November 17, 2008

  • The Tooth

    It's been a long time since I have ridden at Horsetooth Park.    At Kent's suggestion thiswas the place to ride this Sunday and since the Yeti hadn't seen any of this yet I was game.  OK,  the yeti was up here once before, but I wasn't it's owner so that doesn't count. 

    So I meet Kent at JJ's and we meet Dave and Ian up at the park.  Ian has a goat head in his front tire, but decides not to change it until later.   We hit the service road and it's a bit warmer than I expected already.  Dave is setting the tempo which is civil but brisk.   Ian and Kent are right behind us in a two up formation.    After abit Ian takes to the front and sets a pace that none of us wanted to keep.    It seem effortless for Ian and  there was no need for any posturing on my part....

    About half way up Ian's tire is going soft so he makes the quick repair.   Now it's on to the South Ridge trail,  which I had never ridden before. It was a pretty tough technical climb which Ian led all the way, even though much of the time I couldn't even see him.    I was having issues with my rear derailleur and my chain kept going into the spokes so much of the time I tried not to use the big 34 cog.  This  wasn't optimal but doable ....

    The descent was finally upon us and Kent proved to be the man by riding stuff that the the rest of us had no stones for.   It was fun to watch Kent and Ian descend and I kept up fairly well.     Unfortunately my  fork has blown up and it's in need of a rebuild.  This made the front a bit pushier than normal.   What a rush!

    We exit back onto the service road and may our way up towards Spring Creek.  It was a long tough climb with Ian once again leading the way.      Kent and Dave were doing well also but I was plagued with gearing issues.  Time to give the Yeti some TLC and get it back into proper riding order.   We run into some of the Niner boyz from Littleton who had come up to ride with some budds.  We chat with them for a bit and then we were off to Spring Creek.

    Kent takes the lead and it's rock and roll time.  This was a fun descent with lots of techy stuff.  Kent was  carving up the trail like it was Thanksgiving turkey!     Looks like Kent is king of the DH and Ian is KOM for today.   Kent knows these trails like the back of his hand and it shows.  He had some impressive displays that were worthy of the 450club.

    I was happy to have finally cleaned that nasty lefty turn over the roots for the 1st time.   Everyone made that one today which just shows that everyone is getting much better over the years.  Well I guess having better equipment doesn't hurt either.   

    Finally we are back to the service road and Kent takes to the lead.  There were a few hikers on the way down so I took it pretty easy so as not to frighten any of them with reckless displays.

    Back at the lot and I bid Kent and Ian good ride.   Dave and I decide to ride through Lory over to the pump track.  Dave sets a really mellow pace over there.    I run into   Steve, Mario, Ayla going South and we chat for a few seconds....  I also see Tony R. from velo1 with his wife enjoying her new Juliana.

    Dave and I do a few laps of the  pump track before Dave heads back.   I do a few more laps and hit some of the small jumps before I take off too....   I hit some of the road and trails and head down Maxwell.   I took it pretty easy so as to keep the legs fresh so I can be well recovered for this Wednesday's 5K run.

    Anyway A good time was had by all!