New Years Day Ride
This fall, I spent a little bit of time pondering moving to Salida. With some big bike riding plans this summer, I was tempted by their more temperate winters and their general ability to ride year-round. But the action ended at pondering as opportunities are starting to arise for us on this side of the divide, and I reasoned that if I really got a hankering to go ride trails, it was a $20 gas bill to get over the hill.
So I find it highly entertaining that a huge Salida crew came over to ride Hartmans on New Years Day. While their trails are covered in snow and their roads are covered in ice, we are experiencing one of the worst snow-fall early seasons ever seen in the valley. This means one thing: dry trails.
We convinced ZachG to come down with us with his trusty Schwinn Moab. Zach came to CeeBee to ski, as is shown by his internship with CS Irwin and has been putting up some big tours with Chris. He didn’t bring his real bike with him to CeeBee, figuring he wasn’t going to be mountain biking. Take a looksie at the sticker. It made me laugh…really hard.
But he rallied the Moab. It was one of the more impressive bike riding feats I think I’ve ever seen. With a blown fork seal, every rock he hit sent oil splattering on his shirt. His pedals were missing parts by the end. But the pannier rack stayed on, barely. The water bottle cage didn’t fare so well. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. The stories that Cat told me of him nursing his exploded bike down to Durango during the CTR in 2010 indicate an amazing skill level of riding non-functional bikes.
Anyhow, we rallied. Fast group of uber-strong riders who very clearly hadn’t been able to ride trails for far too long and took the pace out like caged animals released into the wild. It definitely made me ride faster than I have in a good long time, but dang, it was a good time.
It felt not fair. New Years Day. Temperatures in the 40’s. Sun. Beautiful trail. Beautiful people. I’d really like to ski, but I guess I’ll just make the best of the situation with the 10 day forecast showing more sun and temperatures in the 40’s.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
Deposits in the Memory Bank 