Are You Living It?

On Saturday Ryan, Seth and I headed out for a ride up Starvation Mountain off Highway 20 in the Methow. For those not familiar with the area it is home to some of the most amazing cross-country riding and the valley is a thing to behold on its own.

We were camping on our property near Winthrop and Saturday morning we loaded up in the Red TDI and headed up to the trail just outside of Twisp.  Ryan was driving and keeping us entertained.  As has been mentioned before Ryan keeps himself fit (that is an understatement).  So Seth and I were a bit nervous as to what might be in store for us….

The trail had seen a lot of rain in the past few days, which is good for the tackiness but it caused a lot of washouts and the ruts to build up. The area has seen a few burns in the recent past but this adds to the uniqueness of the riding. That said, the ride up lightning creek was sweaty and a bit loose but well worth it.

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Once you leave the Lightning Creek singletrack you head up the logging road consistently climbing to the top. Ryan was well in the lead and checked back at least once to make sure we were still making it. Once at the top we had some great views, food and rest before we moved on to our final small climb and the amazing descent.

My pedal legs were giving out on the last climb and had to walk a bit but I was sincerely rewarded with some amazingly fast singletrack through burns. Smooth, silky, tacky…fast. Such a blast.

After some amazing riding you finally end up riding a deceptively challenging side hill back in for the return trip. Not to mention the side hill had numerous washouts from the recent rain. All three of us took at least on spill. We went down to the river when we got back to the car, made the quick trip to the store to grab some deuces and then it was off to the pizza joint. I think Angel’s Staircase is up next!

Check out the whole slideshow of the entire trip when you have time:

Posted By: Josh Mather