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RR: Stress relief
I spent the past week working 12-14 hour days doing my normal daily
tasks and attending an application training session. By the time I got off work I had virtually no time to blow off steam. And we have had some of the most beautiful weather the past few weeks, perfect for any kind of outdoor activity. If the kids did not have so many things going on right now, I could have maybe got in a night ride or two. Oh well. I told my riding partner Brad that no matter what, I was riding after work on Friday and since the guy training me this week had a plane to catch at 5:30, I knew that I would be free by 4:00 to get away. I told Brad to meet me at Camelsback Park at 5:00 and headed home to get changed. It is a nice 5 miles from home to the park so I got a good warm-up while enjoying the color of the trees and shrubs along Hill Rd. Lot's of activity at the park, local area schools have their cross country running teams out training and some alpine skiers doing bounding workouts. Boy I remember how tough that is and was glad to be on my bike. We decided on a tentative route, but also kept our options open since this area offers so many trails to play on. We headed out on the trails around the park and onto the Connector, which I think is the trail that Paladin calls Uncle Stans. Many riders were out enjoying the late afternoon, but the Connector is wide enough to allow passing in either direction. Once we got to the top we decided to hang a right and make our way over to the Military Reserve trails area. The Military Reserve Connector trail is a fun and challenging trail. There are a lot of sandy sections that if you are paying attention are a kick to blow through, however most of these sections are trashed by folks who just don't get it. And the ruts created by locked brakes have made this trail a prime candidate for repair work. When we reach the Mountain Cove road, we take a left and follow the road to the gate by the old Police shooting range. This dirt road would take us up to the Curlew trail and the Shanes trail loop. Curlew is a fun trail but the real treat is Shanes. Now both of these trails appeared to have lot's of usage, but they were in excellent condition. As Brad commented, "I felt like I was on rails", as we just flew along Shanes. In the clockwise direction it is screaming fast and there were no other riders on this section. When we got back to the Curlew intersection, we headed back to the Mtn. Cove Rd and instead of heading up trail #5 and over to Sidewinder, Brad wanted to head back and ride a few of the Military Reserve trails. Mtn. Cove is much more fun riding down then up, but we had the sun in our eyes so we were blinded on a few of the corners, so keeping the speed down was the wise choice. Back at the shooting range we jumped onto the Ridge Crest trail and took a left up to the top of the ridge. Here the trial meets up with Central Ridge which will take you down the middle of this plateau, or you can drop down Ridge Crest and hook up with Eagle Ridge and Cottonwood Creek trails. We head over to Eagle Ridge because the down hill from Ridge Crest is a blast. You cut loose and hope that you do not come around a corner and meet a hiker or biker coming up. When we hit the bottom, we continue on to Eagle Ridge. The climb from this side is a tough little bugger and again we have the sun right in our eyes. I came up on a dog walker and did not even see him until he was about 5 feet away. But hey, I was moving real slow going up this section so no harm and the trail is wide enough for all of us. There is a trail that cuts off to the right just before you reach the top. We take this because, as you probably guessed, it is so much fun. Nice twisty single track that zips us over to a cover picnic area over looking the Cottonwood creek area. From here we continue over to the Fort Boise side of the ridge and to a rocky out cropping over looking Fort Boise and Boise itself. Pretty nice views even though we have lot's of haze. We take the trail on the left side of this area because it is relatively mellow. Last year Brad took one hell of a header going down the trail on the right and he did not want to do a repeat performance. At the bottom we skirt the edge of the ridge back over to Cottonwood creek trail and follow this beautiful wooded single track around until we hit the dirt road that is the North border of this grove. This also puts us back at the trail head of Central Ridge and we follow this back a ways until we hit the spur trail and then back onto Mountain Grove road. We now do a reverse of the Military Reserve Connector and back up to the Freeway. The connector make you work for your supper! Once on the Freeway Brad suggests that we head up to the Red Cliffs trail(?) which is just above the Connector back to the Camelsback area. Another cool trail with some steep downhills and great views. At the bottom you come out next to the Red Cliffs and are greeted with loose sand, but then you pop out on lower Hulls Gulch trail. Hulls Gulch is one of my favorite night ride trails, just a cool place. Once off of Hulls we get onto Fox Tail(?) and head back to Camelsback. A little over 16 miles of trail riding, oh yeah! The sun is almost down by now and as we load Brad's bike on his car we see all these really whacked out people in assorted costumes riding an assortment of bikes. I have to say that the guy in the pink pig outfit was awesome on his cruiser. There must have been well over 20 people dressed up. If I had not been so under dressed, I would have stopped over. Anyway I headed home in the fading light feeling so much better. Mike |
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#2
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Mike Kennedy wrote:
Mtn. Cove is much more fun riding down then up, but we had the sun in Ack, how can anybody describe that washboard as fun? Nice ride report. I haven't been out that way in a while. The colors up in the foothills (Shingle, Dry, and Daniels Creeks) were gorgeous this weekend, so Reserve is probably nice too. SWIMBA cut a mile of new singletrack on Saturday on levy land, connecting Shane's and Reserve, and I want to check it out before the rainy season. justen at cable one dot net |
#3
