Day 2

Yesterday I was still riding high off the awesome ride I had on Friday, so I went back up to the same spot. I was half-considering going on Erin's cyclocross ride at the Shed, but I didn't want to take my Crosscheck apart because it's in fixie road condition - a terrible setup for gravel and rocks.

They waited for me, but I took my Chester up and I didn't feel like killing myself to keep up with a fast-looking group they had assembled. I told them to go ahead without me. It's been a while since I rode solo at the Shed, but I know it enough to not get stranded into the night.

I took off into the Gambrill side, but I had it in my head that I wanted to do some climbing. I rode all the way down the Blue trail, but just kept going to the very bottom, crossing over the multitude of streams, then back onto the road.

I then began the grunt climb on the road back to the parking lot. It's a little tough for me, but luckily I threw on the dorky looking bar ends. No matter that they look like crap, they actually help me get more leverage on the climbs. If I keep doing rides with long grinding uphills, I'll keep them on. If I'm hitting any of the really local stuff where the climbs take less than two minutes, they're just extra weight.

I make it back to the car, eat a Gu, and leave my jacket. Not quite satisfied with that climb, I barrel back down the blue trail, and repeat the road climb up. The second time's a doozy, but I make it without too much fanfare. I still have a little left in me so I go back down again, just to explore. At the point that I turned left to go all the way down, I go right. Three of those Hamburg road climbs in one day can't be good for you ;) I mess around on the trails that either I don't remember riding before, or actually have never ridden before until I get to a section that I already hit. I head back because it's getting late and I have a lot of stuff to do for work after being off for two weeks.

More rides like this and it's going to be a great year.