Thc chicky's rocked

As the chickys have been doing their weekly ride at Explore Park, I've observed some tremendous improvement in everyone's riding. From handling the technical switchbacks, to barrelling downhill, to grunting up the climbs everyone is doing great!...this week we decided to go straight to the intermediate stuff and test our skills.

Prior to the ride, I thought I'd sneak in a quick lap just to get the legs going and the heart pumping. Skippy arrived just as I was about to depart. I told him I was going to do a quick spin so he joined me. We took off for the intermediate trail and did the first downhill loop section before going back to the parking lot. Man he's fast. I hope/pray one day I can get that fast on the bike. I was able to hang w/ him on some parts, but others, he kicked my butt. No worries though. I was able to do a couple of the uphill switchbacks which gave me constant trouble on the night rides in the winter...so I know I'm improving. After getting back to the parking lot, I felt kicked....I guess that's why I normally warm up first before riding that hard...this o' gal can't get going that quickly anymore.

Oh well, I met up w/ the other gals and the 6 of us ventured out. I thought for a change of pace, we'd try the outer loop. Parts of the outer loop are a little tricky but nothing too overwhelming. Everyone did fantastic, especially the downhill sections. Angelia was flying through the downhills ! We cleared logs, rocky sections & some of the gals even attempted the "technical" rooty section. Woo Hoo! Once we got to the road, we rode back up to the back entrance of the park. We are not quite ready to tackly the steep, rooty downhill on the other side of the road..maybe later this year. I think Jennifer was feeling quite energetic as she sped up the hill to the entrance. I did a couple of sprints just to get the blood flowing, then went back to check on everyone. Everyone was doing great.

As we got back to the park, we decided to do the inner loop. We went back down the steep downhill, and started to climb. I think everyone cleared the climb where the large wooden bridge is. Awesome job ladies! As we continued, we had a couple of bobbles here & there but that's proably due to the fact we were a little tired. We continued on the inner loop w/ the ladies looking like they had been doing this all their lives. We all cleared the next log in the trail & continued on. Man We Rock! Maggie had a couple of bobbles one of the uphill switchbacks. I encouraged her to try it again...the third time she aced it all the way up the climb to the main intersection of the inner/outer loop!.. She even did better than the guy that passed us..he had to get off & walk!

We made our way back to the road, then did the beginner loop in reverse. As we made our way down, Jennifer had to once again eradicate the stick of death. It has a way of sneaking back onto the trail when you least expect it. Maggie & I stopped near the stick of death to work on the downhill switchback. After a few attempts, she cleared it again! Way to go girl.

Upon return to the parking lot, everyone was in great spirits. I kept hearing "man this is soo fun" ! That's what it's all about! Nex week....inner loop, then outer loop. Who's up for it? :)