Went on another wicked ride today with Mike from work. It was a bit of a training ride, so we tried not to take any breaks. We met up at Tim Hortons, and after getting some coffee and food out of the way, we headed up to the dump. Next we had to sort out a few mechanicals but then we were off to the races.
We started off on Shock Treatment which was very, very overgrown. It rained earlier in the day, so I got rather wet from brushing against the grass and bushes. Heading back to the parking lot we turned up Regional Trail.
Climbing Regional I was feeling pretty good. I had dropped down to the granny ring at one point, so while we were waiting for the third person in our group, I zipped down the first hill, geared up to the middle ring, and hammered up the last climb a second time. I love attacking hills like that. Very fun.
We turned up Old Buck, then took the first right onto North Ridge. We followed that then took off onto Sidewinder. So far I was having a great ride. I was climbing everything without a problem, and was still feeling pretty fresh. On Sidewinder there is one really technical siwtchback where you need to swing the back end around to be able to ride through the turn. I made it. Always a good feeling. Specially since I had to swing the back end to the left, which I find more difficult.
After Sidewinder we decided to check out Mind Bender. The sign on the tree said that it was best to ride it top to bottom. We were at the bottom and wanted to check it out anyway, so we headed up. It was pretty difficult riding it, but it was a good challenge. Halfway through I started getting tired, and really, really hungry. My stomach start making some pretty loud grumbly noises. I started walking more sections since I was starting to feeling more and more tired. It was very slippery on the trail due to the wet cedar roots and I really didn’t want to hurt myself so I didn’t feel too bad for walking.
At the top of Mind Bender we took the road back to Who’s Yer Daddy. I know I rode it yesterday, but today I was on a different bike. Different trail on a hardtail. I didn’t take the big rock face like I did yesterday, but I still had lots of fun flowing the trail. Log drops, rock faces, twists and turns. Still fun.
We took the road back down to Skull. At the end of Skull I said goodbye to the guys, the headed back to my truck. Mike and Mark were going to head back up for another climb to kill their legs. Crazy.
I felt hungry but good after the ride. Definitely a great ride. I kicked the climbs, and zipped down the descents.