Ice Cubed...

Holy crap! Temps here in KC have dropped! It's full on winter temps, but with no snow or rain the trails are in perfect condition for riding. You've just gotta man-up to get out and take advantage.

Last nights P-ride was chilly business. It did not feel too bad as we geared-up to roll-out, but by the time we actually got rolling, the thermometer was dropping to as a guess - the twenties. The Manimal, who's named not only for his grizzly riding style and fearless go for it attitude, but for his layer of man-fur that keeps him warmer than the average man. Tonight was no different; he was in shorts and summer riding shoes. I on the other hand was prepared for blistering cold and still ended up with frozen fingers and toes towards the end of our 3 hours ride.

We thought it would be a good idea to start off the evening by riding a few laps on the backyard skills course. The Manimal was on top of his game while The Kid, Billy and I were having more falls than success. Here we have The Kid riding the Stone Skinny with a foot out for balance, a tricky little obstacle.

The Manimal hit the Log Skinny with success from both directions, after almost OTB'ing it at least once. Here's video evidence.

We finally head out with a few new objectives for the night, first being a ride up some steep switchbacks that we normally only ride down. We were surprised at how doable they were, though we did not send them perfectly, it's obvious that they will go. At this point The Kid is having pedal issues; coming un-clipped on every Log-hop or rock obstacle and decides to head back for repairs. In his absence the rest of us do a loop of sweet single track and then rendezvous with The Kid, only to ride the switchbacks a second time.

At this point my legs go bye-bye. We've been out an hour and I am already riding like a chump. It is what it is so we keep going. We hit some steep climbs and one of the potential future Pirate cXc courses. More hills and were back on rogue trail. We eventually get to the fast wide single track once again and play around on a few log crossings, log skinnies and technical climbs. When there's only four of us riding, it allows for a lot more horsing around and less hammering. I like that.

So now we'd been out two plus hours and were all getting cold. Time to head back home and call it a night. We arrived back at the lair at near midnight. Wow, we'd been out a while! All good times must come to an end, and even though the bonfire was prepped and Hot Tub ready for bodies, we called it a night after swilling a few barley pops and talking shop.

I had a helluva time sleeping last night. The P-ride kick-my-ass, hard. I am hurting. I feel like I got run over by a train and then beat with a lead pipe in a dark alley...or maybe it had something to do with riding my rigid single speed on all those rocks...