The temperature was reportedly about 16° (so said the Weather Network online anyways). I highly doubt the accuracy of that, though, as it felt closer to 12° or less! Either way, it was a good, warm ride home. I felt pretty good today, so I decided to take the dirt path/trail detour around the trailer park and then continued on down to Peterson’s Creek. The trails going down were good, fast, and only 2 joggers with their dog today so it was pretty quiet. I made the root out of the creek, and again I made the climb up and over the east bank, so that was cool! I attempted the long, straight and steep climb up out of the valley and made it a decent distance (not a record, but a good effort). I had trouble keeping the front wheel down and straight again.
At the top, I decided to keep going again up Frolek’s upper road, rather than heading down the gulley trail like I usually do. I also decided that today was my day to do some extra exploring. Next week the time change will happen, meaning that I will be riding home in the dark and as such I will not be wanting to do any type of exploring for a while if at all. That means that this week is probably the last week I have to ride up on any of the upper trails that I’ve never been to yet all year. Seeing as how I was feeling good today, I decided to jump on this opportunity and head up. And up. And UP! Yep, I found some single-track and roads that took me as high as I’ve ever been on a bike. At the top, I came to a fork in the road. I really wanted to go right and keep heading up higher, but the light was getting less and less, so I decided that I should head east towards home instead. As I did, I noticed a herd of about 15-20 deer in a little valley. Most of them ran off when I came down, but a couple just stood there as I rode by, crazy!
I found a couple more quick sections of single-track to ride, but before long I was back down on Frolek’s upper road where I’ve been a couple of times this year. I followed the road, thinking that my exploring had come to a rather quick end already when I noticed a piece of single-track heading off towards the valley. At first, I didn’t really want to take it as it was getting dark and I figured it probably would end up going over the edge of some crazy downhilling cliff… But, I figured where is my sense of adventure? So, I pointed the bike down this trail and took off. And, man, it was was so much fun! The trail basically wound back and forth and around, all the while staying at the top of the valley ridge. Nothing too technical at all, just flowing single-track with a few quick switchbacks mixed in. If the lighting was better, I would’ve snapped a couple of pictures as the views were amazing! The trail continued along the ride where I finally saw my FIRST BEAR!!! Yep, I noticed something black and furry take off a ways away and looked up and sure enough, it was a black bear. Running for his life! Thank goodness… 
Anyways, the trail soon started going down, riding along the edge of the hill. It was rather freaky with the lighting disappearing fast, and a cliff on my left. The trail was probably no more than a foot wide in sections! So this is where my sense of adventure is…
It was so much fun exploring. I added about 15 minutes to my ride, and 2-1/2 kilometers, but it was a lot of fun. Too bad I waited so long in the year to do this!!! Maybe I will get out on the weekend with Dave or something, as there was a ton of trails to be explored at the top when I started heading down instead. If not, next year I will be riding up here for sure a LOT!
So you're supposed to lean as far forward as you can when steep climbing to keep the front wheel from bobbing out of control and light grip on bar. At least that's what I was told and it seems to work. Glad that bear got out of your way, did I tell you the time we almost ran one over on a fast downhill?
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