Text and pics; Marcel Slootheer

I was more than just interested when Brent sent out his invitation to visit Cloudcroft NM again, this time to be part of the yearly Chubby Tire Rendezvous (a mtb festival), organized by High Altitude, the only bike shop in town. Another road trip, just what I was looking for, only 2 months after a mtb trip to Arizona and Utah. (Click on the pictures for a larger version)

So we (Ellen, Charles and I) left OKC for Cloudcroft on Thursday afternoon, looking forward to the 10 hour drive - not. As exciting as it gets - pumping gas and checking out the dirty restrooms at the Loves:

Dodging deer, a fox, some bunny's and a racoon we safely make it to the Waterfall Lodge just outside Cloudcroft (at 8,500ft), around midnight. Check out the view from the lodge the next morning...

We decided to ride the best part of the Rim trail. We parked at the 10 mile marker and rode to town where Brent would pick us up, which was good because the trail goes mostly downhill the direction we would ride it.

Here's Charles on one of the steeper sections...

The trail goes up (granny climbs) and down (fast and with plenty of exposure)...

Cable logging was first introduced to the Cloudcroft area. It didn't scar the hill sides as much. Logging has now stopped in this area.

Charles on a nice section.

The trail ends with a 2 mile downhill (very fast and narrow singletrack with a few U turns to keep you focussed) before a long climb, where Brent just started his way down. He turned around and joined us for the last mile or so before we reached his vehicle. We rode 11 miles, not bad for a first ride at altitude!

At 5PM we all met at High Altitude for the group ride that officially started the Festival, the Sunset ride. This easy ride, to watch the sun set - duh, turned into an adventure, I never really saw the sun set because of all the things that went wrong. On one of the fun downhill sections Todd, our ride leader, crashed and had to be hauled out. At the end of the single track we met some hunters who were preparing for hunting season (while drinking some beer and doing some target practise near the trail...) we asked them for help. When I returned from riding back to the crash site, to update them about the help that was on the way, I was all by myself. No-one around and it was getting dark. This was turning epic. I started the long climb up the gravel road, a section I had ridden once before a year ago, but I didn't know if the others were heading up this road or not... After some serious climbing I got to a camp-site and asked a girl for directions. After 4 more miles I saw the lights of Cloudcroft. I was glad to be back but suprised to see none of the other riders. They had taken a different route and were still out there but showed up only 15 minutes later... An hour later and Charles was finally back in town (he had hitched a ride with the hunters - "those are nice lookin' legs, boy"...). Here a pic of the group before the 10 mile ride...

Saturday: the organized rides were actually self-paced, follow the map, find your own way type rides. Which was fine with us, this meant we could ride the hardcore loop (OSHA's/T124/Bailey Canyon/Trestle Trail) at our own (slower) pace and nobody had to wait for us flatlanders. Here's one of the locals on a very nice Elsworth...

Ofcourse, Brent had to jump off something...

The ride ended with a mile or so granny climb. Total milage, 14. In the evening we hung out at the Ski lift area where Chili was served, a pretty good band performed and a Huffy was tossed. "Poor bike never had a chance", Charles said after he gave it a try...

Sunday morning we did part of the optional loop (Bluff Springs/Benson Ridge) that was listed on the flier. We didn't have a whole lot of time because we wanted to start our drive home around noon. We got up kinda late, took our time with breakfast and arrived at the trailhead around 11 AM... This was gonna be a short ride. We saw the 'you are in bear country' signs but hoped to see other wildlife instead (I love bears - not). We rode for 30 minutes, all uphill, stopped several times to enjoy the views (mucho color) and took a short break in a valley. We turned around and flew down the hill. Next year we'll do the whole loop!

Here's Charles showing of his new purchase, a red pepper bandana...

Ellen grinding up the long hill...

I caught up with her, and Charles made a pic...

This was our turn around point, a valley with lots of aspens.

Aspen turning...

And then it all had to come to an end. The drive back was boring! There is nothing between Cloudcroft and OKC as far as I'm concerned...

Thanks for the invite, Brent. Next year we need to make this an official OEF event!

Marcel - 10/09/00