• Biking

First ride of 2011

I finally got out to Cathedral last weekend. I was pressed for time and had to go earlier than I might otherwise have so when I left it was still only about 50 degrees F. I haven't done really any work on the bike which is now 9 years old (I didn't get it new) but I was able to inflate the tires and go and didn't have any technical problems. I haven't done any work on me over the winter either though so I wasn't quite sure how I would do. I managed to do most of the first 3 black diamonds (successfully climbed the first 2 of the killer hills in the back but then skipped the last one after ending up leaning on a tree breathing hard at the top of the second) but then skipped all the rest. The only reason I made those hills was the sweet bed of mulch they've laid down on them to slow erosion. My goal for that day was to do as much as I could in an hour and while I felt I could have done some more BDs as I kicked by the entrances to them, I was so slow (and winded) that sticking on the main trail for the rest of the ride filled out the time perfectly. There was a lot of dead wood cut and laid out along the trail indicating how much trail work had to be done to open this year. All told I only did about 7 miles, but it was great to be out on the trail again!