"44 Days and Rolling" Week #3 Recap

With the west coast states in the rear view, the "44 Days and Rolling" crew ends up in the middle of the dusty desert playin' in the dirt and ridin' some bicyces, all while experiencing the unique communities that have evolved around these great destinations.With the west coast states in the rear view, the "44 Days and Rolling" crew ends up in the middle of the dusty desert playin' in the dirt and ridin' some bicyces, all while experiencing the unique communities that have evolved around these great destinations.
Check out this week's GoPro Friday #3 Recap Video:


Ryans Bangers Week #3 Photo Dump:

As the sun set on our adventures in California we loaded up and made the night long push eastward into the desert lands. With the occasional delirious stumble out of the truck to grab a cocktail of gas station food, coffee and diesel, the night time ticked away. As the sun began to rise, the terrain began to reveal itself. The grassy Californian hills were replaced with huge spines and spires rising out of a flat desert. The crew felt like dogs stuck inside with our faces glued to the windows ready to explore the terrain around us. We arrived in Hurricane, UT around midday where we stopped by Over the Edge Sports to drop off some magazines and get the lowdown on the trails. Quentin Morrisette, owner of Over the Edge, Pointed us toward the Jem Trail. Jem trail is a super flowy big ring shredder that winds you down through the desert and onto the rim of a deep gorge. Ryan and Chris even got to set down their cameras and do a few laps. Everyone was stoked to be out of the truck and riding some trail.



After a few laps on the Jem we headed deep into the desert where we met up with the Diamondback crew to do a little building and to document the documentation of some of their riders doing what they do..buildin' it, sendin' it!



We lost light fast as the sun fell behind the endless spines surrounding us; as a big bright moon rose high, we saddled for a ride. We followed Quentin onto the slickrock trail bed of the Guacamole trail. With the glow of our lights and the greyish tone of the slickrock, we were riding on a lunar landscape... no spacesuit required. The trail snaked endlessly through the slickrock landscape leaving us with no sense of direction. After a few cliff side moves, where you can't help but look at the blackness where the terrain falls away, we were back at our campsite with fire and cold bevies.


We took the next day to get a little work done and continued the trek east.


From Virgin/Hurricane the crew loaded up and got the wheels rolling to the east where we met up with our buddy Aaron for some building and ridin' in his neck of the woods or... desert?. We rolled into town with spotty clouds and the occasional rain shower; building conditions were perfect. We wasted no time and headed into the hills to build a large jump.



With a bit of rain, the typical chalky soil took shape fast as the booter rose from the ground. With the jump done we decided to call it a day and dial the run-in later. The sky began to clear as we hiked out of the hills and camping was looking prime for the night. After driving around for a bit we found a nice little spot tucked back off the road in a small canyon. We set up camp and took some time to give the bikes some love.


Some friends from Montana decided to hangout and camp for the night and the debauchery ensued. A late night of fireworks and whiskey turned into a hazy wake-up to a storm comin' in hot. With some big drops splashing off the tent, I was scrambling to pack up before the clouds decided to lose some weight. The rest of the crew decided to let it blow over. The rain started coming down hard and the dusty desert soil instantly turned to mud as the water poured off the slickrock that surrounded our site. The "let it blow over" attitude turned into a "lets get out of here while we can" as all the drainages around us began to flash.


With mud everywhere, we headed to town where we had to wait out the storm. It ended up raining most of the day; when it cleared we decided to just find a nice sheltered campsite and regroup. We got settled in, cooked up a big dinner and were to sleep with anticipations of an early start to some good weather..and we got it.


After a day of filming and riding we had to leave this awesome place and make our way to Grand Junction, CO for an evening build session with COPMOBA. We arrived just in time to saddle up for the second time of the day and ride out to work on a new section of the Gunni Loop. COPMOBA is a great organization that maintains a very large span of trails in the surrounding area as well as educates volunteers on proper trail building techniques. We had a great time being a part of their Monday evening build session.


Now we're continuing east where we will battle "Sunderstorms" and icy pass roads to get to Denver and Fort Collins in the name of beer, then we head to the dirty south to ride some proper all mountain trails in NC. Stay tuned for more action as we reach the mid way point in our trip and check out our full blog at freehubmag.pinkbike.com/blog/.


Stay Classy!

Love,
Freehub Crew
freehubmag.com

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