Trail Inspection Ride

Today, I decided to ride what I call is a Trail Inspection Ride. Time to look at the Wabash Trace and Manawa MTB trail to see how they fared though the Spring thaw. I rode the FuelEX7. Would have ridden the hardtail, but it still have the studded tires mounted.
The first was heading up the Wabash Trace. Rode up to Margaritaville. The trail surface was damaged by bicycles and ATVs. Basically, the section I rode is rideable. My fat tires did not make marks on the trail surface. It was slow going because of the slightly soft - dropped my climb speed by 1-2 mph. Down the hill, also dropped my speed by some 3-4 mph. Greg and a group are working on the Trace Saturday, including grading.
From the Wabash Trace, it was time to ride over to Lake Manawa. Rode West Sidewinder. That trail was rideable. The only thing was that some idiot had ridden through when the ground was very soft -- leaving deep ruts. From there I went to East Sidewinder. I was able to ride without leaving marks along the doubletrack. But after the crossover, riding near the levee, it was obvious that the trail there is too soft to ride. Walked the bike over to the levee and rode that back to the pavement.

By the time I got back from the bike shop, I had ridden 24 miles. That took me over 100 miles in the last 7 days - my first 100 mile week of the year. Oh, yeh, a couple other statistics - 475 miles so far this year and 1500+ miles now on the FuelEX7.
Just a warning. When I got back from my bike ride, I removed the studded tires from the hardtail. Now, its time for our Spring snow storm.

Ms. Twitter? Ooops!

This is my profile picture on Twitter. I know. I look sort of sad, but in truth, I'm just really exhausted after a long session of kong-on-a-rope. I entered myself into the Ms. Twitter contest when I should have opted for the Animal Twitterer challenge, but then again, Eduardo and Lou Peb are in that one, so if you would like to vote for me, here's the linky: @ http://bit.ly/aKleE (and I think I'm on page 22 with 7 votes -help!). Thanks in advance. Have a good weekend all pups!
Hugs xo,
Sammie

American Lotus

Eastbank COE Campground
Bainbridge, Georgia (June )

[ooops … meant to post this on the Viewfinder blog, but I’ll leave it here so that
readers don’t get an error page since this entry is already in the RSS feeds …
at least you know we’re alive and well]

Mist out

Yet another amazing weekend of riding commenced with a quick-fire 120km on Saturday morning. I'm not sure what I was thinking to do this on a few hours' notice the day before a century, but it just seemed like a cool thing to do. Martin and I set off on a deserted Springbrook road for the climb to Salmon's Saddle, in cool, moist morning air left behind by the previous evening's downpour. That climb is an enjoyable one at anytime, but when there is mist hanging around the horizon, the enjoyment factor picks up a little.

The descent into Numinbah valley from this side is literally a screamer. I clocked 79.9km/h at one stage, and yet there was still time to take in the scenery through the gaps in the forest. There are also some areas to explore when I get my new MTB later in the year. Numinbah Valley greeted us with clouds hovering below mountain tops overlooking lush green pastures. Yet the southern end of this valley is arguably the prettiest climb in Southern Queensland, as the mountains close right in leading up to Numinbah Gap, where for a moment, you can be king of the world, or at least the Tweed Valley.



Descending into the Tweed Valley on days like this is an almost surreal experience. It feels more like coming in to land as we pass through the clouds. Shortly after reaching the valley floor, Martin suggested I should climb it again, for no reason other than chatting up a female cycle-tourist who was riding the other way. Unfortunately, chasing someone up a mountain range to start a conversation is a little less than subtle, and I declined the opportunity, even if she was a nice girl.

The ride through the rural Tweed Valley was relatively uneventful. By this stage the mist was rising quickly, even if the sun wasn't making an appearance. The final act was the long grind over Tomewin to return to the Gold Coast (and earn 1,500 metres of climbing in the process). It took me a while to find my rhythm on that climb, but it mattered not, as we were held up by a council gang clearing a landslide. We saw evidence of a few more in the area too. The first decent wet season in seven years has brought floods, landslides and some of the most spectacular riding I've seen in 13 years in this part of the world. Right now it just seems to be getting better and better. Hopefully I'll never find the pinnacle.

Remembrance Day

A young soldier from the Black Watch, Royal Scottish Regiment, selling poppies for Remembrance Day. He looks so very young, and he already has two medals.

SNOW!!!

Its only October 10th! What gives?
Here's what I saw this morning when I opened the garage door...
Yes, they have been warning about this all week. Buts its just too early for snow. We never really had a summer. Now right into winter (at least for a couple days).
I am NOT ready to put the studded tires on the hardtail.

The Heat is On

This morning I shifted to Summer routine. Was out grocery shopping at 2:30 this morning. It was 80 degrees!
Summer routine means bike ride starting at 6 or 7 am. This morning I was at the Wabash Trace trailhead ready to ride at 7am. Rode up to K-Mart and back on Valley View Trail.
Sunny, light breeze, humid with a temp of 79. Surprised with the high number of trail users (walkers and cyclists) out this morning. Guess I was not the only one trying to beat the heat.
While I was tired heading into town for my ride, I was feeling good during the ride. Logging just short of 11 miles in an hour and a minute. Rearranged clothes and headed to Panera Bread for coffee.