The Santos 70: ThE GrueLeR!

Here is the Garmin data.
I had planned to do a Lil day before epic with the wife. I was going to take her on an abridged version of the NK ride, get lunch, stop and smell the flowers you know make a day of it.
But Friday night, my head felt real heavy. I was still feeling the effects of Thursday nights efforts. All day Saturday I pretty much just laid about, watched TV, read, relaxed, we both did my wife and I, we never even touched the bikes.
Well we did. We put on her Ergon Grips and new stem and bars to get her a better fit on the Fetish.
I went to sleep around 6pm Saturday evening and didn't get out of bed till 4 am Sunday morning. I was well rested, got up excited. Heck I was the first person in the parking lot.
I had my concerns about the ride. Being a guy who loves to explore and plan, after a couple of awful exploring experiences I can get a bit apprehensive. But, one good conversation with Rob(pictured here) and I had changed my tune about the ride and was excited to get out there.
The kit was the most important part of the day for me. I really want to get into super long extended self supported epics and figured this was a great enough adventure into the unknown to be able to really put the kit through its paces.
Full On epic Kit includes:
1 lighter.
1 roll of electrical tape.
1 tom tom navigation system.
1 spare cell phone battery.
1 set of music headphones.
1 topeak mini bike pump with pressure gauge.
1 Light and motion Stella light with headmount.
1 map.
1 camera.
1 phone.
1 Leatherman multi tool.
2 tubes.
2 16 oz co2
1 compatible c02 inflater.
1 multi tool.
2 Sram Powerlinks.
For nutrition, I had it calculate at 9 hours so I took 4 packets of almonds and 1 packet of mixed nuts, plus one packet of salmon.
For hydration I went with my 200 oz camelback bladder. I brought an extra bottle with the plan of using it to pour water over my head. Turns out I never needed it.
All this fit neatly and compactly into my Ergon BD1 pack.


Ron is a bad ass dude nuff said. Don't believe me, check out the trucker hat, this guy is no joke.

As well I was excited to see Luis, love riding with this guy, there is no slow with Lou and I dig it.

We rolled out, Tony, Rob, Ron, Luis and I. Ron and Tony were only planning to get out to the Landbridge and then head back, admittedly I wanted to get to the task at hand, but once we got going thru them woods I was caught up in the moment and didn't care what we rode. I was having some technical difficulties. My seat bag fell a couple of times. My pack wasn't working right. Turns out I had the front buckles way to tight for that type of design. Once I loosened the front buckle, the pack worked fantastic. Making my way thru vortex coming down a long drop, I hit a soft mud patch with the front wheel and did a little locked up with the bike slide on my side, smacked my knee and hip into a tree trunk right in the middle of the trail.
It hurt, and I cursed.
But got up and kept going. The rest of the ride out to the near end of Nayl's was super nice and it was nothing but smiles on my face.

At this point, Ron parted ways and we started making our way into what we would call the Unknown section of the trip.




The Start of the unknown was limestone road in fact I would be safe in saying that 85% of the track heading out to Pruitt Trailhead is of such composition. The terrain was rolling, which was a great workout in some parts, in others it was flat which was fine as well.We found a water source, the water looked so clean and it was so cold. But the sign says dont drink it, for those who would like to venture to the Pruitt trailhead this would be a good spot to filter water, there is another at the actual trailhead.

This is a shot of the little pavilion thing they put at the trail head. Not much out there just a lot of wide open land.


From looking at the map, early, Rob had mentioned that we could make the river. I pictured clear clean flowing water and a nice refreshing dip. In fact I thought about it a lot the entire way out there. Well we found it, and sat down and it was nice, but I wouldn't jump in the water. Still, it was a nice spot and it was interesting all the terrain we had covered, we had seen lots of animals and even had a little rain up to this point.
We rolled out hoping it would be a nice smooth ride back out. Well, I had thought once I got out there that it might rain. And sure enough it did, but then, it came back. As I was making my way thru the pasture like double track, the storm started creeping in from behind.
The lightning was ripping the sky above my head and very close by, definitely breaching any agreements I have ever had with Lightning and proximity. But sure enough I came around the corner to find Rob and Luis discussing. Rob suggested we seek shelter in the tree line since it seemed like our best bet.
Well I start looking around and immediately spot a cave like pocket in the brush. Seemed to me like animals had laid there before and sure enough that's where we took cover.
For one hour, the lightning was as bad as I have ever seen it. There were proximity alarms going off in my head. Things were looking bleak at this moment.
Then.
The Rain started coming down like blankets of sheer water being shed from a wheeping God. I was drenched 20 seconds into the ordeal and it didn't seem like It would let up.
Then.
I saw a piece of Ice hit the ground and I mentioned it to the Guys. Well, Not even 10 minutes after the ice was falling and falling. I had a good spot under a tree but we were all getting hit. Funny how many people can say that their bikes have been hailed on.
Then.
The wind started whipping. So I decided to go deeper in the brush for more cover, from the rain, the wind and the ice. I pulled my arms in my shirt, zipped all the way up, took my ergon pack and sat it up in the direction that the wind was facing, curled up on the ground and waited. The wind got so bad that I started telling the guys to listen for something that may sound like a train, cause it could be a Tornado.
We waited and waited...
Eventually, the wind died down.
The ice stopped falling.
The rain started slowing.
The lightning started moving away.
And a FuLL HoUr had passed!!!
Wow!
We got on the ball and rode back a completely different feeling trail, then the one we had taken out. It was flooded in some spots, and water everywhere, but it was good to be moving, and alive and no longer pinned down by a storm.
There was one 1/2 mile to 1 mile section of the trail that you had to improvise your line choices in order to keep traction. It was part of the challenge.
On our way back, we finished Nayl's and Robert and Luis who had been riding now for several miles without water stopped to refill and I kept going figuring they would catch me eventually.
I actually made it back to the lot, with just 200 oz of water. It was a good test to see how my kit would work and it worked perfect.
I felt great too. No pains, no aches, I truly felt like I could ride forever, I rode 70 and felt like I had ridden 40, it seems like everything is starting to come together for me.
I think anyone and everyone who likes to ride off road should go out and pedal the Grueler, I think you may enjoy it as much as I did.


Laters.
LOS.