September 28th (Afternoon)

Another warm ride today (26°) which was pretty cool. I had to do some on-trail adjustments to the brakes again by the bottom of the Billy Minor trail. I barely made it up and over the root on the east bank as instead of clicking the finger shifter on the left (to go to the small ring on the front), I instead clicked the finger shifter on the right (down one harder cog on the back)! So, instead of my usual 1-2 gear combo, I went through the creek in 2-3… Hah! Oops… Anyways, even after stopping and shifting to the right gears I still didn’t make the climb out again. Man, I haven’t made this little climb again after 3 successful attempts last week. What’s going on???

At the top of Peterson’s Creek valley, I cleared the rock wall again with one of my better efforts where I had enough momentum to carry me 85% of the way and only had to pedal the last 15%. By allowing my momentum to carry me over, it ensures that I don’t smash my pedals on the rock which is a good thing!

I came down the first gulley trail and then decided to try a new trail down another gulley that I haven’t ridden on yet. I’ve noticed it as I ride by it a few times, and I figured that I knew where it came out below, so I thought what the heck? I walked the first 20 feet as it was quiet steep and rocky, and I had stopped at the top to survey the trail and couldn’t get back on in time (I will ride it 100% tomorrow though). It was a fun little trail. Not quite as fun and fast as the first gulley trail, but sort of in between it and the other gulley trail I normally take. It’s more open, has a couple of flatter sections, and then a couple of steeper sections too. Mixed into that are two spots with very large and ugly rocks that require some precision lines! Maybe I’ll try snapping some pictures of it tomorrow?

Other than that, the ride home was good. Physically I felt pretty good. Not top notch, but good enough to get a few sprints in across Juniper in the big gears. I caught up to two women jogging at the end of Juniper and when I said “Hi” the one lady about had a heart attack! I guess I need to yell much further back, but sheesh! A little high strung maybe???