Jim LeMonds of the Growlers crew recently turned 60, and decided to ride 60 miles of prime single track in a day to mark the occasion. At the same time, he approached it as a fund raiser for his favorite charity.
Those from a road background might scoff at the number 60, but once you take a hard look at the trails and the route, you can see that it was a serious undertaking. As da Ali G could say it, you have got to lay down some “respect!”
To put it in perspective, each section he and his support crew rode (there were four separate rides combined to make up the total of 60 miles) is often ridden as an epic on their own. These are the kinds of trails with relatively short mileage for the amount of time on the trail as well. In fact, to complete the 60 miles in a 24 hour period, he met up with his 1st support crew at 3:00 am and was at Ape Canyon, (the first trail completed) at 4:23, and started at 4:56, equipped with lights. The sun didn’t even rise until 5:25.
The next leg was Blue Lake to Red Rock Pass to the Kalama Horse camp on the other side of St. Helens. We did a ride with these guys on this route last year, and it was fun, but it wasn’t a walk in the park. Then they were off to Lewis River before riding Falls Creek.
Check out his write up of the day here, or peep the video below.