Thursday has dawned cool and muggy here in Big D. The kids waiting for the schoolbus looked sticky but happy, since they were sans-backpacks for the first time since August: it appears that the last day of school has arrived.
How precisely did summer sneak up on me so quickly?!? I know I lost February and March to travel for dealer meetings, but it doesn't seem like that long ago I flew to San Antonio for Easter. I guess it has to do with all this rain.
Which is going to be my mini-rant for the morning. I know the rain is a GOOD thing. After last season's drought, we need all the water we can get. But I am absolutely dying to get back on my bike and back on the trail!
Road riders don't seem to have a concept as to how big a deal the rain is to us off-roaders. On rare sunny afternoons, they smile at me and chirp, "So, are you riding today?" And then they look at me like I'm a wimp when I say "No, we can't, the trails are too wet."
Wet pavement just means you get splashed when you ride. Wet trails mean no traction, sliding around corners, and damaging the hard-pack singletrack we love so much. As the saying goes, "Only an @$$hole rides wet trails."
It's going to take at least five days of sunny, dry weather for the trails to dry out enough for us to get out there and ride. And the weather forecast has those stupid little thunderclouds stretching from now until the middle of next week.
So, as this three day weekend approaches, our plans for riding Rowlett, or hitting Arbor, or heading to another trail on the further reaches of town ... well, that's all evaporated ... in a way I wish all this groundwater would.
I should be grateful for the half-hour Jim and I managed at RCP on Monday. We rode loop 1 on the north end, and found mud puddles and sloppy corners. They were manageable ... the downed trees were a little less so. The south went a bit better, which suprised me, since it's usually slower to dry out. We left just as the rain started up again.
Arbor, on the other hand, probably won't be rideable for a couple weeks. We spent the afternoon out there last weekend with V, riding the paved trails and letting her practice her off-road skills in the big, grassy area by the parking lot. We hiked part of the DORBA loop, and I was stunned to see its condition. Lots of rain means they can't mow or trim, but lots of rain also means everything is growing. I didn't recognize some portions of the trail for all the foliage. And the trail itself? Well, it was pure sand by the end of last season, and now with all this rain, there's lots of erosion and spots that look downright dangerous.
All my complaining aside, I'm going to check the boards (www.dorba.org) and see if we can participate in their next trail maintenance day. I wanted to do it all last season, but never managed to get it on my calendar. Now, even if I can't be on my bike, at least I'll feel like I'm making a contribution to getting them rideable again.
Remind me about this, as we hit August and I'm complaining about the sandy, crumbly, dry trails...
On a final note, since I mentioned riding with V ... I predict we'll have her on a trail before the end of the season. Yeah, Jim rode loop 1 of RCP with her, very slowly, some time back ... but I seriously predict we'll have her riding with us someplace like LB Houston. I'll want us to go ride it ourselves before we take her out there, just to confirm that what I remember is right ... but I think if we skip the offshoots of the more advanced stuff, that should be rideable by her. And what a fun, healthy way for us to spend an afternoon together.....
Back to work, for at least a few hours, before I head off to play pincushion for the allergist. Time to figure out what's causing these sinus infections, since two surgeries didn't do the trick. Hey, if it takes a shot a week for the rest of my life to keep those things at bay, and keep me out on the trail, I'll suffer through it ... it's worth it.
Now, if only Mother Nature would cooperate...
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