Magnificent Moab!

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Matt Hunt

Okay, let’s get caught up here! Sorry, I have a tough time keeping up with writing blogs! Much more exciting to put together videos!

After the quick stop in Fruita to ride Horsethief Bench, I continued on to Moab! I came for Outerbike. Originally I was going to try out bikes that I was interested in buying, but since I got my YT Jeffsy back in December (25% off, couldn’t pass it up), I was just trying out bikes for fun!

Before all of that, I went on a hike to see an arch that I didn’t get to see on my first trip to Moab; Corona Arch. This is outside of the National Park, but in my opinion is just as good, if not better, than anything in the park!

The goal was to get a good sunset, but when I started the hike, the sky was filled with clouds. A lot of people were returning from the arch, and by the time I was actually standing underneath it, I was the only one there! Not only that, but the clouds broke just enough to let the sun shine through and provide some brilliant light for some incredible photos!

I hiked back in the dark a very happy man!

Day 1 of Outerbike took me to the Navajo Rocks loop on the Yeti SB5+. I only rode half of the loop to try to save some energy for the rest of the weekend. It was a fun trail, with nothing too difficult. A good warmup in Moab! After returning to the Bar M trails where the event was located, I picked up an Ibis Mojo HD4 and hit a trail I had on my list: Sidewinder. Unlike any other trail in Moab, this one is almost completely smooth, and full of flow & speed! It was so much fun!

Day 2 was Mag 7 on the Giant Trance Advanced 2! All of it! Prior to this trip I had reached out to another YouTuber from Grand Junction, R.C. of Outdoor Gold. I was actually looking to meet up with him to ride Horsethief Bench, but as it turned out he had planned a group ride at Mag 7 on the same day Outerbike took me there. Admittedly, I didn’t communicate well on meeting up, but as luck would have it, I saw him and his group just heading out as the shuttle arrived at the trailhead. I was able to catch up with them for the start of the most epic day ever on the bike! My left calf cramped twice, I hit drops and other technical features unlike anything I had ever done before, I ran out of water, I walked… a lot… but it was SO MUCH FUN! Luckily these guys offered to take me back to Outerbike, otherwise I would have had to cut the ride short and miss out on Gold Bar Rim & Portal… which was THE trail I really wanted to ride on the Mag 7! With extreme exposure on the edge of a cliff, Portal is not for the faint of heart! Riders have fallen to their death on this trail, and there are signs along the way warning everyone of just that. There were several spots where we all got off the bikes and walked, and there is no shame in that!

Day 3 of Outerbike took us to Captain Ahab, and I was riding an Evil The Calling. This was another trail that I was super excited about, and after tackling a couple double black diamonds the day before, I was feeling very confident. Um… maybe a bit TOO confident! I ended up crashing twice, and one of those crashes left me with a broken wrist! It was one of the carpal bones, the trapezium. A small 5mm fracture, and initially I didn’t even know it. I finished the ride, and in fact bossed the most rowdy section of the whole trail with my wrist already broken! It honestly didn’t hurt that much for the remainder of that ride, but afterward I was feeling it!

I had originally planned on riding Slickrock the following day, but with my hand in so much pain, I skipped it and just toured the La Sal Mountain Loop Road, and flew the drone.

It wasn’t actually until 2 weeks later that I found out my trapezium had a fracture! Since then, I’ve been in a cast for 4 weeks, a brace for another 2, and the fracture didn’t even heal! It is a nonunion, and apparently there is no solution from here. I just get to have a little bone fragment chillin in my wrist for the rest of my life! I still have some pain, mainly around the thumb, which is from it being stuck in that cast for a month. The area of the fracture isn’t tender to the touch, and the pain that I was feeling with lifting objects with my palm facing up has gone away. Nonetheless, I’m having to ease back into mountain biking, as all of the muscles surrounding the thumb, and the PIP joint of the thumb, will hurt moderately bad during and immediately after riding.

Anyway, check out the whole series of videos from this trip here:

Horseplay

Posted on April 21, 2018 by Matt Hunt

The place I was staying in Moab for Outerbike didn’t have any rooms available on the first night that I had planned to be there, so I stayed in Grand Junction, CO instead, which gave me the opportunity to ride the very popular Horsethief Bench trail in Fruita, CO!

I’ve seen quite a few videos of this trail, so I had a good idea of what to expect. The beginning is a super difficult “drop in” which trail guides actually call a hike-a-bike section, but advanced riders are able to ride the whole thing. What you see on video versus what you see in person, however, are vastly different!

The biggest thing to me that video failed to portray is just how steep the whole thing is. It wouldn’t take much of a stop of your front tire to send you over the bars!

The rest of the trail was a blast, and there was only one short section that I skipped, being that I was riding alone, and it was a weekday, meaning the trail was pretty empty.

Check out the video!

Big Bend

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Matt Hunt

A couple weeks ago I took a crazy trip to Big Bend! Why was it crazy, you ask? Because Big Bend is a 9 hour drive, and I did it on a normal weekend.

I left work at 5 pm on Friday evening, and after fighting the DFW traffic & rain (which makes traffic about 8 gazillion times worse) I arrived in Terlingua at around 2:15 am. I “slept” in my car at a free campsite, waking before the sunrise.

I went out from there to take some photos and video, and then went mountain biking on the Dome Loop in Big Bend Ranch State Park.

I met some great people in the parking lot of the visitor’s center, Danny & Darlene, and went biking with Danny, then hung out with them afterward in their Sprinter camper van. They have been traveling the country while living in the van for the past 11 months! I’m jealous!

That night I stayed at a legit campsite, which was amazing, and the moonlight lit up everything!

After a much better (but chilly) night of sleep, I rose super early to make a 45 minute drive to Big Bend National Park to shoot the Milky Way.

Sunday morning was the Lajitas Airport trails, and then the 9 hour drive back home!

Don’t let a lack of money or lack of time keep you from traveling. This trip cost roughly $100 (gas + $10 for the campsite) and didn’t require any PTO time. Yes, I spent 18 hours of my weekend driving, and far less than that sleeping, but you only get one life, so CARPE DIEM! The memories are worth far more than the time and the money spent.

Canmore Mountain Biking

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Matt Hunt

“We yell on the trail, because the bears come close.”

That’s what the woman at the bike shop told me when I checked out my rental bike at the Canmore Nordic Centre. By the way, we’re talking about grizzly bears, not black bears! A bit nerve wracking, but certainly not enough to stop me from riding! Besides, I had bear spray with me. 😉

I screwed up by not ensuring that my gimbal batteries were fully charged, nor did I bring the spares with me, and the result was a gimbal that didn’t work as well as it could have. That was disappointing to me when I watched the footage back, because the riding was outstanding! The dirt was amazing. I know that sounds weird to anyone who is not a mountain biker. Let me try to explain. It wasn’t mud, but there was enough moisture to keep it soft, and prevent loose dirt from laying on top of the hard-packed trail. This is what we call “hero dirt” because you can go ahead and be a hero riding it! It has a high amount of grip, but it’s not tacky like mud. You can get a lot of speed.

Even without the great dirt, the trails were well designed, and being in that pine forest is what dreams are made of! Although I was somewhat adjusted to the elevation at this point, my legs were still sore from hiking two days prior, and the amount of climbing I did on this ride wore me out after 13+ miles.

It sure was a great time, though.