The MTB Ride Before The Storm

Tomorrow, Saturday, the weather is supposed to be stormy. I was planning to race Hell of the North, but I'm not going if it rains and gets the dirt road section soaked as it would be a soupy, muddy mess. Add to that wind and cold and it just doesn't sound fun. The cyclocrossers are probably beside themselves with glee because of the forecast. ;-)

So with my precious Saturday possibly a complete bust, I cut out of work a little early to ride some dirt with my wife. I made it home by 5 and we were rolling at 5:15. We went up the water tank road then took the Frank connector trail to ride the same route we did for Jolene's birthday last year. There was snow and mud in spots, but most of it was fine, until we came to a large snow patch covering the last gully climb. We decided to just reverse course and do the last part of Frank. I love that section of trail - it's fast and flowy.



Back on the water tank road we went up again and considered our options. Jolene didn't want to go long (out to Lower Frank) so we went down the cliff trail. (Can you see the rider in the photo below?)





The trail follows an inclined cliff band down, then connects with the race track. It's dicey in a few spots. I clip out and push in the one section that's too close to the cliff edge for my comfort, and I panicked on a few other things, but I rode more if it than I have before, so that's something.

We did one and a half laps on the race track then exited down the gully that goes under a pipe. Then the usual parkway trail and city streets back to our house. The weather was overcast, but it didn't rain and it wasn't cold. A nice ride on our local dirt.