This day marks a very special chapter in my life. This is my first ride since my daughter was born 5 days ago on September 20, 2004. On that day my wife and I welcomed Norah into the world. Without going into the details, all I can say is that she has me wrapped around her little finger already and she is most definitely daddy’s little girl.
The weather today at the Woodlot was fabulous. The sun was out and it was pleasantly warm. The Woodlot was very busy today. Normally I park very close to the trail exit, but today I had to park up the road a bit due to the number of people that had beaten me to the hill. On the way up, I was stopped by a group of guys that recognized me as a builder and we talked a moment about Snakes and Ladders. To sum our conversation up, they are super happy with all the work we have done on the trail and cannot wait to ride it again.
Onward and upward to the top of the hill I went passing a few people I knew on the way to Krazy Karpenter. Now this is a trail that I had not ridden in quite some time. The last time I rode it, it was not in very good shape and my ride was downright crappy. Well, no repairs have been done since, however I had a new inspiration during my ride and I rather enjoyed my blast down this classic trail.
At the bottom of Karpenter, I turned right and made my way to Blood Donor. I had a flowing vibe with me today and I rode everything with confidence. I had an absolute ripping time down BD. I managed to catch up to a group of guys half way down the trail and they let me pass at the junction to Giant Killer.
Giant Killer was once again super sweet. Rather than ride the trail really fast, I just cruised the trail, pumping everywhere that I could and just had fun. I must say that I totally aired the gap / stepdown at the end of the trail with the most air I have done to date.
Snakes and Ladders was next. Holy crap was this run fun. I completely ripped the trail with a new found vigor I have never had before. All the way from the top to the snakey bridge to the log ride to the drop to the new flow section to the wooden berm to the jump to the hip style turn to the boa bridge to the logride with the exit that fires you like a howitzer down the next creek crossing to the new log drop to Tim’s next bit of work. Tim’s next bit of work would be hard for most people to notice due to the fact that it is all dirt and rock work at the top and bottom of the bigger rock face. I totally noticed it because I ride the trail all the time. An I loved it. BIG pieces of rock wedged in at the approach and a building up and expansion of real-estate at the end of the rock face. All this work he did went a long, long way in making this section so much more fun to ride. Once again Tim, two thumbs up my friend. This was not all he had done in the last week. He also started the work on the new squid line for the last roll down on the trail. He had roughed in and framed the wooden berm, but it was lacking any rung, so I just stuck to the trail. My ride was going so damn well today that I decided that I would do the last drop to flat on the trail. In fact this was the first time I had ever done this drop as it is about 4 feet to complete flat, kind of crappy way to end the trail (it will get changed some time soon), but I finally did it today.
I rode out to Shotgun and then down to the car. A great ride as a proud papa.
