Monday, October 17, 2011

Sneaking one in.

Quick Stats:
- 53 Miles
- 6K’ of climbing
- 6 hours of moving time
- 3 weeks to 25 Hours of Frog Hollow, Solo

It was very quiet on the Ridge Trail Sunday morning

I watched the NWS forecasts all week knowing that I had some serious riding ambitions for the weekend and as Sunday crept closer, the forecast looked grim. The glimmer of hope was that the “heavy stuff” wasn’t supposed to come down until after noon on Sunday.

In hindsight, I should have mounted the lights and started really early. Instead, I enjoyed breakfast & coffee with M and was riding by 8:30 AM. The first three hours was some of the best mountain biking I have done this year. Crisp air, tacky trail, lingering fall colors, and zero people made for a perfect morning on the bike.

I parked at Phillip’s Canyon TH so that I could do a couple of big loops and have the option to grab more layers and/or raingear when I needed them. This proved to be a good plan. I got lightly rained on 3.5 hours into my ride and then with 1.5 hours to go, the skies parted and I got shelled. No big deal. I would like to find some good shoe covers with a tight seal above the ankle though.

Much of the trail was covered in Aspen leaves but there are plenty of fall colors left

I just had to stop and give this guy some head-scratches

No trails were harmed during this ride

1 comment:

Buzz said...

Solo epic? Nice!!

We just about have to go in circles to get 20 Miles here.

Glad you got a good one in 'for the *real* weather comes!

:-)