Run, baby, run..

Linked three drops on the property today, two that we built recently. So it's officially a run now. You push up to the top and hit the first drop. All of this doesn't take very long but it's SO much fun!

First Drop, 2.5 - 3 feet. Then you bank left, a sweet berm here would be perfect to coast into. Then you line up for the next drop of goodness.

A solid 4 footer onto flat, sweet! Cut left again for the final drop into transition.

This is a lovely drop that just squirts you out all smiley and...

stoked, wanting more. The Pleasure Park is good and there's more being built which means more runs. Below is a krappy video of the sequence, but heh, it's all good.

I like to party on the trail....

Big Light (almost solstice), Big ride, Big Mountains.

After much climbing, time to go down, this turns into a skinny, technical rock chunkathon.

Craig, Jimijames, Randy and myself headed out to climb and descend for a total of 6 hours yesterday. It was our solstice ride, one day early. A fact, I am getting lazy with the picture taking, so there aren't many and that's okay.

Up, up and up..taking a breather next to a little stream of trail water. Dense, lush forests full of skitters and fresh bear poo..

Getting closer to the top, up and over the bench, onward to the aspen grove and beyond. Breaking through to a meadow, surprising the crap out of resting hikers , where did we come from, below, we find our way from seemingly nothing, barely visiable.
The day was long, you had to work hard for the climbs to be rewarded with silly fun downhills. My legs never completely showed up and I felt non-stop hungry all day, though by the 5.5 hour mark I began to feel some strange reserve of energy show up. I'm riding a big, ol 2.35 dh tire on my rear wheel, it's a freaking anchor on the climbs but she's all I got right now, so it'll have to work and of course it'll make me stronger right, either that or it will cripple me...
We headed home after stopping for some avocados and some chips, this was my recovery food of choice.

This was my other recovery food of choice. Homemade DF banana soft serve with blueberries and strawberries. Oh, this tasted divine, I love summer and all the berries and the nana soft serve, who needs dairy? It's a little blurry but so was I at this point.

Long evening light, sculpture of mine, good day in the woods, time to rest.

A Walk in the Woods

And it was good.

It rained off and on all weekend. It was chilly too.

So we went for a walk..

in the woods..

And found some deep, dark entrances into the earth..

And a forgotten retaining wall...

We ate soup and cookies...and watched it come and go.

Riding in the Rain

City Surfer by Jenny Mendes

Yesterday afternoon it quietly rained on me as I rode through the woods. It was a soft and gentle rain, with thunder rolling around in the sky every so often. It felt amazing. The smell of wet, warm rock, dirt and trees made me feel like everything was right in the world, as it should be, and in those moments of time it was. The sound of my wheels turning on dirt and my breathing settled me, keeping me present and I was very, very grateful.
Grateful to be riding my bike in the woods, alone with my thoughts. It's a common refrain for me but nourishing every time. I learned a long time ago to not let a few dark clouds scare me away from getting outside, 8 out of 10 times it's nothing to worry about, sometimes you get your ass handed to you by the weather but that in itself becomes a fond memory too eventually and a metaphor for life.