Moose, Wasps, and Rain

Last night me and dad rode the Ridge Trail. We started at the summit and rode out to the 4 way and took the South Fork Deer Creek side and back up to the summit. They re-routed the bottom which was super nice.  I was a bit nervous to ride my fully rigid single speed up there as there are some steeper climbs and some rocky and rooted out downhill sections.  I hadn't been up there in a couple years since I  had not had a bike, but the trail was just the way I remembered. My Nashbar single speed 29er handled everything like a BOSS! On climbs I use to drop to granny gear on I was able to push right up them. Riding one gear has made me a much more powerful rider. I rode most of the trail better than I used to on a fully suspended geared bike and I am still not in that great of shape. My legs felt stronger than  ever though! For those that think single speeding is some type of super human activity, it's not.  But you can keep thinking that. On some of the rockier sections a nice suspension fork would have been nice as well as some hydraulic brakes, but it didn't ruin the fun by any means. Just a few feet into the trail a runner warned us of a large bull moose about a quarter mile in standing right in the trail.  We came up on him fast and I was about 10 feet away.  He stared me down a bit and we backed off the trail as some motorcycles were coming up behind us. When we stepped off the trail, dad backed right into a wasp nest.  They straight attacked him. He must have had about 15-20 stings. The moose left and we biked on. On the downhill after the 4 way I must have hit a wasp and he stuck to my calf and proceeded to zap me. That thing was vicious! Then about halfway up the climb to the summit it got dark on us and started to rain hard. The dirt quickly gummed up and was sticking to our bikes so we hopped onto the road and rode the rest the way up on that. It was a super fun ride! I get so stoked every time I go out. Biking up there does something different than riding down in the valley like Corner Canyon. The smells, and the trees and air breathe life back into you up there.

Stinger guy.

Didn't have my camera, but he looked like this guy.