What A Weekend!

[Dave_Schuldt]

Capitol Forest, south of Olympia.

MTB ride Saterday

 

After figuring out who was going to ride with who we pulled out of the 65th P & R a few minutes late. On the way down Gordon (who had 2 hours of sleep) called and said he was 40 miles behind us, we then saw a speed trap near Olympia and called to let him know. We started riding in the fog at 10:30, we left Igor behind to wait for Gordon. We soon got above the for into the warm sunshine on the first climb. Off came the clothes and out came the sweat. Igor and Gordon caught up with us at the top. We road along and passed close to lead slinging area. From the sound of it, the are may also be an artillery range. After the guns 3 decided to bail, I thought about it and Igor said “Come on, you can do it” I had some more food and felt better. Up we went all the way to the peak. The summit is forested so no views this time. Got to ride through some snow patches, they reminded us that it’s still “winter”. We then had a great 2,000’ down hill. Great trail, not too steep with nice wide switch backs. My new front shocks are worth the money. We started the final climb as the sun was setting. Almost had to use the headlamp for the last few miles back to the cars. The only mechanical was some chain suck which was quickly fixed with lube.

The trails are drying out nicely, however the mud is now like a thick stew instead of a thin soup we found in January. Saw some more gravel had been spread since the last time we were down there.

37 miles, 6100’ of gain and 2,000 calories (plus breakfast, 2 PB&Js at the trail head and dinner) for a total of 8 hours.

No horses until 4/1 so get down there while you can.

If you find a front fender, it’s mine, I couldn’t figure out why there was so much mud flying around till someone asked me where my fender was.

 

Sunday, relaxed.