Early wake-up on Sunday morning to head out to the North Valley: Black Canyon City. Before I left for Army duties I was supposed to go ride the BCT trail system with a group, but for some reason didn't make it there. All I remembered was people telling me it was single speeder's heaven, and not very many technical obstacles. Perfect for a welcome home ride. Considering I had been off the bike for a year or so, and that I rode this first ride on a single speed fully rigid 29er, I did alright.
The trail starts off with a very rollercoastery section that is a lot of fun, which then descends into the little wash. There was some water running, it was hot out, and it was nice to get splashed riding through it. From here on starts a grueling climb, but the landscape is gorgeous. Switchback, climb, switchback, climb, switchback, climb, "are we there yet?", "nope", switchback, climb, switchback, climb, "how about now?", "nope", switchback, climb. And finally after being seemingly eye-level with the Bradshaw mountains (ouch!), is the saddle, and the descent begins. The trail goes down a few fun little rock piles, and twists and turns.
I realized that I hadn't adjusted my break levers after Mike rode my angry little animal a few times, and the downhill was rather sketchy, since I barely reached my levers with my last knuckles. With no front suspension, I was having a rather hard time staying in control with my fingers getting knocked off the levers continuously.
We were running low on water, and the loop seemed a lot bigger than we had expected so we had to turn around. Back up the darn mountain it was, and boy did I get fried on the way back. We made it back OK after taking a little break in the wash area where there was some shade and trees. So here's the riding pics, in no particular order:
