The weather was great. Clear sky, light cool breeze, temp's in the low
20's. A kind of "ride while you can" type of day. I even got smooched by
a Golden haired temptress at the trailhead, but more on that
later...<grin>
We poked along until the meadow, which we crossed. Arriving at the Cedar
Bog trailhead we were amazed at the number of vehicles. On our descent
down the trail we passed at least 15 hikers, exchanging pleasantries as
we passed. It's nice not having any real user conflicts in this area. We
didn't mind the stop and start nature of the descent, as it was a pace
we were approaching anyway.
The crunch of leaves under our wheels was noisy. At times the leaves
were so deep that we basically had to find the hardpack "by feel". A
blanket of yellow and red and orange covered the whole trail. Many of
those leaves wound up buzzing away between my brake arch and the tire.
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz...
We climbed back up to the trailhead and rolled back out to the meadow
and across. Poking along we approached "Rog's Salvation", so named
because it was originally called "Rog's Purgatory" when ridden in the
opposite direction. It's a very slight downhill, over a long stretch
that actually allows you to get up some speed. I've hit 50km/h and just
about launched myself into the bushes along this section, in this
direction.
Anyway, we weren't in any rush, or were we? Just as I was about to drop
out of the meadow and along that section of trail Linda zips by me. "I
feel the need for speed" was all she said. She was gone. It would take
big ring to catch her, and I just didn't feel like abandoning my pokey,
yet fun pace.
She was waiting for me at the warming hut, helmet off, and snack in
hand. We had a nice rest, and watched riders go by that were so intent
on their line that they didn't even seem to notice us.
We saddled up and spun out to the access road. Linda wanted to take the
long way, but I chose the cut-out. Linda rode the long way anyways. Talk
about strong willed. At the other end of the cut-out I rolled onto the
loop she'd be riding, and went looking for her. Not before too long she
came roaring along... still feeling the need for speed. "Once you get to
the top of the hill it's all downhill from then on" she spoke as she
blasted by me, heading back to our original trailhead.
Back at the trailhead I saw a really cute Golden haired beauty and
walked over to introduce myself. "How old is your pup?" I inquired.
"She's a Golden Retriever that's 5.5 months old". I patted her, and got
the royal smooching treatment. Licks all over my face, with a bit of
tongue in my nose, my mouth and in my eyes for good measure. Living in
an apartment where pets aren't allowed I find time for patting other
people's pets. Most of them are more than happy to let a stranger show
some affection to their pooch.
What a great ride!
--
- Rog
http://www.wpcusrgrp.org/~rogerbuchanan/index.html
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