~ Hard Guy ~

Tuesday has become, and will continue to be I hope, the day when I ride Hard Guy. Last Tuesday was my first time. I was experiencing a surprisingly high level of energy and rode the entire trail in under three hours. Josh has a few photos of the ride on this entry of his blog. Hard Guy is located in the area called (by Ridge to Rivers) Crane Creek / Shingle Ridge. Refer to the trail system map shown below and note that the highlighted area indicating the approximate location of Hard Guy. According to the Ridge to Rivers website, Hard Guy "is a long and winding route to the Boise Ridge. Due to long site lines and wide tread it's a good option for horseback rides by staging out of Miller Gulch. If you make it to the top you are rewarded with great views and a first hand look at the transition between high desert and forest ecosystems. Watch for raptors soaring the ridge during fall migration."

Yesterday I rode Hard Guy for the second time. On the way up, I decided that I would track my fitness using this trail. As this is a new trail for me, a longish trail, and a challenging trail, I determined that Hard Guy would be the ideal trail to track my improved fitness based upon the length of time it takes me to ride it. For a variety of reasons, Josh and I decided to have a time check from the trailhead, disregarding the ride up Bogus Basin Road and part of Corralls, tol the point of stopping, either the "halfway point" or the end.

Last night I rode to the "halfway" mark. This point is well past the halfway mark, however, I do not intend to bring along my GPS equipment to determine that which is exactly the halfway point. Plus, the point which I am calling "halfway" has a distinctive tree which is a good spot to rest and refuel, so it is likely that I won't forget where "halfway" is. It took me precisely 56 minutes to ride from the trailhead to "halfway" last night. My energy was at medium, I hadn't slept more than two hours that night, and I hadn't had much vigorous exercise in the days prior to the ride. All variables which I feel are important to take into account when tracking my progress. Please refer to the following sample spreadsheet to get an idea of how I intend to track my progress on Hard Guy. This is a draft and I will most likely be modifying it to make it more specific. Josh and I discussed how it would be interesting to track a whole slew of variables, such as amount of social interaction, stress load, fun-having, etc., and have a guage for happiness, but that would require more thought than I am willing to put into the project at this moment in time.

Anyhoot, the ride. Hard Guy is a fun trail. In Josh's guide books to mountain biking Southwest Idaho, Hard Guy is listed as an "advanced/expert" level trail. Since I am neither an advanced nor expert level bicycler, I have determined that the trail is only as hard as you make it. Granted, I feel that it is too difficult for a beginner rider, but for a solid intermediate such as myself, Hard Guy is good fun challenge. The trail, incidentally, winds through a large plot of land that is currently being used for the grazing of cattle. I am not entirely sure, but my guess is that these are free range cattle. Yesterday, this particular variety of livestock was everywhere, grazing, taking naps on the trail, and Josh and I had to carefully navigate our way through and around. At one point on the decent, I was flying down this steep pitch (which Josh had earlier described as a part of the trail he likes "to go really motherfucking fast on") and I had to slow down drastically because there were four calves walking along the trail with their mommies and a bull hanging out on either side. The calves, noticing my approach, began running away from me along the trail. How does one herd cattle on a bicycle? It was an amusing experience, though a bit terrifying. Josh, meanwhile, was way behind me and apparently caught the end of this scene. There were quite a number of instances in which I was approaching several large cows and bull(s) and, because I didn't want to startle any of them and induce them to girate right into my person, I made a point of calmly calling out a friendly "Hello" to alert them to my impending presence.

At some point early on in the trail, there is a "creek crossing". It comes at the bottom of a dip and is rather unpleasant due to its lack of actual water. Considering the quantity of cattle in the area, the consistency and smell, I have deduced that this particular "creek crossing" is kinda gross. I mean, well after riding into and out of it, being dried off by the heat and wind remnants, I was still noticing a distinct cow piss smell about my person. Unfortunately, there is no way around this obstacle and my creek crossing skillz aren't good enough for me to emerge without it splashing all over me.

Another shitty thing that happened to me last night, pun intended, was when I was riding home through the North End neighborhoods and I felt a conspicuous splat upon my leg. At first, I thought that Josh had thrown some projectile object at me. The impact was strong and it stung a bit. Then I looked down at my knee and I realized I had bird poo on my leg. A bird had defecated and it landed on me! I wasn't feeling so clean and fresh at this point, what with being splattered with cow piss and bird excrement. Here's a lovely photo of my lower half post-bike ride.

Posted by jennifer at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)