5th Wheel Cycling Team

As the weekend approached, I had the difficult task of choosing where to ride. There were two rides posted over at www.dirttreaders.com that piqued my interest: Lake Calavera and Sweetwater. I ended up choosing Sweetwater since I had ridden Calavera many times and was just there a few weeks ago. I rode Sweetwater once previously – over two years ago and it was a bit of an exploratory ride. I was looking forward to checking out some new dirt and getting a “tour” from someone who knew the trails well.

I knew the day was going to turn into a scorcher when I had the a/c running at 7am as I was making the drive to the trailhead. We had 8 riders total, and off we went. The pace was nice and mellow, and considering the rising temperature, I had no complains even though this was supposed to be a “training” ride for the Kirkwood race. During the first short climb, we were caught by one of the guys from the DT community… he was out for a morning jog.

The trail consisted of 90% singletrack. It was mostly rolling, but there was one brutal climb and a couple of fun downhill sections thrown in.  Overall, it wasn’t very technical, but the fun factor was still relatively high.

Sweet singletrack and the climb ahead

Two legs are sometimes faster than two wheels

After several switchbacks, some more HAB, and a bit of complaining, we finally reach the top

Finally, some descending

(The chick in front was on a nearly 20 yr old fully rigid Gary Fisher.  She was on a business trip from the east coast and really wanted to ride)

Some much needed shade

We ended up logging in a little less than 13 miles.  Apparently, there are a lot more trails and route options than what we did today, so I am definitely looking forward to going back.  My thermostat read 99 degrees when we finished, so I may wait a few weeks before my return.  It’s good to be able to add another trail to ride regularly, and even better to know that there’s always a fun group to ride with.

The final stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/9125524

P.S. – I am not even close to being in race form