TreknMike

On Nov. 4, two good friends I made in Patagonia met at my home after work – Robert from Germany and Nicole from Washington. This was Robert’s first trip to the States. We saw the election returns. Robert will never forget where he was when the next President of the United States was elected.

You can see a few pictures here…  see my pictures.

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Wow, what a great mountain bike ride and perfect weather too – about 58F.  The “Hole in the Ground” trail is roughly 17 miles long (click on the map above provided by MountainBikeBill.com).  This was my first technical bike ride this year.  I could feel the fall weather and thought I’d better go for a ride before winter.  The trail was a little technical for me in sections – I’m a hiker/mountaineer and only picked up the bike to cross-train.

The climbing portion went well.  Only two uphill switchbacks gave me grief – practice, practice, practice.  I did get more dinged up on this one ride, falling twice, then all my backpacking and mountaineering trips combined.  At one location, the trail cuts through 2 narrow trees and I happened to misjudge the width of my handlebars, which hit one tree and sent me into the other.  And the “stairs” near the end of the ride was a ride.  On the last “step,” a mile from the car, I took a header.  This was weird.  I remember stopping, looking down at the obstacle, then all I recall is hitting my shoulder, chin and head on the hard ground.  Normally, my cerebellum functions perfectly and I have my arms extended to break a fall.  Not sure what happened here.  I wear my little raspberry scabs on my chin and knee (first one in 30+ years) proudly.  The helmet worked great.

It was a fun ride and look forward to the next one.