So Much for Recovery Days!

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This has been a good recovery week - worked a bunch, got some chores done around the house and slept in nearly every day. Also took way to many photos of the new kittens, but I'll talk about them later! After our slightly mucky single speed ride in Palmer Park yesterday, Nick and I when to Ascent Cycling to get some stuff. Clay mentioned that he and a few of the guys were planning on heading to Lake Pueblo today, I was all in. There were some new trails I wanted to take Nick down and having more then an hour to play sounded good. So to heck with another recovery day! The sun was shining, there wasn't much wind and it was a perfect day to ride some rocks.

We met up with the gang at the Arkansas Point parking lot and headed out. Started out with the climb up Rodeo, then dropped Rattlesnake - no wildlife sighting this ride! Up Skull Canyon then along Roller Coaster to one of the new trails - Sidewinder (another snake name - sensing a theme here...) I've only ridden Sidewinder once before - and bailed on two sections because I wasn't sure of the lines. I'm a bit of a chicken - new trails, riding alone, tend to not take chances. Well, this time, I wanted to ride the whole thing. Had to take two shots, botched the entrance into the first rock drop. But the second time, I made the first rock drop cleanly, then picked my way through to the second one. I'd scouted the line the first time I'd ridden Sidewinder, and decided to take the chance. The line I'd chosen was a good one and I made it down neatly.

Need a bike mechanic? Patrick fixing his flat
Then on to the other new trail, which I'm calling "Inner Limits." It parallels the bluff line on the east side of Pedro's point, completing a nice single track loop with Outer Limits. As a new trail, it's a work in progress and still needs some buffing in. A few corners are a little crazy tight, but its a fun ride - longer and much better then the double track of Pedro's Point. Our ride here was delayed a few times as Patrick got a flat. But once that was taken care of, it was time to rail Outer Limits. That section of single track is so much fun to just haul a$$ on - sending shale chattering through the corners and flowing up and down through the sage and scrub oak.

After that, Nick was ready for some rocks. We dropped Waterfall, then climbed up Rock Canyon, with a slight break halfway up for some skills work. I tried a different line - made it, but the guys said it wasn't pretty (something about using all the travel on the fork as my front wheel hit a rock....) A few more fun canyon drops and time to head back to the car! Dusty, tired, but with smiles on our faces. How can you not be happy with a great time riding bikes with fun people on awesome single track?
At the junction of Inner and Outer Limits and Pedro's Point - Smiles all around

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