I started off from the parking lot, and went up Skull. It was a little chilly and a little foggy out. My tires were sliding around on everything. I think I had pumped them up too much, so I let a little air out of both of them. That seemed to solve the problem, so I kept going.
At the top of skull I headed up the fire road all the way to Trillium. At one point Heart stopped following me, and deked off into the bush. I couldn’t see her for a minute, and she didn’t come when I called her. Odd when I have cookies in my pocket. I figured she found a bone that a crow had carried off from the dump, so I went back to get her. Sure enough she had something in her mouth. I grabbed it, and as I was tossing it further into the bush I saw that it was a plastic food covering that had some pastey, liquidy, white goo in it, and good god did it ever smell awful. And I got it all over my right glove. And my glove has holes in the fingers, so I got some on me! I wiped it off as best I could, but I could still smell it. I ended up having to take off my gloves and ride bare handed. Not ideal.
The ascent up the fire road to Trillium took me a lot less time than I thought it was going to, so I didn’t even take a break at the top. The descent down Trillium was fun, but a couple times I felt my tire bottom out. I would have to be careful I didn’t pinch flat.
After Trillium I headed up Sidewinder, then along North Ridge. While heading up North Ridge I could see a few sun rays beaming through the mist. Very, very cool. After North Ridge I wanted to hit Snakes and Ladders. I also wanted to do Who’s Yer Daddy, since I saw some new trail work there that I wanted to try. What to do?
I chose to do both. I rode to the top of Snakes and Ladders. At the rest break at the top, the sun was out and it was beautiful. The clouds were still hanging out down below, which meant I couldn’t see the parking lot. I love when that happens. I did a quick descent of Snakes and Ladders, then went back up the fire road a second time to catch Who’s Yer Daddy. Good call. The climbing was doing me some good.
The new sections were pretty good, and I even caught a bit of air. Sure enough though, two thirds of the way down my back tire felt a little squishy, and when I stopped I could hear the air hissing out. Damn. I unpacked my tools and set about changing the tube. It didn’t take me that long, but I did discover that one of my tire levers was broken.
After WYD, I ended with the trail that drops in to the TTA. All in all a gorgeous ride. Back at the truck the dog was pooped, and I was feeling the post ride afterglow.
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