The day was past its prime for riding and that mid-day circadian rhythm of narcolepsy was encroaching. We had just finished taking the kids to get their pictures taken for the Christmas paper shuffle aka the perfunctory how-do-you-do, see-how-happy-the-joy-of-Christmas-has-parked-itself-on-our-smiles-as-evidenced-by-the-card-you-are receiving. We did this at the mall. I forgot how bah humbug I truly am during the Christmas season. I just keep that part to myself. It was time to the leave the mall...
Melissa and I got a coffee to kickstart the latter half of the day and so's I could be alert on a snowpacked trail with slippery rocks and tree roots. I picked a fairly technical trail to descent (due to windchill) to keep me honest and I rode back uphill on the road to warm me up.
This was the first part of the descent.
It was excellent. My tires were more grippy than I expected (front: Kenda Blue and rear: Panaracer Fireroad XC with matching red sidewalls) and I had to really concentrate because if I chickened out on a line, it would be difficult to get the flow back. Snow quickly builds up on the cleats when you dab, so I really wanted to cherry pick my fall line. That takes a lot of concentration and uses up a decent amount of kilocalories. The stuff that gave me the chickenskin was when I slid on roots hidden underneath the snow and trying to stay on the uphill parts of the berm. The hikers I passed thought I was crazy but holy mackeral I was in the zone. Super, laser focused on my line and ne'er did I crash (had a couple'a close calls though). I love the way my bike handles with the slightest body english for corrective purposes. It's super sensitive and it whispers to me to take the sickest lines and to always accelerate. It persuades me to go to the dark side. Sometimes I listen to it, but most of the time I attenuate its mental hubris.
for example, my Yeti told me to get to ramming velocity and float over this...
It was cold my feet were numb but everything else, including my willy, was warm to room temp. If my willy or ears go numb, that's a deal breaker. Today was good. Today was better than good actually. The nutty part too is that earlier I ran almost four miles in 40 some odd minutes. My team issue jacket's the $hit too. It was a gift from my teammate and longtime bud, Kenny L. I swear, like in skiing, the day you have is proportional to the equipment that's used (technical clothing included).
I drank a Scotch Ale afterward-a beer made from the Grand Lake Brewing Co. located near Estes Park-and like the Lord said, "it was good."
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