Fort Rock (& Ice)

I keep stealing away one more awesome day of riding before I go into complete hibernation mode for the winter. In fact, after yesterday's adventure at Fort Rock in Exeter, I'm almost starting to think I could be on two wheels ALL WINTER LONG. Wouldn't that be something?

I sort of thought after the weather we got last week that I'd be hanging up the Yeti and the Felt in the garage, locking the door, and not opening it again until April. But, man! Yesterday gave me hope! Aaron, Todd, and I got a solid 2.5 hours of riding in yesterday and probably only rode 50 feet worth of it on dirt. The rest was snow and/or ice.

That's where things got a little dicey. Aaron and Todd had studded tires; I did not. But, after a couple of miles of getting settled into the slipperiness, I actually got pretty comfortable and confident. The worst parts were the iced over wooden bridges through the marshy areas. Those were treacherous and I had to really hone in on my zen riding.

Zen riding can be draining. It requires concentration, but simultaneously you have to let your mind go sort of blank. You have to just flow with the bike as it moves. You can give it suggestions, but don't try to drive it. Of course, after a few hours of this I was tapped out and flailing. The flailing led to frustration which led to demoralization which led to more flailing and so on.

But, that was nothing that a few war stories over a beer and a burrito couldn't remedy.