Mountain, Cross and Shuffleboard Nats

[pixychick]

We did a group ride Sunday and we thought we might be doing the new rerouted stuff by our house, but it turned out that one person wanted to take the group out on Monkey rocks. We had seen some riders out on some slabs across the valley but did not know how to get over there. We went along to check it out knowing that it was rogue and bound to be sketchy in spots. The terrain up there was amazing but most the stuff was above my comfort zone. There were many blind drops with skinny knife edges and some risk. Being first time, we did some walking but had some fun exploring the route and our comfort zones. Not sure how many more times I will go back up there, but was glad to check it out. Today we rode the route we thought we were going to do on Sunday and it was real chill and just about right.

I guess we are now counting down the days until our departure from this amazing place. We may be able to squeeze in 3-4 more rides, but we have a bunch of work to do in closing up the house and getting the gardens in order and irrigated to survive the 6 months of heat while we are gone. I hope we get a monsoon this summer as that really helps the gardens and fruit trees, not to mention the whole desert.

I am looking forward to getting back east and riding all those amazing trails. Being away really makes me miss them. Sterling, Ringwood, and Waway plus there are new places to check out too.

 

[pixychick]

 

[pixychick]

Ten days later, and we are back in New York. The drive back was ok, but day 3 was really long. An Interstate closure detour in Indiana put us on secondary roads for a 100 miles or so. That part of the drive was actually pretty nice, but that and the route tacked on a few hours to the day. The last few trips across country I had some serious issues with being able to sleep at night making me less able to focus when driving. I have since ditched caffeine and started using valerian root tea and magnesium at night. I slept great and amazingly I was able to stay alert driving. The new truck drives great from an anti stress point of view: more computerized and less road feel/feedback. I would not think that would make that much difference, but when you are in the car all day, it does.

It certainly is nice to be back in so much green, and getting some rain feels pretty good too. I did a quick ride at Sterling this morning before the rain started and boy was it nice to see all the work that got done while I was gone. Trails were in good shape! Hopefully I can get out to do some work with the Palisades crew tomorrow.

The flower below is on a chain fruit cholla. I did not know they flowered. I guess the blooms come after we leave. I just happened to notice this one out at our lookout on our last night. It was pretty special.

 

[Robin]

Welcome back! Hope to ride with you soon!

 

[pixychick]

It felt great to be out working again at Sterling! Hopefully Art and I can out after this rain and inspect and put a plan together for Ringwood. I'm sure there will be some spots that need a little maintenance. As always, input is always appreciated, especially since we are not seeing the trails in winter and early spring. I know Art has wanted to improve the bottom wet section of Alligator for quite some time. Perhaps that will be in our plans this year.

Plants are really popping right now. When out riding, I kept smelling something intense and could not identify it. It was honeysuckle. There is a bumper crop this year. I do appreciate seeing all this green! ... nice to be back.