Rocky Hill Ranch.

Its been, sort of thankfully, a long time since I’ve raced here. 2004? 2005?

This place is a serpentine patch of coiled single track that’s partially laid out on loamy pine needle carpeted earth, and when its not a perfectly groomed path of 1cm pine needles on the forest floor, its a vague path of small gravel on top of larger river rock gravel in between large pine trees, who’s turns are defended by small pine trees.

Summary – the trail is never straight, and leaning your bike is done at your own peril.

The drive down to Durango to pickup Snyder wasn’t bad at all and I stopped off to ride the Alpine Loop outside Provo before winter’s snows closed the road for good. The climb’s gate is already down – making this the world’s best bike path – which climbs from 4500′ to 8500′ over 10 miles. In the valley it was summer – practically 70*. At the summit, also practically summer – 60’s. However, the valley, in the shade, was covered in ice. And I had bare hands and legs… this was hand’s down the coldest climb I’ve ever done…much like Mark Twain’s cold winter during one San Fran summer. Going up was worse than riding down!

With a pit stop at the Wells’ house in Durango, Snyder was loaded and Bread visited…we rolled out at 0:dark30

Side note: If you’ve ever wondered the difference between, say, your average Oakley pro, and maybe your average 2x Olympian Oakley pro…witness-

Olympics:

No Olympics. What’s that loose bolt for, Adam?

Both claimed to have more inventory, but whatevers. I have maybe 5 pair of shades, and they’re never organized. You guys have too much time on your hands.

I’ve not made a semi-cross country drive in awhile. They’re great experiences, except for all the driving. The key is to bring someone to help with the driving.

At least they’re there for moral support.

They say you don’t know what you got ’till its gone. There’s a bevy of truth to that, and returning to Austin becomes more and more of a vacation with each trip. Austinites are family, and this is coming home for me. Food, friends, and all the old places that both seemed larger and smaller when recollected.

Of course, Snoodles and Calfzilla are both larger than life in their own way.

4 meals a day were TexMex but I’m offsetting this with a new diet of Chia seeds and more wine. If you’re into gooey cold gritty globs of oily seeds, you’re going to love Chia.

We had a nice venue setup at RHR – directly across from the Start/Finish and well within range of a vicious musical assault from the registration PA. I was tempted to mount the Perimeter and regulate the microphone and its DJ a few times, but things sorted out by the end of Saturday’s demo.

Sunday rolled around and the mist/fog was heavy enough to require the windshield wipers but no rain. From the start Snyder and I rolled into the woods alone and slashed and burned 600 turns per mile, which rolls out to about 9 feet between turns and twists. That’s likely a bit generous, but made for a lot of yehaw and heyaah’s out there. All was well in Dodge with us set to roll in with a 1-2 punch, until Snoodles planted his butt firmly into the saddle during one of the deeper creek crossings – slicing a tire on the burly river rock. Nice timing, Snyder, see you at the finish…

But, with free Shiner after 2 hrs of single track sessioning, how can anyone complain?

See you guys at Juan Pelota’s in 10 days.

Head’s up – there’s a garage sale going on here.