G
Gabrielle
Guest
The weather was a bit uncertain, but I'd been planning my getaway for about a month and a half and I
wasn't going to let a little rain stop me. Penny and I figured if the weather truly sucked (like,
hailing) we'd do something else (like, sewing).
So I loaded a couple of my sewing machines and my new bike in the car and headed Up Nawth. Sure
enough, when we woke up Saturday morning it was cold and foggy. Oh, and raining sideways. We decided
we'd wait until the afternoon and maybe it would burn off. It was a good choice: after a stop at the
garden show, the fog was gone, the clouds had lifted, and the rain had settled down enough that we
wouldn't be soaked and frozen within 30 seconds of getting out of the car. (Laugh if you want. I can
deal with cold, rain, _or_ wind, but not all 3 at once. Makes me cranky, it does.)
Piled on the clothes, loaded up the bikes, and hit River[side|front] park. Penny had been scaring me
with these 12 mile RRs of hers this early in the season. Not for me, no ma'am. I have ridden all of
about 30 miles in the past 6 weeks. She made me do it anyway.
Much to my surprise, I didn't keel
over from exhaustion, and Penny didn't keel over from boredom of riding with The Slow Girl. It's
spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, and I was absolutely enchanted to see my favorite
wildflower, bluebells, all along the trail entrance. I get such a "flower buzz" from being outside
at this time of year that it tends to distract me from matters at hand, like where my weight is
supposed to be when I'm climbing. The new bike has a smaller frame than I am used to, and I was
never that good at climbing to begin with, so I am back to square -10.
The park is criss-crossed with a veritable maze of fireroads and singletrack. The first section we
rode dropped down along the river through ponderosa forests carpeted with balsam. So much for the
weather report: we had sunshine and white puffy clouds the rest of the afternoon. We climbed back up
away from the river, crossed a fire road, and started playing on some singletrack sections around
and over a small ridge. It was the perfect first "real" ride of the season--enough little technical
stuff to get my attention, but no serious penalties for screwing up; enough climbing that my legs
were burning but not cramping; beautiful scenery; and lots of those cute little ground squirrels.
When I started flagging, we hit the fireroad and headed back through a burned section of the forest
to the car. A couple of hours later, I was stuffing myself on Penny's specialty pad thai. Yummy!
What a perfect day.
Sunday morning, no clouds, awake at 6:30 am. The sun comes up earlier up there. Penny suggested we
take a spin around town, so we packed up the kid and the bikes and headed downtown to investigate
the (other) River[front|side] park. Not only is the park really cool, the trails have a whole lane
marked "Wheels only, no pedestrians". I love it! We rode around checking out the various bridges,
islands & waterfalls, and Penny and her son did a little "urban assault" riding on a curved series
of short flights of stairs. Son interpreted mom's advice to not use his front brake as "don't use
any brakes" and came down the stairs quite a bit faster than he was really ready for and bailed on
the next-to-last section. I think he would have made it if he'd been going a bit slower. I have some
wonderful photos of Penny looking rico-suave on the stairs but unfortunately they are only in my
head. We forgot to put the memory card back in the camera. We rode around dodging marmots and
geese for a little while longer, then headed out.
All in all, a lovely weekend and a great start to the season for me!
gabrielle
wasn't going to let a little rain stop me. Penny and I figured if the weather truly sucked (like,
hailing) we'd do something else (like, sewing).
So I loaded a couple of my sewing machines and my new bike in the car and headed Up Nawth. Sure
enough, when we woke up Saturday morning it was cold and foggy. Oh, and raining sideways. We decided
we'd wait until the afternoon and maybe it would burn off. It was a good choice: after a stop at the
garden show, the fog was gone, the clouds had lifted, and the rain had settled down enough that we
wouldn't be soaked and frozen within 30 seconds of getting out of the car. (Laugh if you want. I can
deal with cold, rain, _or_ wind, but not all 3 at once. Makes me cranky, it does.)
Piled on the clothes, loaded up the bikes, and hit River[side|front] park. Penny had been scaring me
with these 12 mile RRs of hers this early in the season. Not for me, no ma'am. I have ridden all of
about 30 miles in the past 6 weeks. She made me do it anyway.
Much to my surprise, I didn't keelover from exhaustion, and Penny didn't keel over from boredom of riding with The Slow Girl. It's
spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, and I was absolutely enchanted to see my favorite
wildflower, bluebells, all along the trail entrance. I get such a "flower buzz" from being outside
at this time of year that it tends to distract me from matters at hand, like where my weight is
supposed to be when I'm climbing. The new bike has a smaller frame than I am used to, and I was
never that good at climbing to begin with, so I am back to square -10.
The park is criss-crossed with a veritable maze of fireroads and singletrack. The first section we
rode dropped down along the river through ponderosa forests carpeted with balsam. So much for the
weather report: we had sunshine and white puffy clouds the rest of the afternoon. We climbed back up
away from the river, crossed a fire road, and started playing on some singletrack sections around
and over a small ridge. It was the perfect first "real" ride of the season--enough little technical
stuff to get my attention, but no serious penalties for screwing up; enough climbing that my legs
were burning but not cramping; beautiful scenery; and lots of those cute little ground squirrels.
When I started flagging, we hit the fireroad and headed back through a burned section of the forest
to the car. A couple of hours later, I was stuffing myself on Penny's specialty pad thai. Yummy!
What a perfect day.
Sunday morning, no clouds, awake at 6:30 am. The sun comes up earlier up there. Penny suggested we
take a spin around town, so we packed up the kid and the bikes and headed downtown to investigate
the (other) River[front|side] park. Not only is the park really cool, the trails have a whole lane
marked "Wheels only, no pedestrians". I love it! We rode around checking out the various bridges,
islands & waterfalls, and Penny and her son did a little "urban assault" riding on a curved series
of short flights of stairs. Son interpreted mom's advice to not use his front brake as "don't use
any brakes" and came down the stairs quite a bit faster than he was really ready for and bailed on
the next-to-last section. I think he would have made it if he'd been going a bit slower. I have some
wonderful photos of Penny looking rico-suave on the stairs but unfortunately they are only in my
head. We forgot to put the memory card back in the camera.
We rode around dodging marmots andgeese for a little while longer, then headed out.
All in all, a lovely weekend and a great start to the season for me!
gabrielle
