Brian Head, Utah is one of my favorite mountain bike destinations. It is the middle of nowhere, has no cell service, and 1 store, but man does it have some good single track. I had the pleasure of spending 3 days there recently with 3 of my favorite riding partners and this is part 1 of my story.
Day 1 - Thunder Mountain.
Russell and I have been talking about riding this trail for 2 years so the anticipation was pretty intense. We'd watched all the videos of people winding their ways through majestic orange hoodoos and planned our sweet ridgeline descents in our heads. A little pavement/fire road climb to get to this fantasy? No problem. 14 miles? No problem.
Well... it was a little more than we bargained for. 6 miles into the ride, we make it to the trailhead. SWEET! It's all downhill from here!! Get ready to shred!
WRONG. The trail from here continues to alternate between short descents and brutal climbs for about 5 more miles. The scenery was gorgeous, but the climbs... ouch. Perhaps if we'd been prepared for these climbs, it wouldn't have been as bad, but thinking "it's all downhill from here" after every turn and then seeing the trail continue upwards made it seem more painful than necessary.
We did, however, reach a point where it really was mostly all downhill. And those last 3 miles, in my mind (not sure about my riding partners), made up for the pain. Steep, technical switchbacks around hoodoos and into canyons, some delightful exposure and an all out fast finish made me forget my troubles.
Enjoy the pics!!
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