Was That The Last Day Of Summer?

<====This has nothing to do with my ride, I just thought it was cool! Seen in my back yard.

Wednesday was as about a perfect day as you could ask for. Sunny, puffy clouds floating by, and cool enough to wear a wool short sleeved jersey. I was off work, and I had tire testing to do for Twenty Nine Inches. Does it get any better than this?

I don't think so.

So, I headed out to The Camp , (Check out the Flat Tire Fest flyer at the site) and unloaded the HiFi Deluxe for some north side exploration.


<====The HiFi says, "Hey! Hurry up already!"

Over the past weekend the Camp's north unit was host to a horse show and trail ride. That meant that most of the trails they used had been "fluffed up". Lots of dust, the consistency of flour, and packed in dirt. Great stuff to ride on, you just had to be able to deftly dodge the road apples along the way!

Another bonus, the horses cleared a huge path through the previously spider web choked trails. Yeah! No web face this time.

So I charged off to make some sort of loop out of the many trail choices out on the North side. I managed to do just that, including the Ridge trail, The Pines, and back past the turn off to the Expert loop and down to the service road out leading back to the swimming pool. But instead of merely riding out on that road, I took a right at the bottom of the hill and did single track out to just behind the Service shed. Perfect! More dirt equals more fun!



<====A steep up on The Ridge trail. The horses and wet weather in the spring have made these climbs far more technical and challenging then they used to be.

I hate to admit it, but the same wild grape vine that shredded my arm a month ago got me again Wednesday! This time I stopped and cleared it out to avoid somebody else getting shredded. Obviously no one else had been back there since I had. Evidence of my tire tracks could still be found from that ride on my El Mariachi. So I knew that it was likely I was right, and no one else had ridden The Pines since then.



<=== Sun dappled single track, woods, and a mountain bike. Priceless!

I finished out another lap, with each taking close to an hour to complete, and packed up to head for home. I had a lot of writing to do, research, and family matters to attend to, but at least I got out to enjoy what most likely was the last day of summer-like weather we'll have this year.

The following day remnants of Hurricane Gustav made it to Iowa. The temperature had dropped by about 15 degrees and today it feels even crisper. Ahh! Fall is in the air, and lots more mountain biking is yet to be had. However, I will soon miss those days like last Wednesday and I am thankful that I have gotten so much riding in over the past three months. It's been a great summer for riding.