[mountain bike]
1 hour, 32 minutes
13.93 miles
with DJ - noonish - warm, sun and clouds - Hall Ranch (Lyons, CO) - 100% trail - parked at the north TH, rode up the switchbacks, headed down through the rock garden, then back up through the rock garden (definitely have some room for improvement climbing up through that technical stuff), then continued up to the Nelson Loop, did one lap counter-clockwise, then two more laps clockwise, then barreled down to the car from the top at frightening speed - we started out easy, but really started hammerin' on the way up to the loop - we rode each additional climb of the loop harder than the previous one (my climbing legs are back - I was smokin' it) - the final descent from the top was insanely fast - that's what it took to get my courage back up to last year's level - I was just tryin' to stick on DJ's wheel (he's an amazing descender) - It's funny...descending is just confidence and faith...faith that the bike will stay in one piece, faith that the guy in front of you is picking a good line, faith that, if something goes wrong, you'll be able to (very quickly) figure a way out of it - it's scary as hell, but also crazy fun - then, once you've done it, you know it can be done - I think that's the fastest we've ever come down that mountain - we were laughing so hard as we finished - what a rush - feelin' amazingly good.
