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Hey folks, This time last year I was just getting back from six days of riding in St. George Utah. On that trip I rode two days on my own and four days on the BKXC Chasing Epric trip.
I chose to get in a couple days early to get acclimated to the elevation and help get my legs ready for the season. This allowed me to get in a couple fun rides at some lesser known trails and allowed me to demo the Santa Cruz Bronson.
On Day one I rode Prospector/Church Rocks in the morning and Paradise Canyon in the afternoon. Prospector is a nice XC trail and Church Rock is a slick rock extension of the prospector trail. This was a nice welcome to St. George trail and wasn’t hard on the legs or the eyes. The views in St. George are amazing. Paradise Canyon was a fun quick trail with a gnarly downhill. It was like nothing I’d ridden before. A real rocky, fun descent. It’s a super quick lollipop trail you can easily do in under an hour.
On Day two I rode Bearclaw Poppy. This was a bit of an accidental ride for me. I was originally going to ride the Stucki trail but ran into some locals and they recommended I do Bearclaw Poppy instead. The downhill on Bearclaw Poppy is something crazy. This trail is a real choose your own adventure roller coaster ride where you ride up and down these small hills and can pick from multiple lines to follow. I had so much fun on this trail even with a pretty good crash.
I ended up returning the bike and resting so that I would be in good shape for the four days of the Chasing epic trip. The crash made me realize I didn’t want to get hurt before the trip really got started.
So on day one of the Chasing Epic trip we rode the JEM Trail. This was probably my favorite trail of the trip. JEM is a fast fun trail with some cool views and a bit of exposure. The JEM loses its elevation over an extended stretch but that climb to the top was killer. You can shuttle the JEM and ride all the way back into town. On the trip we really didn’t ride much of the JEM trail.
On day two of the trip we rode Gooseberry Mesa. This is one of those must ride trails because of the amazing trails and technical challenge. I had a really hard time on the black diamond sections of the trail and found the slick rock really difficult to ride. I bike my GoPro lens on this trail and ended up recording only the sections I really struggled with. The views on Gooseberry are amazing and it will kick your but if you’re not in great shape. The ride out was a lot easier thankfully. This was our only ride on day two because of weather and time. Gooseberry Mesa was a 2.5 hour ride.
On Day three we rode Barrel Roll and Rim Rocks. Both trails are easy XC loops you can complete in under two hours of riding. There some cool sections but overall they felt like filler rides. Other groups rode different trails that day and I felt this was the weakest of the days on the trip. I would have loved to have had another ride on this day.
To close the trip we rode Little Creek Mesa which is a newer trail and is a more enjoyable version of Gooseberry Mesa. This trail has the same bluff style riding on slick rock but wasn’t as difficult to ride. I feel like there were more sections I could ride compared to Gooseberry Mesa. It was good trail to end the trip on and leave with more confidence in my riding skills.
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https://www.tasco-mtb.com/discount/VAUGHN
Discount Code: VAUGHN
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https://brian-vaughn-mtb.blogspot.com/2018/10/my-bike-components.html
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http://brian-vaughn-mtb.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-gear.html
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