I would have been okay with not doing anything today.  But when Todd mentioned maybe going riding at Wirth, I decided that could be a fun option! So we went out and hit almost all of the trails at Wirth including two new to me sections!  It was mid-80’s, humid, and still smoky from Canadian fires.  The trails were super dry with lots of dust to coat both us and the bikes!

We started with the Karate Monkey trails, the harder section of new event trails made by the Loppet.  They have some tight flow sections and hairpin turns without banks so it isn’t an easy trail.  Plus a tough uphill climb to start.  The last section is relatively easy and is right next to the creek for a nice ride.

We decided to go to the Bog trails and work our way back up towards the Back 40 and Area 36.  We rode the Southbound sections and then turned around and headed back hitting all the areas but the Expert Brownie Loop.  It was fun to have somebody to help push me along more than my usual casual pace. Some of the harder elements of the Bog trails require me to get off my bike and I could probably do some of them if I practiced more and got out of my head and fear.

In the Back 40 we took a new trail that had some interesting asphalt and debris sections. It also had some tight squeezes and was a little technical.  Things were going well until I crossed the bridge section a little too fast and my back tire slipped on the edge.  Somehow my bike actually stayed on, but my balance shifted too fast and I fell off.  So I had one leg still on the bike and one standing on the ground.  Fortunately the bridge is only a few inches off the ground!! Shortly after that I saw a doe and fawn on the trail so in my mind that made up for falling.  The ground had finally dried up enough for the short duck pond section to be re-opened.  It seemed shorter than I remembered, but it had been closed for about a year, so who knows.

After finishing the Back 40 we refilled water at the Trailhead and hit the Area 36 trails.  There is some tough climbing and some fun pump sections and we had a good time here.  Todd did The Tube and I opted to skip it this time around. We finished up and headed home.  After hosing down our bikes we relaxed and realized we both got a ton of Strava segment PR’s.

It was a great ride and I’m glad it worked out to do it.

12.3 miles!

I started out on my mountain bike and hit the Classic Theo loop, before I got a flat tire.  Ugh.. in the same spot (at the bottom of the stem). NBD, I had a spare so I changed the tube and guess what… I had a presta hand pump and not a shrader one.  Ugh.  A few rider had passed while I was working on it and they checked on me, but I thought I was good. Not another walk out of the trails. This is the third tube that’s popped there,  Before inserting the new one scraped out the hole with my multi-tool but I didn’t actually see anything that might be causing the problem.  I didn’t see any other riders. So I rode 2.2 miles and hike a biked about a mile!

When I got home everyone was still sleeping so I decided to switch bikes and went for a quick ride on my Motobecane. I’ve taken it a few times on the mountain bike trails between Glenwood and 55 so I did that again.  It still has CX tires on it so it handles the dirt just fine and that section is mostly just riding up the hill and flowing down with a few pump track parts.  Perfect for my bike! I rode around Cedar Lake and to the Mississippi River before heading home.  Total miles for this ride were 10.5 in 48:58.