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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 1:28 am 
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Bike(s): Revel Rail, Spur, Carver Ti,
Favorite Trails: Hmm........
James' knee was still bugging him so we decided to hit up JEM and Icehouse, trails which could be shuttled without tons of climbing, and possibly some other stuff in St George. I drove the shuttle for JEM so my first action was on Icehouse. I had wanted to hit this one up last fall but we ran out of time. I had read at the time it was flowy like JEM, but imagine JEM tilted down 5 degrees so you don't have to pedal. While there are some small climbs on IH, this is a pretty fair assessment.

We drove up to the top, painful as far as shuttles go (long and slow). At the top we had to sniff around to find the trail. As is often the case there were branches in the road which were not mentioned in the directions. We soon found the trailhead at this green gate.
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And we were off.
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But not too fast...up top, there are lots of random volcanic rocks, seeming to sit around each corner.
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Trail view
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The train drops into a drainage
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The fun begins as the descent becomes uninterrupted
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More view
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After a section with some small, fun booters, we get into some chunk
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I have seldom ridden this much distance without touching my brakes
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Gman about to hit the rock steps
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Billy's 29er wheels will smooth this stuff out nicely
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We are in for one long steep descent back to the bottom
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Gman finds some flowers
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The normal route takes you across this 2.5mi powerline road. Painfully boring and simply butt-numbing. We opted to cut across to another fire road and then hop onto the pavement back to the freeway where James was waiting.
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Ice house is definitely one of the funner trails I've ridden in a long time. It is a bit of a pain to get to (driving or riding), but worth checking out. I would like to ride Broken Mesa to IH next time. The shop guys do that route, and then they climb up to the green gate we started at and ride all the way down.


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bajamtnbkr, Canaan, Christ D., kreechan, Red Hot Sloth, sierragoldens, TD64
PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 1:53 am 
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Obsessed
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Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:39 pm
Posts: 3407
Location: Ocean Beach
Given: 2423 thanks
Received: 7322 thanks
Bike(s): Revel Rail, Spur, Carver Ti,
Favorite Trails: Hmm........
Barrel Roll and Sidewinder


I had a few St George trails in mind that I wanted to check out. With James' knee we wanted to keep the climbing to a minimum, so with only 600ft climbing we decided to hit up Barrel Roll. Richards achilles had also started acting up, so he opted to sit this one out. Bjammin was not feeling well either and had actually bailed on us for a hotel room for the afternoon to sleep and rest up for the next day. So we were down to four...

James took off up the trail while the rest of us were still getting ready
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The climbing was at a very reasonable grade
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We caught up to James at the intersection with Sidewinder trail. He was right into riding that trail for another few 100ft climbing. Sidewinder switchbacks up the narrow mesa you can see in this pic above Gman's head for 1.5mi
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Gman climbing
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Rest stop at the top of Sidewinder.
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We roll on once the break is over.
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Billy cruising back down the trail
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The flow was out of control on the way back down
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On to the second main climb
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Great views everywhere
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There is some fun technical stuff at the top of the hill
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James follows Gman and Billy
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Billy up and over a rock obstacle
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Gman and Billy continue on
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It was incredibly cool watching these guys ride over this roller
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James hits the final leg back to the truck.
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Total for this ride is 6mi of Barrel Roll, 3mi of Sidewinder for around 900ft total climbing. I really liked these trails. They remind me a bit of Fruita/Grand Junction. The climbing is pretty easy and the trail is very fun to descend. It is more tiring than it seems like it should be. The big bonus with these trails is that you should be able to connect to other trails in area to make a huge route. Something to look into for future trips....


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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 2:11 am 
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Obsessed
Obsessed
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Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:39 pm
Posts: 3407
Location: Ocean Beach
Given: 2423 thanks
Received: 7322 thanks
Bike(s): Revel Rail, Spur, Carver Ti,
Favorite Trails: Hmm........
Rhythm & Blues


I stopped at the bike shop this morning to ask a few questions while the guys were riding JEM. One thing I learned of is a new trail near Quail Creek reservoir. This trail was only completed 2 weeks ago so we would get relatively fresh tracks. I wasn't sure we'd be able to hit this one but everyone was into it instead of another lap on JEM.


The trail is a 2.5mi loop built on just a small couple acre parcel between the cliffs and a couple roads.
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Its a bit of a shocker right away with some tricky rock climbing and tight corners
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Things soon smooth out and we get our flow on
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The trail goes maybe 3/4mi back toward the highway, switchbacking and swooping constantly
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It reminds me of 18 Road trails in Fruita like Kessel Run and Zippity Do da, except this one has tighter corners and more rock.
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Gman and Richard hit another 180
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Climbing over the saddle
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This trail is a masterpiece
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No sustained climbs, no straight sections, just pure rolling singletrack
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Gman pushes on
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A fun, loose descent
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Billy and Gman climb out of a drainage
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We get near the end and a bunch more rock pops up to make things interesting.
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Back in camp we make dinner while the sun tries to pour through the clouds.
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In its present state this is a short trail at 2.5mi. Ride it one way, then ride the other. It is not any easy trail to ride by any means, however. But this is one of the flowiest trails I've ridden. There are plans to add more lines down low, some trail up on the mesa above, plus a trail climbing up to the ridge. Once that gets done I could see this turning into one of the most popular trails around. Definitely check this one out if you're in town.


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The following 16 users would like to thank evdog for his or her post:
bajamtnbkr, bjammin, Bolo, Canaan, Christ D., Copper Cable, EMFC, Gman, jfsh, jhardeman, kreechan, Red Hot Sloth, Robo, sierragoldens, Slowgrind, Sultan Ali
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