Yo! JBay, where you been? “I got tired so I stopped to lie down for a while.” Ahh… yes, of course. Could you pass me that stick over there, please?
Been there, done that, one multiple occasions! One of them was the first time I topped Willie White Trail on a KLR... after a couple of drops on the way up. When I got there, I barely had the strength and time to get the kickstand down before I fell off the bike and just laid on the ground waiting for my heart to stop pounding like crazy! After about 15 minutes I was able to stand and look back down the trail... wondering where Rsquared and Wasabi might be...? We wound up having to back track and call it a day. On the next trip out there, when I was on my 530 EXC, we found out that we were fortunate to have backtracked before because the path forward and back down the mountain was MUCH worse! On that second trip, we did that last three miles on the South end of the Rim Trail... At one point all I could do was sit on my bike and hug the tree next to me because I was almost spent. Fortunately, we just had one more short descent before reaching the highway and I was able to just coast down. We both spent a while laying on the rock wall waiting for our hands to quit shaking
A few years back, Rsquared and I were exploring up in Montana, having broken off from the main group to potentially do some more technical riding. I was on my 530 EXC and he was on his 450 EXC. For much of the day, it seemed we would not be doing any really technical stuff... until we found the road from hades... We kept thinking, "Surely it can't go on like this much further...!?" By the time we realized it could, we were saying, "There's no way in the world I am going back through that! It has to end soon!!" We were fully loaded with camping gear and had just recently topped off our 6.6 gallon tanks! We eventually topped it and stopped. I lay on the ground trying to focus on my breathing until I could no longer count my pulse by watching the edges of my vision move in and out in time with it... The good thing was that Roger was laying on the ground not far from me so we could communicate
We eventually made it down off the mountain and headed straight for a hotel with a hot shower and soft bed!!
On a trip to Arizona with Gotdurt back in 2007, I laid under a SKINNY cactus praying for shade and someone to save us from ourselves. Jeepers came to the rescue with A/C and ice cold Gatorade. The next day was spent laying in the shade next to the Gila river rehydrating and waiting for Gotdurt to return from Mesa/Gilbert with a friend that could get our bikes across the flooding Gila River. It was a good 24 hours before I felt right again. Rsquared and I went back with him in 2014. About three days in, we mutinied and refused to go further on one particular trail because just getting to where we were had almost wiped us out and we were barely an hour into the day!! After a nice long rest in the shade, we backtracked and took a less severe route.
Fatigue is no laughing matter, especially when it is hot and/or the air is thin! Most all of my "get offs" over the years have been fatigue related. I try hard to stay hydrated, take regular breaks, eat enough, go EASY on the booze (at the end of the day), and pace myself when doing multi day rides. I just returned a few weeks ago from 8 days of 250-275 miles/day riding/camping in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. I was GLAD to be off the bike at the end of day 8!!
I don't sleep real well when camping so that just adds to the cumulative fatigue effect. Fortunately, we did do a cabin/motel a few nights along the way so I could get in some decent sleep! I blew the rule about going easy on the booze the night we stopped in Ten Sleep and visited Justin's brewery... but not as bad as the other guys!!
We got a pretty late start the next morning...
But, we had made it up to the top of Apple Tree canyon and now we needed to link up with the rest of this trail. At this point we’ve rounded the southern end of the loop and should start heading back northward. ...
Too funny! On that first trip out there with my 530, I was leading a good sized group toward Apple Tree Canyon from the other direction. We bushwhacked and backtracked a couple of times before we managed to make the connection and then continue on down Apple Tree Canyon. I think I have many of the same pictures you do of that spot where the trail picks up again! The actual trail was in pretty good shape when we did it, but there were a lot of big branches and some trees because of a storm that had come through in March and done a LOT of damage. We were there in late May and there were many trails that were closed because they had not yet been cleared or were in the process of being cleared.
The thread is REALLY making me want to do another trip out there!!