marcach gabhair uimhir a dho

second goat ride today, with a bit extra after everyone else ran home. did a little bit of a preride of the upcoming buzzards bash course. up snowbowl via the steep/technical end trail. not so technical when you walk it. over to the fire tower and down the hill. then back up the hill. into the woods a little on what i thought was the trail. it wasn't. back down the hill, one switchback further this time, and there it was.

pushing uphill in snow poses the biggest challenge to winter riding footwear. the metal cleat and hard sole transfer the cold from the snow, and the gaps where the cleat mount to the shoe transfer the water up into the shoe. i generally do pretty well with colder temps, but when my feet get wet, they become a little more human.

luckily, once your feet go numb, you can't even tell that they're cold anymore. so up the hill i pushed/rode. it wasn't that big. maybe 150ft of elevation gain. from the top is one of my favorite local descents. a twisty, steep, rocky quad trai with a solid surface, leading into a fast and fun switchback doubletrack. i guess it used to be a road, as there's a twisty arrow sign on one of the trees, and the trail is indeed twisty. the turns all have these awesome dropoffs where the trail washed out, but it's not washed out in a bad way, as far as riding it goes.

up the road a little and the climb starts on pavement. up to the top, turn in before the rattlesnake drainage, and on to the aptly named 'steep trail'. used to be a mapped and used dirt road. the actual dirt road is beyond washed out now though, and not even the quads will touch it. they've created a suitable bypass though, and beyond a little hike up the first bit, it's a managable trail on a good day. the puddles on the powerlines trail were all frozen over well enough to ride, which was a treat. the downhill was as good as always, starting technical, then getting steep and fast, then into the technical/washed out bottom portion.

by this time, despite the synlube covered gel i downed in the middle of that really fun, twisty downhill, i was getting awfully hungry. my parents house was a mere two miles away, so i figured why not. took the slightly longer route so that i would actually ride more of the course. got there, got fed, got warm, got comfy, got too comfy to go back out in the cold, got a ride back to my truck.

a bit over 25 miles on the day. good enough for my third post-la-ruta-ride.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4584020