• Biking

Post Irene Ride at Cathedral

Had to stay really late fixing up some server issues after the storm so decided to go in a little late this morning and ride instead. I don't know what I was expecting to see back on the trails after the hurricane, but it was pretty bad. In places you couldn't tell the trail from the underbrush, in others the trail was fine but then suddenly I'd come upon a fallen tree that had to be clambered over or around. I counted 17 trees that will require serious chainsaw work or a re-route of the trail around it. It took me an hour and a half to do the 10 miles (all black diamonds and optional trails) where its usually about an hour ride. From time to time I was catching the telltale whiff of decomposition - something I didn't think about ahead of time, but was obvious in retrospect since the little critters were caught out in the storm with trees and branches were crashing around them. I didn't see any little corpses, but wasn't looking too closely as navigating the post-apocalyptic bike trail took most of my concentration.