First MTB Ride of the Fall Pictorial Version

J1 and I headed up into the hills today for the first ride of the fall season. We decided to try a slightly different route this time, thinking we could piece together some unfamiliar bits of trail.

We started out by wisely consulting a map at Sibley trail head.

The goal was Round Top Trail, and along the way we fabricated some high speed downhill shredding for posterity.

The weather up in the hills was definitely fall-like. We spent a lot of the day chasing the fog.

We stopped to check out a graffiti party cabin deep in the woods, after slipping and sliding down a trail of extreme gnarlitude called Cinderella. It was back up that way.

Fallen autumn leaves made some of the rutted-out downhills an especially slippery ride. Shredding them was no problem, however.

Exit to hillside suburbia, and down to burritoville.

Dirtin' a Dog a Day

In an effort to live up to Dr. 1Time's mantra, "Dirtin' a dog a day," I headed up to Redwood to put a positive spin on a heavy commemorative time. I went left where we usually go right and eventually found myself, after a lot of serious rollers, out at Pinehurst gate.

I put a taller/longer Nitto dirt drop stem on the MB-1. Getting the drops up at a dorky height has made a huge improvement in single track handling and comfort and stuff. I like these old handlebars now.

That trail looks interesting. Have we ridden it yet? Need to figure out how to get there. . . 

These Dirt Owls elected not to dirt a dog today. Pavement for them.

PS - I used 6-speed indexing on this ride. Retrogrouch heresy!