker who has been riding and maintaining these local horse trails for years. He took the time to show me around and led me to some sweet singletrack that heads north from Apacheland back to the LG Trailhead. Thanks Kevin!

On Saturday I waited out the rain in the morning then went back to explore some horse paths I spotted in Virtual Earth. It was an awesome day of exploration. The paths I found were pretty rough and primitive, but totally rideable. There were so many paths to explore I couldn’t ride them all…

The find of the day though was the desert tortoise on the trail. Unlike the Javelina’s he was in no hurry to get out of my way. I snapped a few shots.

I’ve mapped out a nice loop just south of Lost Goldmine. As I explore the area more, I’ll update the map. The land south of Lost Goldmine trail is State Trust land. A permit is required to ride in the are. So get your permit and get out and ride!

PDF Map Lost Goldmine Horse Trails: updated Aug 27, 2008

View at MotionBased

Today was too nice of a day to spend sitting in my office… It’s probably the last temperate day for an afternoon ride till October, so I burned out early to hit up Lost Goldmine. I’ve wanted to get there the past few weeks and look for those famed new trails I’ve heard so much about on the Arizona MTBR forum.

At the trailhead on Cloudview a thunderhead hit and the rain came down just as I was gearing up. It was short lived but made for a great start to the ride. It was a chilly 70 degrees.

I planned to ride in to the first jeep road crossing then head south to where I saw a few glimpses of possible trail heading west in Virtual Earth (Google Earth does not have the resolution for the area but Virtual Earth is giving me trouble importing my gpx, hence the GE photo) .

The first couple of miles of Lost Goldmine are as beautiful as ever. The spring flowers are all gone, but the singletrack is pristine. It’s so amazing to ride right next to the Superstition mountains. Once at the planned junction the adventure began…about a mile down the fast doubletrack I noticed a small cairn and a faint path on the ease side of the road. Sweet! I’d found the trail. I recognized it instantly as one of the “converted” horse trails (A couple of fresh tire tracks helped too). It wasn’t the trail network I’d Virtual Earthed, but it was the actual trail I was hoping to find.

I rode the new trail all the way up to the junction with Lost Goldmine (there’s a giant cairn marking the trail) then right back down to my starting point on the doubletrack. The new trail rocks. It’s rough, tough and littered with photo opp rock gardens, jumps and ledges. You totally can see the MTB work that the locals have done. There are cairns and white painted arrows marking the way.

There’s a section that is just like a roller coaster. It drops into a wash then does a 180 right back into the wash…repeats a couple more times. Down, up, turn, down, up, turn… that section should be named Gold Rush. These new trails are one more reason to Ride Lost Goldmine. I’m sure there is even more trail to ride out there. I hear you can ride to the old movie studio grounds. I didn’t make it that far, I lost the trail a quarter mile west of the doubletrack. Maybe it’s a work in progress??

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to the local riders who have crafted this new trail. Now let’s get out and break it in some more. It was so fun finding this trail and exploring it I’d hate to rob you of the adventure of finding it yourself!

Ride it clockwise off the LG trail. The trailhead is about 2.8 miles in and marked with a big cairn. You can’t miss it. If you still want the gps tracks, just email me.

I continued my exploration of the Lost Goldmine trail this morning by completing the West segment from the Broadway trailhead to the Cloudview west trailhead.

It was a fun segment of trail, but it’s not your fast and flowie singletrack that lets you soak in your surroundings. I only looked up to the Supe’s when I stopped for a breathers. All my concentration was on the gradual tech climb or the bouncy tech decent.

If you want to hone your slow moving balance tech skills, Lost Goldmine West is the place. A 29er would surely smooth this trail out enough to give it a higher grin factor.

Descriptive thoughts that came to mind while riding:

* Technical feast of rock gardens. Peas, potatoes, tomatoes, melons and cholla.
* A mini mini mini Milagrosa – half the tech, none of the decent and a quarter of the fun.
* The rocky part of the Long Loop at McDowell on steroids.
* The east leg of Lost Goldmine is solid gold. The west leg is solid rock.

I was short on time when I ended up at Cloudview so I headed off and explored a jeep road back up to the big wash. I made up a little time, but even the jeep road was techy in spots.

The west was very fun, just not an everyday kind of ride for me. I’ll be back to ride the west leg again as a connector from the East Leg to Jacob’s Crosscut. Other than that, my tires will be true to the east side where the trail is golden.

The Superstition Mountains have eluded mountain bikers for years and will most likely keep on eluding for years to come. There is, however, a gem of a trail that skirts the boundary, giving mountain bikers a taste of that forbidden wilderness. After 8 years in the valley I finally found Lost Goldmine.

I arrived at the trailhead on Cloudview early, clipped in and headed toward the rising sun. With six miles of fresh trail before me I was ready for everything the mountain could give me.

The trail gave me ups, it gave me downs, though not a sustained amount of either. It gave me smooth it gave me rough. In a word, the singletrack was amazing. It was tight and twisty with just enough tech to keep me focused. There were even a few rock garden stretches that bucked me off my steed.

The views of the Superstition Mountains were incredible. The wildflowers were like golden walls hedging the trail. My legs turned yellow from the pollen.

I rode to the Peralta trailhead then back completing a 12 mile out-n-back. There is more climbing out to Peralta, so coming back flowed a little faster and tasted a bit sweeter.

I recommend Lost Goldmine to every Valley rider. Search for gold, come back with a grin.

Lost Goldmine

Lost Goldmine at EveryTrailMap created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging