Impulsive BST

I got all fired up by Rick's report that the BST north of Dry Canyon was mostly dry. So after I missed my weather window for a lunch ride I decided to give it a ride after work, if the weather wasn't horrible. I left work late (6 pm) and dinner was ready when I got home so I ate and now it was getting late and isolated grey clouds dotted the sky. But in a fit of defiance I decided to go anyway. I stuffed some extra wind/rain clothing into the CamelBak and rode out of the garage.

As I huffed up the roads heading to Dry Canyon, I got a side ache. Hmm, do you think eating 4 pancakes with syrup, 3 strips of bacon and 2 glasses of milk could be the cause? Ya, I was stupid for wolfing down dinner then immediately riding.

Still, I was climbing pretty good all the way to the parking lot. And I perked up when I hit the single-track. (Trails give me a little rush.) I was climbing OK, but slowly slowing down. Near the top of the climb I was disgusted to see I was in granny - lame. I do this climb all the time in higher gears. I'll blame it on the pancakes.

On the exposed section of the trail it was almost dark but I had switched on my homebrew helmet light - still, I was having a hard time seeing well. A good amount of rock and dirt have sloughed down the uphill cut making the trail pretty narrow in spots with loose rock scattered about. It got my full attention. I felt like I rode it kind of timid and that bugged me. I'll blame that on the poor light conditions. (Yes, I have an excuse for everything.)

I came to a few muddy spots, but as Rick reported, they weren't bad. I've seen these a LOT worse. One year the horses had been through and post-holed it into swiss cheese at least 1.5 feet deep. I did OK, but clipped out a few times. I made it out to where the trail drops, then turned around because I wanted to see at least some of my daughter's basketball game.

Coming back it was now dark. The helmet light did OK, but the spot is too tight (just as Dave H. cautioned - I'll mod the light to give me a wider spot). I failed to climb a few not-very-hard spots and that annoyed me. No excuse this time - I was lame.

Several times I spooked deer grazing on the hillsides. I hit the downhill and felt good as I rolled it pretty smooth.

Back at the parking lot I couldn't resist the temptation of just a little more single-track so I jumped back on the BST heading south. There was one patch of snow, and a few muddy spots, but nothing too bad. There's a trail that doesn't get much use anymore that drops off the BST and connects back to the dirt road going up to the Dry Canyon parking lot. It's a fun little trail and I rode it pretty good, even with the loose rock. There's a pole fence near the end that's new - I guess to keep motorized stuff out - there was a trail around it to the right.

Near the dirt road my phone rang. The basketball game had been moved to another building. I zipped home on the streets, changed, jumped in my car and caught most of the 2nd quarter and all of the 2nd half. Sadly, they lost, but they played well - I was proud.

My new Schwinn jersey arrived today. I like how it looks. I'll be sure to wear it the next time I ride with Mark. He deserves some hassling for being down riding in short-sleeves in AZ this week. :-)

Update: Good thing I rode last night because the foothills got a skiff of snow overnight.