Saturday, August 31, 2013

Time

Went on my Fourth(?) Annual "Holy-$&@% am I out of shape" ride today.  This typically involves a loop or two of my favorite chunk of single track down the river a bit.

Things have changed in the last couple years...
I haven't really rode the Island for well over a year.  Not too long before the deployment I dumped my park bike pretty hard and bruised/broke a rib (never bothered getting it checked, just sucked it up... not the best option...) so I didn't get out much before leaving last summer.

The Island is constantly evolving.  I don't think it's an "official" trail of any sort, simply a few miles of track cut into a publicly owned island on the river.  There's a core of riders that keep it clean, and have been slowly building up log stacks and now lengths of boardwalk over some of the wetter places (both better for the environment and a new challenge, notice the narrow width and general unevenness.)  The one pictured above was not the biggest, or longest, or steepest, but you don't see it until you're pretty much on it.

My shoulders still hate me, but I'm just taking that as a sign I need to ride more.

Advice from the trail...

Best way to get these bastards off? If you're unfamiliar, they even stick to skin.

And of course, I just took the socks out of the packaging just before the ride... oops.