Partial Halo

Okay so my one and only goal today was to get my ass out of the house and head up to the canyon to ride the Halo trail finally. Not only find the trail but also to be able to ride the entire trail. Well, ride is actually a bit of a wish, there are many sections I simply don't have the skills to ride yet. there are a few mega sharp hairpin turns going up a steep incline that are a bitch to say the least to walk much less attempt to ride up and through.

The Ride

Yes, I did make it to the trail head as planned and was ready and raring to go. Off I went and after the first small decent came a bit of flat, then a little bit of a climb and down another descent, through a dry creek (that is not dry during summer and is fun to cross). Anyway, that is about all of the downhill that I will get for a very long time and unfortunately I did not use it wisely enough. I should have embraced it to the fullest.

Okay, maybe I am being a little over-the-top with regards to the descent and upcoming climb but it's legit. Once you are into the single track there is little to no break in the ride for as far as I made it anyway. Everything is either uphill, super rocky, loose gravel or a combination of all of those. For someone like myself that has been riding thousands of miles on the road bike I would have thought that this would be a bit easier now compared to the start of the year - nope, not really - WTF?

I mean aspects of the ride were more manageable but over-all the uphill just kicked my ass. Compared to the road bike you are on your ass at a high cadence the entire time. If not, and you chose to use a lower gear then you end up needing to stand up which makes you lose traction in the rear and you end up wasting energy and effort. I totally get it, and understand why mountain bikers sit the majority of the time other than descending but dam! It's great to have a short break while climbing and stand up for a few.

End Of The Ride, Sunset

Next thing I knew I was only 5 miles or so into the ride and it was getting much colder and my daylight was quickly going away. Within another 15 minutes it was now dark and time to turn around and make the trek back to the car.

Single track riding is difficult enough in the daytime, add the extra night-time factor into the equation and it's two fold. Not to mention the fear of coyotes, mountain lions and whatever else is out after dark doing their hunting and such.

I made it out of the main canyon in decent time and once back to another one of the trail-heads that lead into this canyon I cut out and onto the main streets to save myself about 35 minutes of riding in the dark to get back to my car and the trail-head I started the day off at. This had its own challenges because I was on the wrong side of the road and had to stay up on the shoulder to be safe. I also was not able to turn my light on out of fear of screwing with traffic coming at me. This was not fun, I was basically cruising along blind, hoping there were no ditches etc that I would find.

Trail-Head

After a solid 25 minutes or so I was finally back at the entrance of the parking lot where my car was patiently waiting for me. I pulled up, started to get my gear off and in order a well as get my bike loaded up for the drive home. While it was an interesting day that led into night I wont say that it was one of my favorite rides. There is something fun about the mountain bike rides but something that sucks as well. I think the biggest thing is the feeling of being trapped on the single track in a weird sort of way. It's the biggest positive for being out there but at the same time kicks my ass.

I am considering going back up there early tomorrow and attempt the ride once again. It has been a goal of mine for quite some time to be able to make the entire Halo route and I have not managed to do so thus far. It the past it was attributed solely to not being able to find the dam thing and now it was due to the lack of daylight and poor planning on my behalf. Most that ride the trail report back that it took about 2 hours to do the entire thing.

My only guess is that once I was a little further along from where I turned back last night the trail must get a little better, meaning not so much straight up climbing and switchbacks to deal with, otherwise I just don't see how you can do the entire loop in that amount of time unless you are hauling some serious ass non-stop which is a possibility of course.

That's That

So tomorrow is a new day and another chance to get up there and attempt to finish Halo. I am not sure at this point if that is in the cards or not but definitely on my mind. My back is already really sore from that stupid Camelbak. While those things are great to carry lots of stuff in, they are also a real pain in the ass, okay more like pain in the back and neck, to use. There has to be a better way to carry water and related when on a full suspension bike because that added weight sucks.

Until tomorrow I hope your Saturday was as good as you had expected it to be or planned. We may try to find a swing somewhere for Zoey as well tomorrow. We really want to get her in one for a little while. I think simply based on the amount of fun she has in her jumper swing as well as when we sorta swing that one she will have an absolute blast on a full size outdoor kids swing. I for one cannot wait to see the look on her face. Not to mention if there are slides we can do those as well, fun!

Photo: The source of what will ultimately be a very sore back either tomorrow or the first part of the week once my body catches up with my weekend abuse. My awesome, but annoying, Camelbak Volt mountain biking pack.