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Whenever I go out for a ride with tourons I am looking for a statement that best describes the ride of the day. Today was supposed to be an extra special ride that I promised the two Canadian super riders to. That ride was to be on Damifino, which on the best day would be considered very difficult. Throw in ice and snow and you have pushed the ride experience up from very difficult to "I am way over my head".
I just happens that I gave a last minute invitation to another rider (from Spokanne) that I met on the Christmas ride. He was driving east on Hwy 89A when I was headed to the Damifino hook-up spot. I told this potential additional rider I was riding the Damifino trail and if he wanted to tag along with his Tuner 5 spot he was welcome to join us.
From Sunday’s Christmas ride I knew that he was a good rider on a stupid ride, but I had not ridden with him on scary ride yet. He looked old enough to have good judgment, so I wasn't overly concerned about how he would handle the more technical sections.
As it turned out the Canadian's kicked butt on the techy Cow Pies Section and I stayed back to make sure the Spokane rider made it to the saddle OK.
When we got to the special World Class climbing section I gave my Pink Jeep speech about how there was only one line up the slickrock face and as usual my local riding buddy just rolled his eyes back when I got done talking. After being the only one to clean the climb w/o dabbing I felt that I had done my best to represent the AARP riding club.
Once we made it up to the saddle we all took a break and actually got a chance to take a picture of the group before being thrown into the most difficult section of the ride. At this point the Spokanne rider announced to me that "I think I am getting way over my head". I couldn't disagree with him because in the best conditions when I ride this section of trail I feel I am way over my riding ability.
I wish I had gotten some pictures of the next 3/4 mile of trail, but my thoughts were more of a survival nature rather than the picture-taking mode.
Once we got down off the super slippery section we cutover to Brew Pub and over to Lavitra. Brew Pub was rather covered with snow and somewhat mushy. Lavitra was south facing so it was in pretty good shape and 99% rideable.
At the bottom of Casner the Canadian's asked for the fastest way back to their car. They were tired of riding so slow that they wanted to get to Phoenix and be able to ride fast on less technical trails. Giving them their wish I pointed to Hwy. 89A, which was 50 yards uphill and wished them a fun ride down 89A.
The rest of us rode the normal route to Medley Bridge up Wilson to Jim Thompson to Birdcage to JT to Jordan to Power House Plunge to Grand Central to Burger King for a $1.10 Whopper Junior. and then to the spa for a steam bath and Jacuzzi.
TD
I just happens that I gave a last minute invitation to another rider (from Spokanne) that I met on the Christmas ride. He was driving east on Hwy 89A when I was headed to the Damifino hook-up spot. I told this potential additional rider I was riding the Damifino trail and if he wanted to tag along with his Tuner 5 spot he was welcome to join us.
From Sunday’s Christmas ride I knew that he was a good rider on a stupid ride, but I had not ridden with him on scary ride yet. He looked old enough to have good judgment, so I wasn't overly concerned about how he would handle the more technical sections.
As it turned out the Canadian's kicked butt on the techy Cow Pies Section and I stayed back to make sure the Spokane rider made it to the saddle OK.
When we got to the special World Class climbing section I gave my Pink Jeep speech about how there was only one line up the slickrock face and as usual my local riding buddy just rolled his eyes back when I got done talking. After being the only one to clean the climb w/o dabbing I felt that I had done my best to represent the AARP riding club.
Once we made it up to the saddle we all took a break and actually got a chance to take a picture of the group before being thrown into the most difficult section of the ride. At this point the Spokanne rider announced to me that "I think I am getting way over my head". I couldn't disagree with him because in the best conditions when I ride this section of trail I feel I am way over my riding ability.
I wish I had gotten some pictures of the next 3/4 mile of trail, but my thoughts were more of a survival nature rather than the picture-taking mode.
Once we got down off the super slippery section we cutover to Brew Pub and over to Lavitra. Brew Pub was rather covered with snow and somewhat mushy. Lavitra was south facing so it was in pretty good shape and 99% rideable.
At the bottom of Casner the Canadian's asked for the fastest way back to their car. They were tired of riding so slow that they wanted to get to Phoenix and be able to ride fast on less technical trails. Giving them their wish I pointed to Hwy. 89A, which was 50 yards uphill and wished them a fun ride down 89A.
The rest of us rode the normal route to Medley Bridge up Wilson to Jim Thompson to Birdcage to JT to Jordan to Power House Plunge to Grand Central to Burger King for a $1.10 Whopper Junior. and then to the spa for a steam bath and Jacuzzi.
TD
