2009 Berryman Epic Pictorial

The second running of the Berryman Epic was a wet one. With the river out of its banks and the trails in less than great shape, riders got wet and muddy but the weekend's spirit remained high.

This year the promoters scored a Mueller's beer trailer from the Springfield, MO microbrewery. The BT Epic crew provided tons of prizes and very fairly pulled tickets from a Tour or Race bucket. The winner then pulled out another ticket to see what they won. Cool! - you could end up with Winter Mint Gu or a Garmin GPS unit, it was your call.

The stars were aligned, however, because both Scott Whitaker and Lisa Troehler won two of the three Redline 8-speed d440 29ers being raffled off. The raffle entries were sorted based on sizing so the odds were better for the bikes. Way to go GORC!

Here are some weekend photos from my camera. Unfortunately, I'm missing good photos of Kevin, Steph and myself due to some blurry images.

Here's a link to the race results and below is the list of Tour riders I found online:
First finishers of the Tour are in:

Gerald Hart 6.41.16
Nate Means 6.50.56
Lawrence Colvin 6.54.53
Clinton Chandler 7.13.39
Lonnie Kinkade 7.13.40
Scott Saunders 7.22.26
Jamie Roberts 7.46.27
Bill Turner 8.17.16
Matthew Soraghan 8.17.17
Cynthia Bradley 8.23.47
John LeBlanc 8.24.03
Lorinda Putter 8.24.33
Yuri Cook 8.24.34
James Mercer 8.24.35
Alan Corum 8.28.30
Lisa Longinotti 8.28.31
Jessica Kovarik 8.35.10
Dan Clinkinbeard 8.35.11
Donovan Evans 8.55.23
Jiri Doksansky 8.55.46
Joshua Carroll 8.57.08
Jim Davis 9.03.55
Jeff Mittler 9.03,56
Jeff Foes 9.06.20

As for GORC member racers here's some from the list:

Placement out of 110 finishers or so

12 Mike Barro - Momentum Cycles Racing 5.10.03 (2nd place SS!!!)
20 Larry Koester - GORC 5.30.35 (4th place SS ?!!?)
38 Bryan Adams - GORC 5.58.10
43 Brian Busken - Momentum Cycles Racing 6.01.15
64 Scott Peipert - Wild Trak Bikes 6.46.58
86 Rob Ballou - GORC 7.31.45
90 Kevin Bonney - Mesa Cycles 7.39.46
95 Wendy Davis - Trail Monster 7.49.12
114 Matt Hayes GORC DNF (ouch!)

PS - getting a cabin is the only way to go!

Saturday Tour Day

The river at Bass River Resort was out of its banks and only the taller full-size trucks could brave the waters towing tandem trailers to bring Tour riders to the other side. The water was waist-deep at the low-water bridge crossing.

Joshua Carroll (finished) and Scott Whitaker (rode approx. 28mi) ready for 56 miles of wet fun.

Shot of the Tour riders getting the lowdown.

Lisa (rode about 45mi) crossing the bridge at Brazil creek

Jim Davis (finished) crossing the Brazil Creek

Sunday Race

Racers crossing the river using a tandem trailer and some palettes to stay dry. One rider tried to pass everyone and ended upside down in the river. Wet and foolish at the same time. Ouch.

Scooter checking in at Berryman.

Bryan Adams getting some refills...

Larry Koester on his rigid 29er SS. He did very well on his first Berryman Epic.

Hats off to the promoters - Springfield Bike Co. - for clearing the trail of deadfall and posting 300+ trail arrows. I don't think anyone got lost.

Get ready for next year.

Promoting Us at REI National Park Night

Tuesday night several club members went to REI to showcase the goods and the goodness of GORC. Held at the REI in Brentwood, the night celebrated being outdoors and the country's treasures - our National Parks. REI sponsored the night and promoted Ken Burns' new National Parks documentary.

We sold a few hoodies and answered questions about the local trails. If just one new person comes out to a workday or joins the club then you could call the night a success. We also made contact with a few other organizations that are on the lookout for volunteer opportunities for their respective members.

Organizations also in attendance tonight included the Wild Bird Sanctuary, St. Charles County Parks, St. Louis County Parks, Missouri Conservation Department, the Ozark Trail Association and several other groups.

We will also be selling our hoodies and shirts at the Berryman Epic this weekend. Be sure to stop by and say hi.

See you on the trail!

Day 8 & 9 - Side Trip / Home Bound / Wilson Lake

Our last day in Breckenridge was met with rain and so Lisa and I decided to road trip down to the Royal Gorge about 80 miles away and then head up through Salida to check out the downtown scene (and to relive some cool memories in that town).

