It's Snowing!

Today I rode up Findley Rd.  (You can find the map for this ride in the older posts) I didn't ride to the top, stopped a little short.  It was starting to get dark and I was pretty tired.  When I first started up the road, it started to rain a little.  By the time I was most of the way up the road (past the last house) it was snowing.  I have decided I need to get some shoe covers to keep my feet from getting so cold.  The red clay mud is pretty gooey this time of year.  The Red clay goo makes for some interesting riding. When I lost balance after traction was compromised I put my foot down in the muck.  It is really difficult to clip back in when you have an inch of mud on the bottom of your cleat...

Christmas Eve?

My son and I went for a quick ride up the road for about 40 minutes or so.  Christmas eve... I was trying to tire him out- so that he would go to sleep tonight.  He gets so excited for Christmas.  Well, it tired me out too.  It has been quite some since I have ridden but it was a lot of fun.  It was raining a little on us.  We rode up to the out of the Way Cafe and then took a detour up Findley Rd for about a mile.

I need to ride again...

I haven't been riding for just about a month...  Am I really too busy?  This weekend I need to get some dirt on my tires.  Great weather for it!

A serious Ride... 27 miles

Yesterday, Dan and I rode up Findley, up Ferris Gulch, along the ridge up panther gulch and came out on the top of East Fork road.  From east fork Road we cruised back on the road back to the house.  It was quite a ride and my legs are still a little tired.  There a couple of great singletracks on this ride.  Dan had a 05 rockhopper comp that our nephew left in the garage.  I thought I'd give it a try since it has a front suspension fork.  Only problem is that it is a 17.5"  Which is quite a bit smaller than my 19inch 96' kona Kilauea.  It gave a pretty good ride.  The geometry is radically different.  I'm going to give it one more ride before I decide to stick with it.  I felt myself having to learn over the handlebars a lot on the climbs.

Top of Findley and Back again...

Another quick ride... This time I had my riding buddy with me who left me in the dust on the uphill.  I got to the top in about 41 minutes so I had a little incentive to try to catch up with Dan and shave some time off the climb.  I sure wish I had a front suspension fork.  The road in a few places is a serious washboard!  We left at high noon so I think the temperature got to me a little.

Quick Ride- Up to the top of Findley and back down

Today I rode up Findley Road to the top and raced back down again.  It is a great ride.  Technical areas with ruts, rocks and roots.  Much more fun to come down but my rigid front fork tends to give me a pretty good shaking...  It gets bumpy when you are in the area where the locals drive their cars.  It took about 1 hr from the house to the top and back.  It is a 45 minute grind to the top so you can do the math on the downhill. 

Up Findley Rd. and Down Panther Gulch.

This ride was a little shorter than the last one. About 15 miles. Dan and I rode up Findley rd. (quite a grind) There really is a lot of vertical feet in a short amount of distance. Came out on Panther Gulch and rode back on the road back to the house.

Click on the map to zoom in or out.

A lot longer distance that I had thought...

It has been too long since my last ride.  Busy week... We went to the fair twice and flag football just started.  I would still like to get a ride in at least 2 times a week.

Tonight I left the house about 6:00 and made it back a little after 8:00.  It was about a 2hr 8 minute ride.  20 miles total.  Wow I am tired.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out to hook up with any of my riding buddies so I plugged in the ipod and went for it.  I left from my house and headed up Finley Rd. I then connected with the top of Ferris Gulch and connected up with Panther Gulch and from panther gulch I hit the pavement and made it back to my place.  See if you can get an idea from my Scribble Map.  I felt pretty strong throughout the ride.  It is a really tough grind up Finley the rest of the hills were pretty reasonable.  I hit a single track that connected me to a lower road.  I am approximating the location of the single track.

You can zoom in/out on the map with the controls on  the upper left of the map.

Riding Alone...

Yesterday I rode up Panther Gulch by myself. Plugged in the ipod and cranked away.... It is much more enjoyable to ride with a few friends. It was a 10 mile ride up panther gulch. About 1hr and 10 minutes. Much of the route was the similar to what I normally do up there. A lot of climbing, a short single track uphill and looped back around to come down panther gulch.

Here is a direct link to the map:

See the map below too: