Spring . . . Maybe?

The pasture is looking to have weathered winter fairly well. Sorry the pics are not that great, forgot the good camera and had to make due with the phone camera. The only other souls on the trail this weekend that I saw were a few turkeys. No cows, no deer to be seen, nothing. Just quiet and serene. The weather was cool and cloudy. Spring is on the way, but it's hiding its advance very well.

Green is everywhere just waiting to pop and engulf everything.

Still a lot of mud in the low lying spots. Old Camp is still very wet. I parked at Festival Camp and had mud-free parking and access without having to slog through the muck.

The "new valley" on the Desert has really crept up on the trail. A few more rains and we'll be rerouting along the shoulder of the canyon . . . probably should just go ahead and do it now.

Like many of the "roads", Drunken Karen is washed out in fantastic fashion.

Typical of the bottom of the bulldozer roads. Most of them have a "delta" at the bottom.

I really have no idea what happened here . . .

April Showers

Went to Potter's today to see how the trails held up to the snow and rain we had. I knew it would be a crap shoot at best to even find a decent route. I hit the new Reaper's Ridge climb and some fun in tree's!! It turned out to be a tad bit muddy with snow in areas still. I did a loop around the perimeter that had around 10 miles of some of my favorites. I ended up cranking out two loops for a total of 17 miles. I ended up riding in complete solitude!! It is a totally different experience all alone, but I like it sometimes!! The weather closed in and it started to rain as I was leaving.

CQ





Coming down crack-a-lak was interesting in the snow.


The roots on Reaper's Ridge were fun to say the least!!!!


A nice pic at the top of Pump Hill.

Spring Gathering

It is that time of year again!! Time to get outside, enjoy the trails and have a little campfire time in the evening with some friends. The date for the get together is May 5th - 8th. It was hard to get a date that functioned well for anyone this year. Hope this works for more than a few of the MTB crowd out there. If you have a Mother that rides this could work out well for you!! You could go to your local shop and pick up some Mothers Day goodies and give them to her at the trails!! Potters is in very good shape this spring so come join in the fun!! The location will be at "Festival Camp" . It is located at the southern entrance to the trails and can be found on the trail map you can download and print.
CQ

Reaper's Ridge Phase 1 Completed

The Reaper's Ridge phase 1 redesign is complete to the top now. This has been in the design/exploratory phase for about five years now.I knew what I wanted out of this area and now it is half done. I finished the route layout and then with the help of T Laub we hit it and hit it hard!! I had paused to take a breather and noticed where we had made it too, when I let out a holler. We were at the top !! So we finished up what needed to be finished and then we rolled that sucker!! I must say it roll's very well folks !! The sign for the upper entrance will have to be placed and a link will be made to reconnect to the original lower section of Reaper's. There will be some work done on the original entrance as the time allows. It is time to ride people!! Get out and enjoy the trails!!
CQ

Looking downhill near the middle of the upper section

CQ rollin' the upper section downhill

Looking uphill near the middle of the upper section

Breaking in a new ride

I received a call from T Laub that his friend TJ had pulled the trigger on a new ride!! They were heading to Potter's to get a quick break-in ride for TJ's new Rock Hopper. Heck he didn't even let the smell of the shop clear before they picked me up. We did a nice loop to get him familiarized with a few key routes and landmarks. It was a very nice 84 F while we were riding. I was not prepared for what the trails had in store for my legs at all. I was on the SS and it didn't dawn on me till the first climb that I was running a 32x17 which was a bit steep for me at Potter's!! On the way back to "Old Camp" heard T Laub talkin' up the Big Hill descent into camp. Well I cut off onto the single track down and they bombed the two track . I watched as TJ made it and stopped to watch T Laub launch off the nice jump at the bottom. He landed the first one and then dropped into the road cut near the windmill . Not such a good landing here !! Lots of dust and debris flying everywhere!!! He was in one piece and had some very nice raspberries to show off. We discovered that blood had been let so all in all it was a great day at the pasture !!
CQ

TJ all smiles after a great ride !!
T Laub all smiles cause nothing was broke !!!