April 20: The Porcupine Ridge trail started with a long climb, gaining 1500ft. All ten of the EcoAthlete girls were riding today, including pro mountain bike racer Dara Mark Marino - 5 months pregnant!
Dara Marks Marino descending at Porcupine Ridge
We started off with the entire group, following a friend of Sandy's: 60 year old Fred. Fred has been riding in Moab for years and is currently there for a few weeks to ride and avoid Oregon's snow. Heading out of the parking lot quickly, we followed Fred up the trail and were not able to keep up with him. We rode fast and hard all day - chasing Fred. Barely taking any breaks, we never did catch up. Turns out were were chasing another guy in a red jersey and Fred was left behind in the parking lot.
Happy campers after a tough Porcupine Ridge climb
Dara Marks Marino rode technical sections with ease and provided instruction to the rest of us. We rode hard, alternating positions, encouraging each other on and gaining skills. We all have never before ridden with this many great riders - all in one place. Porcupine Ridge is a hard ride, on the whole body, as our arms got tired from the washboard-like rock below. Mary Ellen broke her wrist about halfway into the ride and continued on. Sandy launched off a cliff (unharmed!). Multiple times we ended up at a ridge, yelling where else the other riders would go, and leapfrogging each other all the way. Meanwhile Dara was picking the right lines, rode them smoothly, and we followed as best we could.
Sandy climbing up porcupine
The vistas at the top of the ridge and the canyon downhill at the end were incredible. We saw a guy on a unicycle take it on and held our breaths. Even though we were tired and we still had a ways to go - the sight of the road was a sad visual as we did not want the ride to be over. After a good 3 hours on singletrack, we had to ride back to camp on the road for a about 6 miles. Lori lead the paceline once again - pulling two guys and Brandyn all the way into town. I dropped off about 3 miles in. Brandyn continued and felt like she was going to throw up. For Lori it was business as usuall giving the guys a run for their money and passing road riders on her knobbies.
Brandyn at Porcupine
After a dinner of cuban chicken and salad, followed by zuchini chocolate cake, we retired early. No runs for us today!