Sorry to leave you guys hanging...I'll post the conclusion in a few minutes.
I must be missing some information here. Why didn't you just dig your bike out, turn around and ride out? No mention of the bike being damaged. Cool story though and way to think it out and be prepared. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
Good question. I managed to extract the bike before SAR showed up. After scouting ahead, it was clear that forward progress was not possible. My problem really came down to snow conditions, tire tread, and rider skill. There were a few spots that would have given me big problems riding downhill. If I had a riding partner that day, we could have safely walked the bike down the most challenging spots. Given that, I'm not too proud to admit that I feared injuring myself trying to go down the trail I had come up. Reading my past trip reports, people probably gather that I enjoy pushing my limits. However, once fear enters into the equation, the logical side of my brain says it's time to reevaluate. At the end of the day, I had to admit defeat and opt for the safest option available. Would have been cool to have conquered and shared a story of victory...will have to settle for a "lessons learned".
Okay, I'm calling BS on myself...what I really feared was a dramatic extraction that commanded the attention of the nightly news. Bones can heal, but once it made the fireside chat forum, I'de be roasted
