Bring Me My Mutton Musket

It's been great having the sheep around during the rides. It takes you far from the office to be riding in the mountains among the animals. As cool as it has been though, there is just one thing that is getting a little out of control. All the sheep poop!

There is sheep poop all over the trail. You try your best not to hit it, but it's unavoidable most of the time. The tires were getting packed up with the stuff. The rule of the day was no smiling or mouth breathing at speeds over 5 mph. I still had some stuck in my tire treads upon returning to work. I don't think there was too much odor to it, but then again I don't remember any visitors this afternoon either.

So I got to thinking on the way home from work...what kind of tire is best for sheep poop? An open tread? Semi-slicks? A WTB Timber Wolf may do the trick!

Marcus has been bringing his camera along on the rides too. He got some good action shots like the one on the right here. There are a few others on Flickr.

Tales of Tuesday

I tried to leave the camera behind today, but as usual, there were some pretty cool things to take pictures of. I was glad I brought it! We were coming down the Postal Route single track today, and came around a corner to find the flock of sheep. Both the sheep and we were surprised! Todd cleared the sheep off the trail. They seemed a little nervous around him for some reason. I'm sure it's nothing.




The sheep had many different voices. Some deep, some high pitched. Almost human like occasionally.


After work Marcus and I joined Jeff P. for a loop out at Centennial on the other side of town. The terrain and dirt conditions are much different out here as you can see. The wind was howling! What would normally be a peaceful trail ride felt more like an expedition. None of us had a Sherpa though. The temperatures dropped quickly throughout the ride, and I was grateful that I had some winter clothes with me for the ride. I'm not saying we didn't have a blast though. On the way home in the car, a blizzard broke out. Visibility was at a minimum with the high winds and swirling snow. What a strange day!

Cheatgrass, Sheep, Marcus, Barbara

As we approached the trails today, I saw a sheep out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and sure enough, a sheep. Then I started looking around some more and realized there were hundreds of sheep crawling the hills! The sheep have been brought in to eat the cheatgrass that has grown in abundance since the fire of 2004. If left unchecked, the cheatgrass is a potential fire hazard. The hillside you see in the picture was one covered in sagebrush. Sagebrush inhibits growth of other plants around it, a tactic it uses to compete for the scarce rainfall on this side of the Sierras. Without the sagebrush, the grass is pretty happy. The sheep are eating machines though and work for free. A good natural solution to a problem. I'm curious to see if they caused any trail damage. From what I've read though, they are pretty light on their feet.

In other news, we picked up a new rider today! Marcus found this blog while doing a google search on the area. He left a comment on one of the posts that he'd like to ride with us. We exchanged a few emails and coordinated his first ride today.

I'm glad Marcus showed up. I was beginning to get a bit worried, since there have been fewer lunch time riders as of late. Thoughts on what to do about this serious problem have turned over in my mind. A stop-loss program with extended tours of duty? Or would I need to severely punish deserters to make examples of them? I never did come to a conclusion. I decided to let fate run its course.

The latest rider to leave us is Barbara. Barbara has been one of the main winter riders the last couple years. Many times when I secretly hoped nobody would want to ride in the foul weather, Barbara would ask who was riding with her. I'd reluctantly agree, but then almost always have a great time. I'll also miss our left wing conversations (as Todd called them). Barbara left for a better job in Reno, so now we'll only get to see her for weekend rides. Other riders though...who knows. Some riders just seem to disappear without an excuse. They take a day off here and there, and then finally vanish completely. So once again, welcome Marcus! We need new riders!

For those of you reading this at work: Please don't count the sheep in the picture. I don't want to be responsible for you falling asleep on the job.