Disclaimer: I hereby apologize for any damage which my bike and I may have inflicted upon the trails this morning. It was not done with any malicious intent. It was done for the sake of enjoyment and entertainment. Portions of this blog or disclaimer may not be used without the express written consent of this blog author.
I've pondered all day trying to figure out what to title this post. I've also tried to come up with a way to eloquently describe the riding conditions at the Cove this morning. I can try to put it into words, and I hope that my readers can get an idea of what I'm saying. Paula, Laura and I met at 10 this morning for a ride at the Cove. I had ridden Christmas Day and knew that the trails were muddy. I'm not sure what you'd call the weather that I woke to. It was like a heavy dew?!? I don't know. Weird, 60 degrees on December 28th? We're all going to die of some dreaded plague at this rate. Don't get me wrong, I like 60's; but I like them when it's appropriate. I want my winter in winter, spring in spring, etc.
Anyway. We set out to ride our normal course - Songbird, Arrowhead, Schoolhouse, Little Bell, Forest (I agree with Brian now, nothing Enchanted about it), Comet. Songbird was the first hint that it was going to be a slick ride. The muck has gotten muckier since Christmas Day. It was much like trying to pedal through well peanut butter (thanks for that comparison Paula). Many times back wheels were sliding off the trail or into ruts. There were many mud puddles to splash through. Soon the tires were packed with mud thereby creating an even less traction. It was actually pretty funny, but added much resistance to pedaling. If you ride a bike trainer, you know how you can pedal sometimes and the back wheel slips over the roller. Imagine doing that over and over again as you inch uphill.
Paula was out on her maiden voyage on Clarence (a new, Gary Fisher Rig 29'er SS - congrats!) so pictures were take before, during and after the ride. I've sent them to her, so that she can show off her new ride. I had to stop at one point because I bottomed out the front shock again. So I took a few pictures before tinkering with the Reba in hopes of having it function halfway correctly. It sucks when you can't go over obstacles or trust that it's going to work in a turn. I guess I should have just brought my SS, but I didn't feel like I could do very well on it in the mud. Alas , it was another reserved ride down Songbird and an agonizing, slow and annoying ride up Arrowhead for me. I was growing more and more frustrated with my bike, but I wasn't going to ruin the entire day. I tried a log hop - CLANK CLANK, ow my hands. Tried a creek crossing - CLANK, stop. Decided to walk to the rest of the creek crossings. I waded right through one with my new shoes - dry feet! YAY! I tinkered with the shock again and clanked my way down Arrowhead - not much fun with barely any front suspension. Maybe I'll go buy a rigid fork - at least I can't screw that up. Argh - that's what's most irritating about the shock. I didn't do anything to cause this! It was fine one day then 12 days later it's barely functional. WTH?!?!?
So we had a great ride - Paula was showing some skills - jumping logs, catching air, pitching the bike left/right/left with ease. She looked very comfortable on her new ride. After riding the creek crossings on Songbird, and nearly soaking myself completely on the last one, we had to get up the mucky, hill to the end. This was like riding in wet cement. Once we crossed onto Little Bell I was tempted to try some logs, but decided against it as I didn't want to damage the guts of the fork. It's probably as bad as it's going to get, but why risk it. Decided to ride out by Forest and Comet. I think it was Forest where we really got sucked into some thinck mud. I put my bike in granny gear and spun my bike wheel like a station wagon going up an icy hill. I was literally laughing as I rode then found myself hoping Laura wasn't directly behind me. OOPS. I think it was also on Forest that we found the unexpected mudholes filled with water. We eased our way through them then guilt began to set in about riding on the trails when they are so wet. By now we'd been riding a while. We exited by Comet - which used to be a good trail. I hate this one section now as it's such a mess - no good line and mud ruts. Then, there is this place where they tried to improve the trail but really made it worse. Just don't like it right now, but it still beats the fireroad.
Anyway really enjoyed being out and about today. It was good to have people to ride with. Thanks for riding P & L. Hopefully we can have more regular rides now that the holidays are over. Anyway, ride was fun, mud was good - tastes gross, less filling. I had to stop at the local car wash on the way home to rid Ritchey of his extra coating. I couldn't stand to see it anymore. NO, I DID NOT SPRAY DIRECTLY ON THE BIKE, so don't worry there. Hopefully he dries out ok. I'll check on him tomorrow after work.
Good night. =)
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