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"Mike Kennedy" wrote in message ... I spent the past week working 12-14 hour days doing my normal daily tasks and attending an application training session. By the time I got off work I had virtually no time to blow off steam. And we have had some of the most beautiful weather the past few weeks, perfect for any kind of outdoor activity. If the kids did not have so many things going on right now, I could have maybe got in a night ride or two. Oh well. I told my riding partner Brad that no matter what, I was riding after work on Friday and since the guy training me this week had a plane to catch at 5:30, I knew that I would be free by 4:00 to get away. I told Brad to meet me at Camelsback Park at 5:00 and headed home to get changed. It is a nice 5 miles from home to the park so I got a good warm-up while enjoying the color of the trees and shrubs along Hill Rd. Lot's of activity at the park, local area schools have their cross country running teams out training and some alpine skiers doing bounding workouts. Boy I remember how tough that is and was glad to be on my bike. We decided on a tentative route, but also kept our options open since this area offers so many trails to play on. We headed out on the trails around the park and onto the Connector, which I think is the trail that Paladin calls Uncle Stans. Many riders were out enjoying the late afternoon, but the Connector is wide enough to allow passing in either direction. Once we got to the top we decided to hang a right and make our way over to the Military Reserve trails area. The Military Reserve Connector trail is a fun and challenging trail. There are a lot of sandy sections that if you are paying attention are a kick to blow through, however most of these sections are trashed by folks who just don't get it. And the ruts created by locked brakes have made this trail a prime candidate for repair work. When we reach the Mountain Cove road, we take a left and follow the road to the gate by the old Police shooting range. The sun is almost down by now and as we load Brad's bike on his car we see all these really whacked out people in assorted costumes riding an assortment of bikes. I have to say that the guy in the pink pig outfit was awesome on his cruiser. There must have been well over 20 people dressed up. If I had not been so under dressed, I would have stopped over. Anyway I headed home in the fading light feeling so much better. Mike I did almost the exact ride last week on the singlespeed, and had so much fun I couldn't stand it. That is a really fun area. Last night (no moon), I took the SS & rode up Chickadee & down, over to Kestrel (Uncle Stan's), and then to Hulls. My lights started dying halfway down (dang!) and I kept hauling, and eventually biffed it pretty good. How do you spell, "stoopid?" I remember flying off the trail and landing about 15 feet down in the creek bed with a royal thump on the the left side of my chest. Jimminy Christmas, more broken ribs? How much battering can the old Paladin take? Thankfully, just a good beating. Thought I'd broken my left hand, too, but it's moving better this a.m. and skinned both legs, cut a hole in my tights, sore all over. Got home so late my wife had already called some riding buddies to find out where to start looking for the body! But you know what, pain makes you feel more ALIVE than anything else. Next time I'm making sure the battery's charged up, I'm charged up, and will probably take the hard tail with le Bomber on front. paladin |
#4
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Ouch! Yeah, Hulls can be real unforgiving at times and it has taken more
than it's fair share of my skin, but boy what a ride "Paladin" wrote in message ... "Mike Kennedy" wrote in message ... I spent the past week working 12-14 hour days doing my normal daily tasks and attending an application training session. By the time I got off work I had virtually no time to blow off steam. And we have had some of the most beautiful weather the past few weeks, perfect for any kind of outdoor activity. If the kids did not have so many things going on right now, I could have maybe got in a night ride or two. Oh well. I told my riding partner Brad that no matter what, I was riding after work on Friday and since the guy training me this week had a plane to catch at 5:30, I knew that I would be free by 4:00 to get away. I told Brad to meet me at Camelsback Park at 5:00 and headed home to get changed. It is a nice 5 miles from home to the park so I got a good warm-up while enjoying the color of the trees and shrubs along Hill Rd. Lot's of activity at the park, local area schools have their cross country running teams out training and some alpine skiers doing bounding workouts. Boy I remember how tough that is and was glad to be on my bike. We decided on a tentative route, but also kept our options open since this area offers so many trails to play on. We headed out on the trails around the park and onto the Connector, which I think is the trail that Paladin calls Uncle Stans. Many riders were out enjoying the late afternoon, but the Connector is wide enough to allow passing in either direction. Once we got to the top we decided to hang a right and make our way over to the Military Reserve trails area. The Military Reserve Connector trail is a fun and challenging trail. There are a lot of sandy sections that if you are paying attention are a kick to blow through, however most of these sections are trashed by folks who just don't get it. And the ruts created by locked brakes have made this trail a prime candidate for repair work. When we reach the Mountain Cove road, we take a left and follow the road to the gate by the old Police shooting range. The sun is almost down by now and as we load Brad's bike on his car we see all these really whacked out people in assorted costumes riding an assortment of bikes. I have to say that the guy in the pink pig outfit was awesome on his cruiser. There must have been well over 20 people dressed up. If I had not been so under dressed, I would have stopped over. Anyway I headed home in the fading light feeling so much better. Mike I did almost the exact ride last week on the singlespeed, and had so much fun I couldn't stand it. That is a really fun area. Last night (no moon), I took the SS & rode up Chickadee & down, over to Kestrel (Uncle Stan's), and then to Hulls. My lights started dying halfway down (dang!) and I kept hauling, and eventually biffed it pretty good. How do you spell, "stoopid?" I remember flying off the trail and landing about 15 feet down in the creek bed with a royal thump on the the left side of my chest. Jimminy Christmas, more broken ribs? How much battering can the old Paladin take? Thankfully, just a good beating. Thought I'd broken my left hand, too, but it's moving better this a.m. and skinned both legs, cut a hole in my tights, sore all over. Got home so late my wife had already called some riding buddies to find out where to start looking for the body! But you know what, pain makes you feel more ALIVE than anything else. Next time I'm making sure the battery's charged up, I'm charged up, and will probably take the hard tail with le Bomber on front. paladin |
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