Taking it Easy

Why yes, it is three inches bigger!
Originally uploaded by Facility Bike Club.

We decided not to do a big road ride today, since we have a century (metric) ride coming up next weekend. We had originally planned not to ride today, but were talked into it (quite easily I might add) last night right before bed.

We loaded up the mountain bikes and headed for the Pine Nuts trail head. The girls did a loop in the main valley, and I talked the Jeffs into a loop in the next valley over. I had ridden the loop several times before, but it was on my motorcycle. I was hoping it would be as fun on the bicycles. How far would the Jeff's follow me if the trail sucked?

Jeff F. was on a full suspensioned geared bike, I was on my single speed, and Jeff P. was on his new 29er single speed. A few miles in, we got to this very smooth hard packed road. We had the wind at our backs, and we were making good time down the hill. But then it dead ended into private property. Shoot...would I remember how to find the trail? It had been a couple years... We back tracked a ways, and then found a road that looked familiar.

We found the single track that crossed the valley, and it was great. Smooth, twisty, and almost no climbing. It was very relaxing. And the Jeff's praised me. After crossing the valley, the trail turned into miles of rocky uphill. In between the rocky sections were deep unrideable sand washes. I thought the Jeff's might bludgeon me with a rock and stash my body, but they actually appeared to be having fun!

We finally made it to the ridge trail that I was seeking, and the payoff was great. Even better than I had expected! We got to enjoy a couple miles of fast rolling single track along the ridge. We all had smiles at the end.

We encountered quite a few rocks on the way back, and they started taking a toll on my body. The rigid forks were beating me up. Jeff P. seemed to be in much better shape with his rigid forked 29er. The accumulated smoothness of the larger wheels seems to be a big plus for enduring longer rides (that, and Jeff P. is a better rider than me). I could see the Jeff's way up ahead, but they'd wait for me to catch up once in a while. They're nice like that.

When we finally made it back to the trail head, we figured we did about 30 miles. That's by far the longest I've done on the single speed yet! As I type this, I'm feeling totally wiped out. So much for taking it easy...