Wednesday, July 26

Mt. Falcon Social Ride (and dinner of course!)

Tonight the storms tried to scare us away but we got lucky and they all blew by to the south. A great group joined tonight at Mt.Falcon for our Wednesday night ride including Craig, Marni, Adam, Nicolette, Ryan, Bill, Erik and me (taking the picture). Scott apparently had something called "work" which prevented him from making an appearance. Once we all stopped hiding in our cars in the parking lot we decided the weather would be okay and we got ready to ride. The group strung out along the Castle Trail climb but we stopped to regroup several times to make sure all was well. This as we all know is the chance for the stronger riders to get a nice rest while waiting for the slower riders to catch up, promptly enabling the rested to proclaim themselves ready to leave again while those who just arrived gasp for air and curse under their breath. Just kidding guys!

The trail was tacky from the rain but with only a few small puddles and no significant mud. Other trail users were out enjoying the evening but everyone got along great. Winding our way up the switchbacks and over the technical rocky sections the miles ticked off until we arrived at the upper gazebo one by one. Bill and Marni both climbed like rock stars tonight!
At the gazebo we all regrouped once more and hung out with a big group of other cyclists. The weather was still holding nicely while we posed for pictures. We can't let something like "riding" get in the way of good photo opportunities.
After waiting a while the group was complete save for Adam and Nicolette who were having some trouble down the trail. Marni went back down to get a head start on the descent and find the missing two riders. All was well though and they just had some trouble staying upright on the trail *cough*Nicolette*cough*. Meanwhile a small group containing Bill, Craig, Erik, Ryan and me rode up the rest of Castle to the Meadow Trail, up around another trail while I forgot how to connect to Parmalee and around the Ute Trail. On Ute we all got to laugh at Ryan who broke his chain after we just talked about doing so.
We fixed up the chain pretty quick and it gave us no more trouble the rest of the ride. My Stan's tubeless appears to be sealed and working great as I had solid pressure the whole ride and no flats unlike last ride here. The sun was beginning to set so we booked it back down Meadow and Castle back to the parking lot.
Marni, Adam and Nicolette had all beat us back down for the 2nd time so I think they're going to have to do some more riding at the top next time. We packed up all our gear and headed over to Woody's to grab some pizza and shoot the breeze.

Another great Wednesday ride in the books and I can't wait for the next one!

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