Big Ride bail-out
Erinna and I met up with a larger than expected crew last Saturday for what was supposed to be a 50+ mile ride. We started at Black Mountain trailhead in sub 20 degree temps. Erinna seemed to be doing well, keeping the pace up hiher than I could respond to. Jonathon and I took up the end of the line for the initial climb of the day. However, when we regouped at Thrift Cove Erinna was having a hard-time, her feet were so cold they hurt. She doesn't have appropriate cold weather shoes, her pink Italian leather Sidi slippers don't allow even a second pair of socks. We convinced her to continue climbing, that if we kept moving she would warm-up. Well, when we got to the top of the climb she wasn't doing any better, actually she was pretty miserable. Mountain biking is supposed to be fun, not miserable, so we decided to head on back to the car. Actually, the decision was made during the first descent when we came around a corner to the North face and an unconceivably cold blast of wind hit us. She was done and I wasn't going to continue without her so we said goodbye to the guys and headed back to the Jeep.
In total we did 1.5 hours of riding, not 8, but the cold took it out of us... When we got home we felt like we had been on the bikes for days.
I managed to get a couple photos along the way. Here's Jonathan and Dennis at a new sinkhole on Black Mountain:
and Jonathan at one of the steeps before Pressley Gap.:
Thanks for coming out guys! Next time we'll be better prepared...
