recappin'

What a last couple of crappy days, huh? I was moderately excited to get out and ride on Monday, Memorial Day, but it was not to be. All day long rain and cold temps kept me unmotivated and off the bike. Optimistically, I thought Tuesday would be better. After all, Tuesday is ride day, it has to be nice right?

Well, I woke to rain very early on. The rest of the day was cloudy and overcast, but there was no rain. I even caught a glimpse of the sun for brief amount of time. With that in mind, I was confident that if we drove into the hills for a ride at 6, all would be good.

We arrived at our destination and it was chilly! I mean, really chilly, almost dowright cold. 8000' of elevation, fog, and a narrow river canyon did nothing to help warm the air. A steep climb out of the gate sounded like just the ticket. The fog was thick and hung all around, but the skies held tight and it did not rain. The steep and rocky terrain shed water like a champ. The sandy and, at times, organic black dirt provided perfect traction. The rocks were dry, too. That's always important when you're riding after a rain. One wet rock can make all the difference on a ride sometimes.

The rains had softened up the soil considerably. There was some fresh deadfall so we performed a little impromptu trail maintenance.

There had been enough rain lately that the old south was raging.

We were about ready to wrap up and the fog set in thick. Like ghosts in the mist we were.



Afterwards, I noticed that my backpack, camera bag, and everything else I had were very, very damp. Even though it was never raining outright, the air was thick and wet enough from the fog that it made a difference. It's rare that we get Washington-esque weather like this. I'm glad we savored it.