Sturto’s 2010 Thursday Night Mountain Bike rides

Sturto’s Thursday night mountain bike rides are starting Thursday, June 3.  They have weekly rides planned through the end of August.  Check out their schedule:

Sturto's 2010 Thursday night ride schedule

Another Map of Indian Springs trails

I was contacted Greg about the Southern Idaho Mountain Biking Association which is organizing in the Twin Falls area as an official chapter of IMBA.  They have posted a good Google map of the Indian Springs Trails north of Kimberly.
View Indian Spring Trails, S. Idaho in a larger map

Check out the mountain biking at Smoky Mt. Lodge

Smoky Mt. Lodge looks like a great place to improve your mountain biking skills:

Our goal at Bike Ranch is to teach the core skills of biking using a variety of custom stunts and jumps, along with instruction course riding on our private cross-country trails, pump tracks, and BMX course in a safe controlled environment. With this goal in mind, Bike Ranch campers will overcome potential fears and barriers to improve their riding style and confidence long after the camp is over.

They’ve got a full schedule of camps and classes this summer.

The lodge and trails are north of Fairfield in the Smoky Mountains.

map of trails west of Hailey at the Croy Creek recreation area

I can’t wait until the trails west of Hailey open up.  I took this photo in November 2009 which shows the trails pretty well (click on photo to see it larger).  The trailhead is west of Hailey.  Turn west at the stoplight at Main and Bullion.  We had some awesome fun rides last fall out there.

where were we?

Mountain biking south of Kimberly Idaho

Jim and I ventured down to the Indian Springs area south of Kimberly for a little mountain biking on Sunday. It was a balmy 66 degrees, a big change from my road bike ride from Hailey on Saturday in about 50 chilly degrees.

We parked 1-1/4 miles east of the Indian Springs parking lot. From there we took the Skull Trail up to Sweet ‘n Low.  Skull Trail is a fun short uphill trail from the trailhead.

aptly names Skull Trail

We took Sweet ‘n Low east to Dry Gulch.  Dry Gulch is a long slow uphill with some single track and some double track.

Dry Gulch

had to put my foot down going through these rocks on Dry Gulch trail

Dry Gulch had some really fun portions.  It is an easy trail, mostly dirt.  From Dry Gulch we went up (we think) Matts trail which goes up the hillside to the top of the ridge and crosses Indian Springs road.  On top the wind was howling and Jim took some shelter while he waited for me.

looking north from the top of the ridge

From this spot we came down Swami (we think that’s what it was called).  It is a trail mostly on slabs of rocks.  Some places you need to look for the white dots to find the trail.  This is much more technical and Jim loved it, I was a more nervous and walked a few spots.  It was challenging but fun.  There is one spot where the trail goes under/around an overhanging rock and then switchbacks up to some more rocks.

overhanging rock

sharp turn

almost made it

From this point it is a fun ride downhill to Indian Springs trailhead.  We ended up riding part of the way back to our car on the road.  We met a couple from Hailey at the top.  They were riding the trails the opposite way.  They told us there is a Yahoo group  ”Magic Valley Chain Gang” who have built the trails and have information and maps.  You can find it easily with an internet search.  Overall it was a fun first mt. bike ride of the season.  It took us about 3 hours.

Note:  you can also see information about these trails at Wood River Bike Coalition.