They're not called the 'Goodlands'

The Maah Daah Hey trail is truly one of the most rugged trails there is. The fact that North America's longest continuous singletrack trail lies in the Badlands of North Dakota should, alone, let you know that you will be in the middle of nowhere. A friend of mine, Nick Ybarra, invited a group of riders to ride the 111-mile trail from end to end in hopes of having someone set a new trail record - which I believe stands at 15 and a half hours. I coaxed training partner and friend, Josh, into making the trip back home with me. (which nearly coincided with my great grandmother's 100th birthday!) The catch: Josh had to work until 3pm the day before the ride, meaning we would be pushing it to make the start time of the ride - 4:30AM.

I need to mention that a few days before we headed out, another North Dakota native, Ryan Levander, passed through Colorado to do a half Ironman and do some more riding. He came out to Golden and I loaned him my training bike so he could get a taste of some front range riding. As Josh, Ryan and I made it up Chimney Gulch and over towards Apex, we came upon a sharp right-hander. Josh and I have ridden this several times so we knew what was up. However, Ryan has not and when we heard how fast he was going we knew he was in trouble. Just as we looked back we saw Ryan fly through the air and land smack dab on the side of his face. After a few seconds of unconsciousness he became aware of what happened. When he asked me for the 3rd straight time if my bike was okay - and after he told us we didn't take the photo that we just took 10 minutes earlier - we knew it was time for me to get the car... I felt comforted knowing that Josh has been working in emergency rooms for the past couple months. He got Ryan to the hospital and the CT scan proved that it was a concussion and nothing more. Nothin' like gettin' your bell rung...

Fast-forward to 2AM Friday morning. Josh and I pulled into my parents' driveway and within 15 minutes we were eating a breakfast feast that my mom whipped up. It was a weird feeling eating such a huge breakfast at 2:30AM... My mom had also prepared, labeled, and packed all of our food for the ride. I can honestly say that no ProTour cycling team in the world has the support I get from my mom. After slamming the food, it was off to the trail head - another hour and a half from where we were.



We ran a few minutes late, but made it before the scheduled departure time. I was surprised that Nick and crew were already gone, but then found out why they had already left... look closely.



Nick had left directions on how to navigate around Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This re-route is pretty short, but it's local knowledge. Josh and I spent an hour and 45 minutes roaming around the tall grass and the rugged ridges of the Badlands. Josh was super positive and would crack jokes whenever we would find ourselves completely turned around. I'd be saying things like, 'I think we should be about three ridges over.' and he'd be singing 'Piano Man' (or something like that...) This map shows you how lost we actually got. Keep in mind that this does NOT show you the time we spent off the bike roaming around as my gps was attached to my handlebar.



Back on the trail and hauling, I noticed Josh started to get a little quiet. I could see he was getting really hungry and he kept mentioning food. When we finally reached the cooler that Nick's dad had left for us just shy of halfway, Josh attacked it like he was about to eat his last meal. 1500 calories later (I'm probably exaggerating... maybe not) He asked me, 'Should I have another Ensure?' 'NO!! You're going to be in a coma if you eat any more...'

Well, 30 minutes later, Josh had the most colossal physical and mental collapse I've ever seen him have. We're talking about a seasoned professional mountain biker here. Even as we're back in Colorado, we're still unclear of exactly what happened out there. As it became clear we weren't going to make it back to Medora - the end of the trail - we decided it was time to pull the plug. The dangerous thing about this trail is that you can't just call it quits and walk off the trail. We were in the middle of nowhere. Luckily we stumbled upon a rancher working on a random cattle water well. Even though Red (what a great name!) was hesitant at first, he not only gave us a ride back to Medora (35 miles away) he also gave us a tour of the ranch where he worked, Elkhorn Ranch. Turns out that Elkhorn has an account with my family's business. How's that for a small town connection!

We were greeted with smiles and hugs from my mom, aunt, cousin and grandma. We had some good food and shared our story - all in all a great time considering the circumstances.

Josh and I hung out with my family all day the next day and enjoyed the beautiful summer weather. It seems every time I go home, I never have enough energy to enjoy the small town bar scene. (I'm not really a bar guy, but hey - when in Rome...) Josh and I headed to the local bar where we ran into all sorts of fun. We got heckled by a group from a bachelorette party, ran into some of my old friends, and we just about got caught in the middle of a bar fight between a couple big cowboys from Texas and some 'dudes' from the local college.



I can never really thank my family enough for their generosity and hospitality. It made for a truly unforgettable trip.