a good ride

Yesterday I was dragging ass, 5 nightshifts in a row took it's toll on me and I was worth all of 2 cents all for most of the afternoon. Most of my plans of some needed yardwork got washed away with the on and off, tiny but fierce rainstorms that rolled through every 2 hours. I couldn't have cared less though, my only obligation for the day was our regular Tuesday evening group ride at Warriors Path that I kicked off 3 weeks ago. It's been a bit of a slow start compared to some of the regular group rides around the area but then again this is the only organized group ride off-road. The roadies see a huge turn out but most of those rides have been going on for a couple of years.

I had a feeling with the brief rain showers that last nights group might be small and I was correct in my assumptions. There was only 1 other car in the parking lot when I arrived but no sign of anyone belonging to that car so I figured it was safe to assume they weren't joining me. I wasn't surprised at the turnout, I wasn't 100% gung ho on the ride myself but I showed up not wanting to let anyone down that wasn't scared of a little rain.

Once I got on the trail I was really surprised at how great of shape they were in, I half expected the roots and rocks to be a tad wet but nada. Hero dirt all the way around! Those noisy cicadas had even taken the night off, I guess the rain shut them up for the evening. A nice cool breeze kept things feeling good, so good in fact I wished I'd had more daylight to hang out and just enjoy the beautiful scenery.



I stopped for a minute to play around with a new app I downloaded to my phone that takes panoramic photos. Not really the best scenery for this one but I thought it was cool.

As I neared the end of my ride I crested the top of Ridge Top just before the decent on Magic Carpet Ride to the parking lot and I was rewarded with this. The photo didn't really do it justice and those pesky power lines didn't help either but the low hanging sun was sending some really nice rays my way across the lake.

It made for some really great photos when looking away from the sun.

Last night was one of those nights where I wanted to back out but was glad I didn't. It couldn't have been a more perfect ride, the only thing that was lacking was a post ride beer waiting for me in a cooler at the end. That's the difference between living in the southeast, topping off a great ride with a frosty beverage at the trailhead is frowned upon, out west it's a must do.

I hope you've enjoyed my videos from our western adventures so far. I've got a 3rd one finished but waiting in the wings until Vimeo says it's okay to upload another. It's the price I pay for the free version.