RIDE!

Yes, finally a good, long ride. It’s Judgement Day in Dallas – 10 trails in one day. We’re going to do our own version. Only one trail, but it starts at 11,312 feet, and flirts for hours with 12,000. Or at least it seems like hours! I think it was a few minutes shy. The start is pretty boring – a parking lot at the top of Monarch Pass – you can see it on a previous day’s photos. But soon the scenery turns spectacular:

Here’s some of the trail:

We ran across three patches of snow – the first, not too bad, the second … well … I busted my ass on the second. It was six to eight feet tall, and slick as … well, slick as wet snow and ice:

That’s Richard, and it’s actually taller than him, the angle and distance makes it seem shorter. I slid right off the top, and landed on my left leg and cheek, handlebars getting knocked sideways in the process. No permanent harm done, and it was a quick job of straightening it all out. Onward we went. Later, we saw a much bigger patch, and had to skirt it, as many others had done:

This patch is a LOT thicker than the previous two. We continue:

About a half hour later, and that last patch is what you see in the top center of the photo, atop the mountain. We made pretty good time. Several miles, not sure how many.

After ten miles, we reached Marshall Pass, from here, it’s all road. Dirt for the next twelve miles, and we make really good speed.

Soon, though, we hit rush hour traffic:

Way further down, but the scenery is still spectacular:

Those twelve miles down? Had to stop three times to shake the hands and keep them from going numb, and it took FIFTY minutes! No pedaling, no brakes, just rattle down the mountain. And after the ride? FOOD:

Yum! What a day! I will sleep well tonight!