Back at it...

Well, I got on the bike over the weekend.  Saturday saw a gingerly paced ride in PC up the Armstrong Trail.    I was attempting a couple of things...one, to ride and see how my neck felt and two, to ride the new Pinecone Trail to see where it goes.

I accomplished the first with more than satisfactory results.  My neck, albeit tender, felt ok....and things felt ok after the ride too...but I'm getting ahead of myself.  I started out later in the day than normal and prior to a planned night out (which didn't materialize after Friday nights debacle).  With rain assured but not known when, I started the ride outta the parking lot toward the trail head not really knowing how things were gonna turn out.

I took the climb easy and enjoyed however long I was gonna be riding...coulda been 5 minutes if my neck started flaring up.  I ended up passing each bail out with a feeling like, "I might actually make it".  I did make it to the top of the climb where Armstrong intersects the Mid Mountain...and that's when the rain started in earnest.  I continued on with the idea that I'd be riding down in the trees and wouldn't get too wet but the storm was a bit more strong than I anticipated and, before long, I was riding in a river of water down the centerline of the singletrack all the way down Spiro.  Your Mom isn't even as dirty as I was after the ride.  Pinecone will have to wait.

I limped back to the car (for the first time, I didn't bring beer for apres ride) and swaddled into a blanket for the drive home.  I was actually cold.

Sunday brought better, cooler weather with some sprinkles but in and out of the rain drops, I managed to thoroughly clean my bike and ready it for another possible trail ride.  I got some things out of the way and, with a later dinner planned, got kitted up and out the door for a ride on the Shoreline.  Up Dry Creek and down City Creek was the plan and the plan worked out.  Cooler temps, great trail conditions and pretty much no one on the dirt.  You know the trail is in good shape when you start the ride with a shiny, clean bike and end of the ride pretty much the same.....and easy hour and it felt pretty good too.  It's nice to be back on the bike.

That's it for Monday's installment.

Ciao