Wednesday's ride was to be a quickie romp through Blacktail, down the Archery Range and then over to Thompson Park, then TBD...sometimes it is good to leave the options open during a ride and then make a decision based on how the legs feel, how much time you have, how frisky you are feeling, etc...
As I rode up Blacktail, I noticed that there was a crew out there doing trail maintenance so I thanked them for all their hard work and started the punchy climb up Blacktail. The trail maintenance includes a couple of re-routes and some areas to help with diverting drainage and slowing erosion. I made a mental not of the new 'soft spots' as I rode up knowing that the downhill could turn into a real adventure if you had one of those soft sandy spots at speed around a corner....and Blacktail is so fast on the descent that it made good sense to make a mental 'post it'.
We have had so much moisture this year that the trail that diverts off of the Blacktail down to the Archery range is overgrown...it was easy to miss and I had to pull a 180 when I realized I must have missed the Archery trail. I quickly turned around and saw how easy it was to miss. As soon as I got on the trail, it looked like no one had been on it in quite a while. The newly built trail (last year) has not had enough traffic to really wear it in yet up high. There were several down trees that forced you off your bike. The lower 2/3 of the trail are well worn it but the upper section could definitely use more riding. At the bottom of the Archery descent I noticed that once again my water bottle had dislodged itself from the lower part of my down tube...starting to think this might just be 'The Great Water Bottle Conspiracy'. This would just mean that I would have to ascend the trail on the way back to track that little escapee.
Along the trail, I saw the following:
They do call it the Archery Range for a reason (the trail does go through a real Archery Range) but this little arrow lost its way and let's just say that there are ZERO targets anywhere around this trail so just maybe some local archers are taking exception to a trail running through their playground...mental sticky note #2.....do not linger where said lost arrow is (so of course I did so I could snap a picture).
The rest of the ride was comparably unventful with a climb up Thompson Park to the RR bed and then up the next climb with a fun descent all the way back down Thompson again and back up the Archery Range - ever so diligent to keep an eye out for a water bottle with legs. The climb up the Archery Range is steep but fortunately not very long...The water bottle must have learned to camou because it remains on the loose...The descent down Blacktail was super fun and fast and fortunately the first mental post it was still fresh enough to remind me of the soft spots in the trail. It was a little over 12 miles with a little over 2,400 ft of elevation gain. Lots of short punchy climbing -- woohoo
As I rode up Blacktail, I noticed that there was a crew out there doing trail maintenance so I thanked them for all their hard work and started the punchy climb up Blacktail. The trail maintenance includes a couple of re-routes and some areas to help with diverting drainage and slowing erosion. I made a mental not of the new 'soft spots' as I rode up knowing that the downhill could turn into a real adventure if you had one of those soft sandy spots at speed around a corner....and Blacktail is so fast on the descent that it made good sense to make a mental 'post it'.
We have had so much moisture this year that the trail that diverts off of the Blacktail down to the Archery range is overgrown...it was easy to miss and I had to pull a 180 when I realized I must have missed the Archery trail. I quickly turned around and saw how easy it was to miss. As soon as I got on the trail, it looked like no one had been on it in quite a while. The newly built trail (last year) has not had enough traffic to really wear it in yet up high. There were several down trees that forced you off your bike. The lower 2/3 of the trail are well worn it but the upper section could definitely use more riding. At the bottom of the Archery descent I noticed that once again my water bottle had dislodged itself from the lower part of my down tube...starting to think this might just be 'The Great Water Bottle Conspiracy'. This would just mean that I would have to ascend the trail on the way back to track that little escapee.
Along the trail, I saw the following:
The rest of the ride was comparably unventful with a climb up Thompson Park to the RR bed and then up the next climb with a fun descent all the way back down Thompson again and back up the Archery Range - ever so diligent to keep an eye out for a water bottle with legs. The climb up the Archery Range is steep but fortunately not very long...The water bottle must have learned to camou because it remains on the loose...The descent down Blacktail was super fun and fast and fortunately the first mental post it was still fresh enough to remind me of the soft spots in the trail. It was a little over 12 miles with a little over 2,400 ft of elevation gain. Lots of short punchy climbing -- woohoo
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