Mountain Bail Out Ride Option #1

I had no idea what to do this a.m.. I'm burned out on the road, dealing with cars and the jag offs that drive them. The wind was also howling like a bbbbeotch. I knew I wanted, nay- NEEDED time on my mountain bike. Since its rained like 19.95 out of the past 20 days or something like that I knew the trails would be the consistency of baby poop. So what to do....

Well after much deliberation and map consulting I thought it best to head to the mountain and piece together a little road/forest road loop to work on my climbing and get the f*ck out of Dodge. And there is NO better place to ditch "Dodge" and all the fecal matter that comes with it than the mountains!

I got all the climbing from my normal mountain loop ride, but ditched the would be too muddy trails for some road connectors and a couple damp double track snow mobile trails. The loop was about 28 miles and about and hour shorter than the full loop. But it was FUN and the best part was other than the 4 miles (total) of pavment that I had to do, I only saw TWO vehicles the entire ride. I like them stats.

With the lack of single track and REAL dirt, I had a bit more energy, so I tried to do a Brad and middle ring the climbs rather than resort to my granny. It WORKED! I had never even tried these never ending climbs out of my Granny before, but the middle ring got my ass up those climbs a minimum of 1 to 2 mph faster than the Granny. I knocked HUGE chunks of time off of the final Camp Run climb. I'm talkin' double digits.

The cool thing about today's loop was that I think it would make a killer Monster Cross loop. Granted I WAS on a soft tail 29er with 100 mm of suspension up front, but I totally believe with the right Cross set up (fatter than normal CX tires) this loop would make a killer course for a 3 Peaks-ish/Iron Cross Monster Cross race. Double the laps and you got yourself 90K of fun. Stay tuned for more info.

I was also able to solidify incorporating Seven Springs trails into the mix of my regular loop. My standard loop can now incorporate more single track AND lengthen the ride a good 13 miles or so, for a loop close to 45 or 50 miles.

The ride wasn't the longest, or the toughest, but it was WWWWWWWAY better than riding the road and WWWAY more fun. I love having shit weather options. I hope to return soon to get the new "real" loop going.

Not much else going on. Enjoying my new oven and all the options it now gives me for cooking up food. Might skip riding tomorrow so as to get maximum Wifey time before she has to get back to D.C.. I guess it all depends on what time she wants to leave, etc.,

Later.