December was the month for the first ever Turkey Ranch Holiday Gathering and Celebration and I was quite pleased to take part. The nigh before I had a little gathering at my house, end of semester type of thing, and 1 pm the next day was starting to look early, but somehow I behaved myself and got my keester off the couch and showed up. It was easy, really, since it was an opportunity to ride my bike.
The day was centered around beer, bikes and food, so every turn at Turkey Ranch was the right turn. I arrive and the keg is already tapped - excellent - pre-ride calories! I also have the chance to burn the pre-ride calories on a pre-ride loop that circumnavigates the Turkey Ranch property - rock feature and everything - my singletrack envy grows. And with good reason - Turkey Ranch sits just south of the Gold Canyon trail system, which has been maturing quite nicely over the last year. We were even going to get to try the new, secret Secret trail. Most excellent.
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| We were about 15 strong rolling out of the Ranch. Everyone smiling, anticipating the K-trails. Photo by Mrs. Turkey Ranch. |
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| Freeskier brought the ol' bmx freestyle bike from his flatlander days. I forgot to try and talk him into some cherry picking.....and you thought he made a 26er look small. |
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| Quite the perfect day to ride the bike in the desert. |
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| Riders present! |
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| After rolling up Cougar, we took Lost Goldmine to K-trail and proceeded to play on the rocks. Erin got the guts to roll this line and made it look easy. |
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| Rolling up through the boulder section which is set just next to the Superstitions - and Wilderness. Just a little hike away there are petroglyphs from those who've played here before us. This is a fun playground with about four lines heading off of the rock face. Try and make the loop down and then back up. Challenging both ways! |
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| There was a new outer line present on the boulders called Outer Limits that I put the skills to with success. John got this cool shot for me. |
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| K-Man himself showing off the steep line I hadn't eyed before. Photo by John. |
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| Thought I'd give the steep line a go and almost lost it. Good thing I've got the wide bars to leverage the tire back into line or I might have got tossed. I straightened it out fast and rolled it out, luckily making it. I'll have to refine my style on the next visit. Photo by John. |
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| I caught a few people rolling through this wash. GilaMonster makes it without sacrificing skin or mechanical bits to the MTB Gods. |
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| The man himself, our host, Mr. Turkey Ranch - keeping his eye on the prize. |
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| Some of us love riding so much, we'd be crucified on our bikes before we gave it up! Funny, sometimes I feel riding hard is penance for screwing something up during the week. The lactic burn eats through inadequacy and ineptness or frivolity of character, general anger - whatever - gravity pulls you down and you fight through - sacred cleansing at 9.8m/s squared. |
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| Fatbikes fly! Who knew? He probably has about three inches of travel with those tires. He landed without issue and looked good doing it. |
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| John got the other perspective. Big tires don't fail me now! |
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| Ride into the light. MTB can save your droll soul. Light shines down on Turkey Ranch. The Gods are pleased, and so am I. |
Great day with some great peeps. Everyone was fun to ride with, saw some sweet air-time, got some nice, new Secret trail in, drank a few beers and snacked on some awesome guac. The dinner would have been just as good, but I had to take off before the feast began. Here's hoping for a repeat next year as the company was good, hospitality inviting and the dirt was in singletrack form. What else could you ask for? Thanks!
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