~ the pros and cons of bartering ~

Now that the weather has finally decided to cease being winter, I have some outdoor recreation fodder for all of you. Before I get into that, I would like to consider the weather for a moment longer. Roughly one year ago, some friends and I participated in a cruiser bicycle parade to celebrate the 27th anniversary of my birth. On that day, one year ago, it was HOT. Like, really really HOT. So hot, that we were in fact, OVERHEATED. I feel inclined to state that it was near to 100 degrees hot, but I am not certain if that figure is fact or fiction. At any rate, HOT is what it was. This year, the same time of year as last year, it has been the opposite of hot. And while 100 degrees is too hot for me to be entirely comfortable in my skin, I also am not a fan of cold. Especially cold when you're expecting it to be hot because you live in the high desert and it's supposed to be hot during the summers. Anyhoot, this weekend the temperatures soared into the 90s and it was lovely not being cold for a change. /End rant about the weather.

Sandhollow to New Plymouth

On Saturday, as the temperatures were expected to be in the HOT zone, Josh and I got up early-ish and headed out for a road ride adventure before the heat set in. I might mention that the day before Saturday, Friday actually, we went on a road ride after I got off work, and I found myself feeling uncomfortably hot in the 95 degree temperatures - - which is what compelled us to get out on a ride while it was still cool on Saturday morning. As we were hankering for something of an adventure, we loaded our crap on the car and drove out to Gem County for some rural riding. At some point, my bicycle computer was acting strangly, and so I am not entirely certain the distance that we covered, but I am confident that it was somewhere around the 30 mile mark. We parked at Sandhollow (which I believe is just a gas station and general store, not an actual 'town', amid lots of ruralness) and meandered over to New Plymouth. I appologize that this post is so much about the weather, but yea...so as we were riding to New Plymouth, an incredibly strong headwind was making the ride significantly slower and more difficult. I had become to feel a bit less confident in my fitness as a result of this wind, the peddling was so strained.

We stopped for lunch in New Plymouth. I'm sure you all remember the Emmett to New Plymouth ride we did two years ago. Well, the deja-vu I experienced when we rode into New Plymouth this weekend was something else. And when we left to complete our loop back to Sandhollow, we passed by some of the roads that we took two years ago and the memories of that ride came back to me very strongly.

One memory of that ride, in particular, that I do not reserve a special place in my heart for was when we were chased by some dogs. If the memory serves, one of the dogs even bit Josh on the ankle (or was it the bike wheel?). Ah, the trials and tribulations of road riding in a rural state! I believe that I have previously articulated my disdain for some people opting to allow their dogs run free. I understand that dogs love running free and love chasing cyclists and scaring the crap out of them, but for me, it is unpleasant. Anyway, I was to experience quite a bit of deja-vu on the ride this weekend, as we had a number of encounters with dogs chasing us.

In other biking news, I've taken Elizabeth out on a few more mountain bike rides lately. I must say, she's a natural! We continue to ride the same loop as before. As I keep mentioning, this is the area of foothills trails that I found my love of mountain biking on. They're wonderful because they're so scenic and interesting, with a good blend of hills and flat sections. Also, they're an amazing amount of fun to bonzai on the downhill.

We rode on Monday evening the first time. Elizabeth seemed to think that I tricked her, but really, I just did not provide her with all of the information. We rode to the base of the Reserve area to wait for the others. I had mentioned "the others" back at my apartment, but she seemed to think that I was proposing a group ride at some point in the future, not that very evening. Essentially, after I had arranged to go mountain biking with Elizabeth, Josh called to say that he and another dude he works with wanted to join us for the ride. While I understand why Elizabeth might have felt not enthusiastic about riding with two dudes on her fourth mountain bike ride ever, I was familiar with the riding level of the other dude and was confident in Elizabeth's ability to surpass him. So anyway, Elizabeth seemed a bit offput at first while we were waiting for the dudes to arrive.

And so we set off! Right from the start, it was apparent that we were all just there to have fun and that it didn't make a shred of difference that there were a variety of ability levels present. And soon after we started, I was quite proud of Elizabeth's effort on the intermediate level hill-climb. This was her second time on this hill, and it is a not at all a beginner hill, and she made it up sections that she walked before. It was awesome. After this hill, there's a nice flatish section and then another big hill. Josh and the other dude were chilling at the intersection before this second hill, and Elizabeth just rode right on by them and put in a big effort on the steep hill. Again, it was awesome. After this hill, there's another flatish section. Then we turned around for our downhill. Let's see...we met up with the dudes around 8:45pm (because it was too hot earlier in the day) and there was a glorious sunset in progress during our downhill. I love mountain biking in the evening! Anyway, Josh and the other dude led on the downhill, followed by Elizabeth and then me. And I will refrain from beating a dead horse on this next point, but the awesomeness that was Elizabeth's downhill is beyond words. She totally kept up with the dudes and rode faster than ever before. Gosh, it was awesome. After the ride, Elizabeth and I hung out on my stoop drinking beers, which is the only way to end a good ride.

But then, yesterday (Tuesday) we rode the same thing again. It was cooler yesterday (the temperature), so we were able to hit the trails around 7:30ish. The ride was very similar to the one the day before, except no dudes. I have to say, I think that it was good to have Elizabeth ride with the dudes - - because no matter how much of a stern drill sargent I try to be, nothing compares to a person trying to keep up with other people. And so on yesterday's downhill, even though she wasn't going quite as fast as when she was trying to keep up with the other dude, Elizabeth was going so much faster than ever before and I was very impressed. If you consider that fourth photo of Elizabeth, you'll notice a huge smile on her face while she bombs down a trail. What fun!

Posted by jennifer at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)