Windy Ride
The weather man warned us that it would be windy Sunday. I didn't really belive him - after all, Colorado weather is notoriously difficult to forecase. Nick and I made plans to drive the Turtle down to Lake Pueblo for a nice, long mountain bike ride, thinking that it would just be cold. One of the CTS Coaches, Jane was also going to join us for the ride, since most of the trails here are icy or muddy.
Well, when the wind picked up at 4:00 and woke me up... And it did not die down. The drive down to Pueblo was slower the normal because of the wind. Although the Turtle is heavy, it's also tall and the wind was blowing us around something awful. A precurser to most of the ride, actually. Once we got to Pueblo, we changed and headed out into the wind. Because I wanted to ride for 3-4 hours, the plan was to do a few loops on Voodoo, one on Outer Limits, then play in the canyons for the rest of the time. We did not get that much distance covered. Pronghorn was straight into the wind and pretty much sucked. Most of Voodoo was the same way - into the wind, with nothing to hide in. Jane was getting blown around pretty badly on a few stretches of the trail and ended up in Pinon Pine at one point! Even Nick was blown a few feet off the trail. I don't think the Kona winds had much on our Lake Pueblo winds. We only managed one loop of Voodoo and nixed Outer Limits. There is too much exposed cliff side trail on Outer Limits - one gust at the right time and it's a long way down.
After getting blown back into the canyon country, we spent some time practicing the technical sections. It was good for me - Jane has some strong skills on the bike and watching her line and body english on the bike helps. I was able to clean a few pieces of trail that I hadn't made before. We ended up with three solid hours on the bike - not bad for the weather. The sad part is - if the wind hadn't been howling, the day would have been perfect for a long ride.
Well, when the wind picked up at 4:00 and woke me up... And it did not die down. The drive down to Pueblo was slower the normal because of the wind. Although the Turtle is heavy, it's also tall and the wind was blowing us around something awful. A precurser to most of the ride, actually. Once we got to Pueblo, we changed and headed out into the wind. Because I wanted to ride for 3-4 hours, the plan was to do a few loops on Voodoo, one on Outer Limits, then play in the canyons for the rest of the time. We did not get that much distance covered. Pronghorn was straight into the wind and pretty much sucked. Most of Voodoo was the same way - into the wind, with nothing to hide in. Jane was getting blown around pretty badly on a few stretches of the trail and ended up in Pinon Pine at one point! Even Nick was blown a few feet off the trail. I don't think the Kona winds had much on our Lake Pueblo winds. We only managed one loop of Voodoo and nixed Outer Limits. There is too much exposed cliff side trail on Outer Limits - one gust at the right time and it's a long way down.
After getting blown back into the canyon country, we spent some time practicing the technical sections. It was good for me - Jane has some strong skills on the bike and watching her line and body english on the bike helps. I was able to clean a few pieces of trail that I hadn't made before. We ended up with three solid hours on the bike - not bad for the weather. The sad part is - if the wind hadn't been howling, the day would have been perfect for a long ride.
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