A couple weekends ago I had a dumpster delivered and ripped the deck and poorly built retaining wall off the back of our house. The deck came down suprisingly quick, thanks in part to my Dad's help shuttling loads to the dumpster. Two Husqvarna chainsaws and 4 chains helped out the process quite a bit too. I ended up using a vacation day on the Monday after just to tidy things up.
I used another vacation day that Wednesday. But this day was for me, not housework, and had me meeting Paul, Bob, and Scott at the 141/44 lot early in the morning (and Kevin at the trailhead) for a full day trip to Council Bluff Lake to ride the Middlefork section of the Ozark Trail. I'm embarassed to admit it, but this was my first trip to the Middlefork. This section of the OT has been receiving a lot of attention from the local mtb scene recently, and while I can't say I have ridden the OT extensively, I can say that I have ridden an extensive number of mountain bike trails throughout the country. That said, the Middlefork was awesome! We left from the boat tramp and accessed the MF via the connector, riding an out-back for a total of 35 miles and over 3000 feet of climbing. Unlike some of the other nearby trails, I couldn't believe the overall condition (great!) of the MF and its lack of rocks. Smooth and fast describe this trail. No doubt I am headed back. Of course, the trail itself was only part of the fun. Taking a vacation day mid-week and spending it with friends was pretty good too. Work has been busy recently, but I think I need more days like this. My college used to have "Wonderful Wednesdays," which originally (pre-me) meant no classes and essentially lots of drinking, but during my time still generally meant music and beer. I'd be fine with having these type of Wednesdays more often, keeping the beer but sub'ing the music for bike riding.
While the Middlefork was great, it wasn't the only riding that week. On Saturday, Erin and I rode from our house over to Grant's Trail, then all the way to the end and back home for just over 20 miles. This was good pre-triathlon training for her, and with 2 kids in a trailer, a pretty good workout for me too. Then on Sunday I followed up the mtb and trailer rides with a road ride, heading west to Wildwood's hills and back for 65 miles. Coincidentally (?), each ride this week was my longest year-to-date for each bike: 35 on the Superfly on Wednesday, 20 on the Karate Monkey with trailer on Saturday, and 65 on the Giant on Sunday. Hopefully these rides will keep me from blowing up at the next mtb race...
Deck before:
Deck during:
Deck after:
Middlefork before... Geezer showing Bob the love:
Middlefork during... break time:
More Middlefork during... Kevin in the burnt out section near the end:
Middlefork after... "Now how do I fit this here?":
Grant's Trail before... well, at the beginning of the trail:
Grant's Trail during... at least they're awake now:
Grant's Trail after... after at least the first half (10+ miles):
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