Flagstaff Bike Ride and the Monkey Traverse

One of the great Boulder lunch-time workouts has got to be riding up Flagstaff Road (1500 vertical feet from the Creek Path) to the Amphitheater Road junction and then descending to the Monkey Traverse for a couple of laps before heading back to work.

I've done this many times in the past and I'm resurrecting it now to try and get my fingers back into shape after being out of the gym for so long. It doesn't replace 5.10/11's in Eldo, but I can do it during lunch.

Two weeks ago I went for the first time (alone) and didn't even break 20 minutes for the time-trial course on Flagstaff. Then I was only able to manage 1.5 laps on the Money. A few days later I went again and rode a bit faster (19:40) and then did 2 2/3 laps on the Monkey.

I've now decided that I'll do this workout every Monday and this past Monday I just rode up to the Monkey (it was super hot out) and didn't go clear to the junction. Then I was able to do three clean laps on the Monkey Traverse. I've seen this baby rated V4, but it can't be once you have it wired. It's a bit pumpy for sure and a bit scary at the exit, but no where near as technical as say the Vertigo dihedral (11b) or as insecure as the first pitch of the Naked Edge (11a). But it's a good, quick workout.

Next time I'll go for four laps and after that I'll try to reverse it. I've tried this before and I've never been able to reverse the entire thing.