Almagre - Almost

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I'd made it one of my goals this year - ride up to the summit of Almagre. I've been eyeing the road that cuts across the lower slopes for the last few years, thinking it would be a great training day for Vapor. It had everything - long grinding climbs, jeep road descents and then singletrack to finish it out. And it would provide the hours in the saddle that I need for Vapor. I'm not a fan of doing a new route by myself though, so after all those years of eyeing the road, I still hadn't made it to the summit.

Finally, it was time. Nick was willing to ride up there with me and then show me the singletrack descent off the summit. We didn't get as early a start as I wanted, but the weather was supposed to be decent for most of the day. It was also a few degrees cooler then the last few days, so we packed light on water. We both brought our filters with us, with the plan to stop in a few places and treat water. The less we had to carry, the easier the ride would be for the long climb. I was a little concerned about the length of the ride - it would be the first big ride for Nick following his surgery. Sure, we'd been riding the entire reunion trip, but all short rides. I don't think any of the rides were more then two hours! Here we were planning on at least a 6 hour ride.

On the road up to Almagre
As usual, once we got past the St Mary's Falls trail, the road was almost empty. We settled into a steady pace, just pedaling. At the normal spot on Gold Camp, we stopped to refill water. Both filters out since I needed some practice using mine. I usually just let Nick filter the water and just watch! After topping off everything, we resumed pedaling. Up and up and up - then it was time for the HAB short cut to Old Stage. Once we hit Old Stage, time to settle into the pace again. There was a lot of climbing left to go! And that was just to get to Frosty's park... After that, it was even more up, up and up. Our time to Frosty's wasn't bad - just a little slower then normal for an easy pedal day. Nick was starting to get tired - not unexpected for the length of the rides he'd been doing. I offered just dropping Pipeline and skipping Almagre - but he wouldn't hear if it. We were going to Almagre.

Why yes, I did realize my visor is crooked. No, I don't really care!

This is probably the only time that I was able to easily climb away from Nick. I know it will never happen again, especially after he starts riding hard again after his surgery. But because this was the first long ride he'd done in nearly two and a half months, he was starting to lag. I was getting a little worried when I kept turning around and not seeing him for a few seconds. I knew he was coming, but he was riding so much slower then he'd anticipated. It's usually me watching him ride away from. I did secretly enjoy the moment though!
View from the Antenna Farm - the High Château Fire burning in the background

Finally we reached the Red Gate. Most people just stop there and turn around, but the goal was Almagre. So we maneuvered around the gate and kept heading up. There was the culvert for shelter and the reservoir. Nick was very upset when he saw the reservoir was empty - even that high, the drough was hitting hard. We had a choice - go to the antenna farm first and then the true summit of Almagre or to summit Almagre and hope to make to the antenna farm. We opted for antenna farm and rode/pushed up to the summit. As we took photos, the wind kicked up - howling around us. Clouds were building, pushing up the east slopes of the mountain. We rode down, paused for a little and then decided to takle Almagre. When we started down the trail around Stratton Reservoir, the clouds enveloped us in a cold mist. Thunder echoed faintly in the distance. Yeah, no. No Almagre summit today! We beat a hasty retreat down...
Almagre - so close, but so far!

Those clouds moved in quick!
Nick took me down Smoky City trail - warning me several times that he did not want me on that trail by myself. I could climb up to the summit of Almagre alone, but he wanted me retracing my path back to Frosty's. Reasonable - Smoky City is a straight plunge down a ravine. No cell service at all and maybe no SPOT service at all. Making matters even trickier this time, the rain was starting solidify out of the clouds. We popped out onto the Jones traverse, filtered some more water and then headed down Jones. Our first and only time going down the new Jones - ugh.

I'm hoping to get up there a few more times this year. It will be the perfect long grinder climb for Vapor, and with some solid single track if I take Pipeline down. And besides - I don't like unfinished business!

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