1053 below you can see the Arkansas River and set of railroad tracks

It looks like a postcard but this is the view from the observation shelter. Pictures and descriptions are nothing compared to actually seeing the gorge. Truly impressive and lives up to the hype.

That night everyone got wrecked one last time before the final push home. Ipods exploded, growlers were emptied, cigars torqued. The GORC Breckenridge trip was coming to a close...

Lisa and I woke up super early with hopes of riding Wilson Lake around Wilson, KS. I read about the trail on the Seagal website and it looked super fun.

This trail is 7 hours from St. Louis and marks the halfway point to the mountains. While the photos look terrific and it has the potential to be a fun trail, I was completely blown out and didn't have too much fun here. The constant wind, beating sun and off-camber/sandy/gravel-on-hardpack made for less-than-stellar ride. The terrain is cool and the views are neat but I can't recommend it unless you're HEADING to the mountains and want a warm-up ride on the way. Maybe I had a bad day. Maybe I was bummed driving back to Missouri.

On the plus side it's only 8 miles off of I-70.

Sandy rock formations dot the landscape

Twisty little grinders

Very dry terrain, rocky and super hardpack. The trail must be cut with an ATV mower and it's mandatory as the desert-like grasses want to scrape you up.

Wilson Lake and the Switchgrass trail - a 15 mile loopy loop

When the trail stayed high along the ridges it was fast and flowy

Curves of madness!

It's Sunday now and work comes tomorrow. I'm dreaming of Durango.

Day 6 & 7 - Keystone / Two Elks near Vail, CO

Lisa and myself rode up Keystone gulch to check out the Erickson Mine while the GORC crew rode Spruce Creek / Burro Trails near Breckenridge.

Beavers owned the stream following Keystone Gulch and you could see where staff kept knocking down the dams to keep the road from flooding.

Near the timberline you could walk about 30 feet into a mineshaft.

Outside the mine shaft. Some hardy folks worked this area.

Near the top of Keystone Gulch approaching the historic Erikson Mine

Hard rock mining at the top of the world - looking towards the Breckenridge valley two mountain over - you can make out the ski runs in the distance.

Mine ruins above the world

Descending back to Keystone - 7.5 miles up (2 hours) / 7.5 miles down (20 minutes)

The next day everyone rode Two Elks and Bowman's Shortcut from Vail Pass down into Minturn. Epic!

A view at "Top of the World" - a 360 degree view of mountains - very humbling

You can't really make it out but this is a wall of dirt so heinous that I had to stop and get a picture. Some people rode it all the way out!

Scooter coming down Bowman's Shortcut

They look like rocks or flowers but they're really free-range sheep

Scott and Scott passing through a wildflower meadow. Two Elks dropped through one of Vail's ski runs and followed a tight creek valley all the way down into Minturn.

Marvin in the meadow

A new bridge crossed the river - here Lisa takes a break.

Everyone made it safely down into Minturn some 3,000 feet lower than at our highest point

Day 4 & 5 - Peaks Trail & A Rest Day

Group photo before heading onto Peaks Trail in Breckenridge

This is how you fix the pine beetle problem - or build mansions

Flowing on Peaks

Gnarl sketch section after descending gently at speed almost got me wrecked

Group photo by Rainbow Lake

Dirt jumps in Frisco at the end of Peaks Trail

Rest day - Matt, Lisa, Bryan, Steph and Scooter went to the South Park museum in Fairplay

Then we drove up to Leadville via Buena Vista. It was busy for the upcoming Leadville 100.

Day 2 & 3 - Kenosha Pass and Local Trails (and a Mine)

More photos from the GORC trip. All from Matt's camera.


Durango Doug took myself and Lisa to a mine he saw from the house driveway. Spontaneous decision at dusk to check it out. Climbing in and out below the gate was a challenge. Worth the effort, though.

Checking out inside the mine, Doug leads me deeper into the unknown. The rocks on the ground are from the mine roof breaking apart over time.

You can see how far back we went inside. Lisa stayed at the gate and probably thought we were crazy. However, she did check it out once we didn't die from a cave-in.

Just outside the mine and getting very dark outside.

Kenosha Pass trailhead

At the high point of the Kenosha to Breckenridge Colorado Trail - 11,985

Our bike shop

Coming up the pass

Solid new bridge construction on the CT

Bryan on Kenosha

Cool view

Mine near the Baker's Tank Loop

Durango Doug rounding the switchback

Riding up to the other house

Group shot before the 1st day ride.

One of the two homes the GORC crew had for the week. Easily a $2.4+ house (mansion)