High Country riding

Headed up high with four Pilots today. At home, we awoke to a chilly 26 degrees...winter's on it's way.  All the critters that left the ranch for the summer and headed up to the high country have now started to come back this week.  Leaves are turning yellow in the colder drainages, I brought out my puff-jacket for this morning's dog walk, people are excitedly chatting all about cyclocross, it's definitely starting to feel like Fall!

The High Country will get a snow soon, usually each September there's at least one early on...so we headed into the high country today just in case it snows soon.  Somehow, 65 degrees in Ned felt like 80 degrees.  I could've taken a nap ala "Sound of Music" at 10,200ft. and woken up with a severe sunburn.

The Pilots arse and Heyride in the center distance heading down Very Male.

Heyride on the Birthday trail, the nice route that bypasses most of  the more heinous 4x4 ascent route.

Pilot heading on the flats before the descent. South Arapaho Peak in the distant right

High Country singletrack where the arnica is still out in full force!

Another job well done by Turn Roads Into Singletrack (TRIS)

Apparently, a couple weeks ago, the Pilot and I set a new Strava record for the "road" you see above. Won't be hard to beat as we didn't even know we were setting it.  Slowest average speed record EVER I would imagine.  We ended the ride today on this road that is slowly turning into singletrack with ours and Mother Nature's help.  It's in the Caribou Classic next Saturday, on the shorter loop, so it was good to get some trail work done today and let it settle in all week.  It's funny...there's some hiker that keeps slashing the trail even though we have full permission from the landowner to use it on bikes and CLEAR it of any downed trees and such.  But each time I go out and clear it, the mystery person un-does everything I did the previous day.  It's good to know I'm in the right, so even though I feel maybe a little bit sorry that they're losing their own private trail (that's not on their property), we are getting a great route to use for the upcoming event as well as in the future.