Swopersize...

It's been busy-time at the Pirates lair. I could spend hours writing about everything I did over the past four days; planting trees, mowing, camping with my kids, cleaning house, building a bed, hardware store runs, replacing my sons stolen scooter (yeah, if I find you, I'll kill you), riding trail and building trail. But, You'd be bored with all of that daily life stuff, so lets get down to it.

Saturday was perfectly rad. The weather was bomber and every trail system known to man was dry as a bone - almost too dry as I sit here with dust encrusted boogers creating discomfort in my nose. Most of my good riding pals were meeting early at Landahl, one of the finer and more lengthy trail systems near KC. I of course had kid duty and would not get out to ride until mid afternoon, when I'd meet The Manimal, CORE-bin (a.k.a. Handleballs) and Billy-MANilly at Swope for a few laps of dirt. It's been a while since I've been out to Swope and I was pleasantly surprised to see the sweet new re-route on the Phase Two section of Woodchuck Run, as well as a rock armored section where a large boulder had collapsed. These two new lengths of trail helped with flow and quality. Thanks to whomever took the time to make it happen.

The ride was good an uneventful. My legs felt like ass. I think it was due to the six hours riding last Sunday and 3 hours Tuesday that put me in the hurt locker. Right from the start I was feeling like I was out of fuel and never really got my legs. Fortunately the fellas had been riding all morning and were tired so we all were on the same page and just cruised around having a good time. I do have to admit that I'm noticing faint traits of familiarity with how the trails at Swope are starting to erode and do the same baby-head rebirth that happened a few years back at SMP. During this process the once smooth tread erodes down and hidden rocks below the surface become exposed creating a bumpy ride, and a less obvious line. This must be one of many reasons The Trail Asshole has gone to the dark side of full suspension gadgetry. I was getting beat-up to say the least.

 

Speaking of SMP. Sunday I went out to do trail-work with the SMP crew whom are hopeful in opening up the next phase of the Red trail by Memorial Day.  My guess is the trail will be open for sure. The amount of work completed Sunday was much and the amount of flagged trail left to cut-in is little. This new section of Red is the best yet; long flowing bench-cut sections in deep forested valleys with mixed terrain. Lots of technical and fast sections with the feeling of solitude make for an amazing trail experience. Considering how much time I spend riding out here I should be putting in more hours building trail. I'm selfish with my time I suppose, but I tell myself the minimal amount of free time I get should be used riding. After building trail over the weekend I felt as much joy in said labor as I do spinning pedals. The Red trail is amazing, and I'll be back building as much as I can over the next few weeks. I wish I'd taken some photos. You are going to have your mind blown...