Two Wheel Blogs

Winter solstice. At exactly 8:22pm tonight the season changed from fall to winter. At that moment of time I was right exactly where I wanted to be: trail riding, in the woods, on my 29er singlespeed. I can hardly think of a better way to start out winter.

Earlier today I had thought that riding tonight might not happen. We've had a lot of rain here in the past couple of days. When I pulled in to park I asked the ranger if the trails were OK to ride because I think it's bad karma to tear up someone's hard work carving out a nice trail. She replied that for the most part the trails were in decent shape.

For the most part? I decided to take it easy and see for myself. Sure enough, only small portions of trail were bad enough they shouldn't be ridden. Where the trails were wet at all it was usually only a tiny bit of watery mud. Beneath that it was solid and firm.

Ah, but the rocks and roots... watch out. Slippery doesn't come close to describing what it's like negotiating an off-camber rooted and rocky corner.

The best part, however, was the fog. At the ranger station it was clear, only a few scattered clouds and lots of stars. In the woods, and only a few feet up, you rode into heavy fog. Nearing the tops of the ridges the fog ended. I stopped to take in the view at the overlook atop the Lone Wolf trail. Riders behind were climbing in the haze. Ahead and off to the left the river was overfilled with heavy fog. I imagine from above it might have looked like we had climbed to the top of a mountain which rose higher than the clouds. In reality we were maybe a couple of hundred feet up from river level.

The next Castlewood night ride will be Feb 2nd, Groundhog day. I sure don't plan on missing it.