OUCH!

That’s the word of the day. To paraphrase the start of “Fantasy Island”: “The pain! The pain!”. We should listen to The Police – King of Pain.

Do you get the idea that we all hurt? We do. A lot.

We go into town for lunch, have a brewski, and just relax. Of course, Richard soon gets restless and wants to ride, so we go back and get our bikes. It’s only the two of us on this, The Bear stays behind to take a nap – the only smart one in the bunch.

We go to the Arkansas Hills Trails system, behind Salida, where The Bear and I rode our second ride out here. Of course, we want to ride new ground, so we ride to the very furthest parking spot, and take the North Backbone trail towards town. BIG mistake. “More Difficult”, it’s rated. That means ROCKY. And hard. Even Richard has to walk some spots. That’s the first two thirds – the last third? BEAUTIFUL! Wow, what a difference! Smooth, flowy, and the scenery is again spectacular. Not mountain vistas so much, mostly the valley below and the town of Salida. Wow.

Here are some shots, first, near the start:

Then some valley shots:

And here a shot from just before the end of NB:

I refuse to take that trail back – I KNOW how hard it was to get here! We drop a bit, and I take ‘Lil Rattler down, while Richard takes Backbone to Tenderfoot, which, along with a short stretch of road will take him to the mid-point of ‘Lil Rattler, where I will wait for him. I get some shots of Richard, first on Backbone:

Then on Tenderfoot:

And then we meet,and take the last of ‘Lil Rattler down to the forward parking area. Not going back the way we came, so the only choice left is the road. Off we go. Second BIG mistake. It hurts. God, how it hurts! We make it, but the rest of the evening is spent in pain, even after Ibuprofen and dinner.

OUCH!

Tomorrow? Travel day, so day of rest! Yay!