Moose Packers

I think I have a new favorite ride. Saturday I went riding with Shannon, Grant, Treena, and her friend Bobby. Maybe it was just that it was a beautiful day (god I hope not the last day of summer), but the ride starts with a pretty grueling uphill, and I still had a blast. It starts with what Shannon calls "the Lance Armstrong hill", and then comments with the road up to Moose Mountain. What a grind! I was roasting in a black jersey on the gravel uphill until I had the stroke. No, sorry, a stroke of genius. I took off my helmet for the uphill and cooled down about a zillion degrees. Genius.

The uphill was a sweet workout, but the downhill was the highlight. Downhill is so fun, when you know that you've ridden up there, so it's okay. It starts as switchbacking singletrack fun, Even with hydraulic disc brakes, my hands felt like clays by the bottom. I liked Shannon's advice, 'brake less' - although sometimes I think this is getting away from 'break less'! Just kidding, it's actually really good advice - prevents skidding on the loose stuff.

Moose Packers connects with Tom Snow after the switchbacks. I've ridden Tom Snow before (the trail, not the dude. I'm sure you need that clarification), but the last time was when I first started riding, and last time it was super muddy. I hear Tom Snow is almost always muddy, but yesterday, it was roller coaster goodness. That's the WWWWEEEEEEE kind of roller coaster, not the AAAAAHHHHHHHHH kind. It was really fast, rolling singletrack where you barely have to peddle. Most of the time, I felt like the bike was doing all the work. I felt like I was rippling, but I didn't have to brake or peddle, just stand there and gently lean. So fun!