October rides...

[north woods gal]

You girls are making me feel warmer in my mind, at least, with those posts. Keep 'em coming.

[emily_in_nc]

This is behind real-time, but in this blog post about our Columbus Day weekend I wrote about our ride in southwestern Ohio, partly on the Little Miami Scenic Trail and part on rural roads. You'll have to scroll by some campground and hiking stuff, but it's there at the bottom of the post!

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...e-park-in-ohio

No riding in the past few days as we've been traveling in Appalachians and doing some great hikes. Now we're visiting my folks and will head to the NC mountains tomorrow for a few days. I am so excited as my brother is joining us; I haven't seen him in almost three years! I'm not even taking my bike as my step-dad is driving all of us and doesn't have a car rack, and we will be loaded down with luggage and food. Maybe I'll finally get back on the bike next weekend after we return!

[north woods gal]

Good for you, Emily. Glad you got to visit family. Family visits are one thing we do miss. Had hoped family would want to visit more, once we retired up here in the woods, but pretty tough since we're so far of the beaten path.

Been doing quick repeats on stiff climbs I built into my MTB trails. Can now do four or five in a row on climbs I could barely manage, once, earlier in the summer. Kind of a Rocky Balboa thing. Yup, she's getting stronger.

[Sky King]

2 1/2 days, 70 miles of desert riding. I am a tired girl today. We volunteered for the BLM in the Owyhee Wilderness this last weekend and rode an area that was new to all of us along the South Fork of the Owyhee River. The roads were some of the best we've been on (keeping in mind where we were) More than enough of dropping in to the canyon and hike a bike back out - geeze. I said to one of our friends that he should send me all the photos he has of me pushing my bike and we could make a book - ha. We had to ford the river twice, up to my knees both times. I am not skilled nor strong enough to carry my bike across a river so I make two trips. One to carry my panniers and another to push my bike. This trip was in sage brush country - miles of sagebrush. Not much for wildlife. We did see a badger as we rolled into first nights camp. Saw some fresh cougar tracks the next morning! Couple of coyotes and chased some wild horses - those guys are really skittish. Once again, zero people. The downside was I made the mistake of eating a cliff bar before we started and had intense stomach cramps and you know what that follows - ugh. Not a great way to ride 20 miles, with nothing but sagebrush to squat behind. the guys were great, allowing me to lag behind but never out of their sight. Sapped my energy for the entire trip (couldn't be my age- ha) Made it back to the truck just as the rain started to fall. Today it is pouring. Just in case you aren't tired of wide open desert photos - here are a few.

[north woods gal]

Sky, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. When I think of adventure riding, riding such remote roads comes to mind. The closest thing we have, up here, are old logging and fire roads. I think such roads are the perfect blend of features for riding with an MTB - not super technical, but still challenging enough to be MTB, only and, above all, always interesting and true backcountry kind of remote. Really is my favorite kind of riding.

Nothing more tempting than this for me.


Get what you're saying about the digestion thing. Eating immediately before, or during, a long ride might work for some folks, but definitely not for me. Have learned this the hard way, more than once.

Keep those pics, coming.

[Sky King]

I would love to come and ride that. If my DD ends up a Mayo at least she'd be in the near area!

[Crankin]

First day I had time to ride after getting back from my hiking trip. I had a lot to do on my day off, before I leave shortly for the hair salon...
Just a little ride, but my first cold weather one of the season. It was 46, not bad, but partly cloudy and breezy. My extremeties were dressed correctly, but I should have either wore a short sleeved base layer and not LS, or a lighter jersey. Jacket was fine, too.
My quads are still just a little jacked from the hiking, so I've been vigorous with the stretching, foam roller, lacrosse ball.