Sunday morning arrived too early. I didn’t get to bed until some time after 2am, so when my 8am alarm went off, I wasn’t at my best. My goal was to pick up Mike at quarter to nine, then head to Duncan to ride on Tzuhalem.

After eating some toast, drinking some coffee, and getting changes, I was already running late. Shortening the story a lot, I picked up Mike, we zipped up to Duncan, and discovered that James was running late.

When everyone finally showed up and was fully geared up, we started the long march to the top. Tzuhalem has lots of climbing followed by lots of really fast, fun, swoopy downhill, punctuated by a smattering of stunts along the way.

It was a hard ride for me. I was a little hung over, which for me means I was very lethargic. By the time we got to the top I was wiped. I really wanted to ride some of the stunts on Sunday, but I was just too out of it to do it safely. Plus, I wasn’t a big fan of the construction technique used on the stunts. The rung on the ladders were very angular pieces of wood that were set quite far apart. This made traction (in my mind) spotty. Mentally I wasn’t on my game, and I didn’t want to push myself too much, so I took it easy and tried to have fun.

In the end it was a great ride. I was thoroughly exhausted by the time we got back to the vehicles, but I was glad I got out. The whole ride had a wonderful chill in the air. I love fall riding!