Riding with New Friends

This weekend was full of fun! Saturday was my birthday. Got a nice road ride in with a new friend, Kerry, in town. Then I got to hang out with Matt and sample some new Durango cuisine. We went to Steamworks for some good (expensive) beer and discovered that we need to start attending Thursday Pint Night. All we gotta do is buy a SW pint glass and then get $1 pints all day!!

So, on to my new riding friends. Sunday, I got to go riding in the dirt, which was a very pleasant change from the road. I did the Road Apple Rally course in Farmington with Sue (from Mountain Bike Specialists) and Chris O. I actually already know Chris, but this is the first time we’ve ever ridden together! The trails were great! Lots of fun whoopty doos and up/down fast single track. Surprisingly, we got in over 3000 feet of elevation climbing over 29 miles. The first 13 miles of the ride were wonderful with pleasant temps and a blue sky. The last part of the ride was just as great trail-wise, but the wind picked up in full force. There are some short steeps on this part of the course, with not much leeway on the sides. Talk about some scary moments as we’d do white-knuckled descents, throwing ourselves to the mercy of the sidewinds that would knock us way off our intended line. It’s bizarre to be heading straight down and suddenly be forced by the wind such that you are actually moving sideways.

Lots of fun out there, and we only saw people on the trails once at the beginning of the ride. We did run into 2 groups of very polite dirt bikers; otherwise, we had the place to ourselves.

I’ve already found some great riding buddies. Kerry is going to be doing the Iron Horse, and Sue likes to ride at high altitudes…can’t wait for the snow to clear and dirt trails to dry. This summer is going to be exciting!