Today we(Jeff and I) stayed local and met up with Nick Martin, Dejay Birtch, and Jake Kirkland for some more riding up in Nederland. I got to deflower my brand spanking new Rotwild Hardtail.

We headed up to the Eldora Ski Area on the road.

Fighting with all my might to keep up with the guys up the road climb to Eldora

Up, up we go.

We started with the trails up at Eldora and made our way down to the West Mag and trails behind the high school.

I instantly noticed that when I would put power to the pedals, the bike would lurch forward… sort of like touching the gas on a high performance car with your toe.  It was a delight.

Thanks to Mr. Kerkove for taking all the photos! I was too busy with my head down!

The trails around Eldora can be respectably rocky in parts, so it was a good test of my hardtail skills.  I have only ridden one for about 7 months before.  It is definitely bumpier, but also lighter and stiffer.  I am debating riding this bike at the Marathon Nationals next weekend.  It’s looking like a go.

Craziest idea of the day:

We first saw this guy riding down a rocky, loose dirt road… with a small child attached to the front of the bike.  None of us said a word… our mouths were agape.  It’s one thing to risk it on the paved roads (which also makes me nervous), but the consequences of crashing to the child are… insane.  It’s called crashing.  Excuse me sir, have you ever heard of “endo?”  Oh well, to each his own.

Great day in the saddle. It was awesome to ride with the guys. I am pretty tired after the weekend, but felt good and got some great work outs in.  Now it’s time for work once again, and time to start tapering.