Getting back in the groove

by Rob Blue on February 18th, 2007

Between winter weather, work and family obligations, getting a chance to ride with my teammates and friends has been tough lately. Bryan and I have not ridden together since before Christmas. Way too long! The whole Evomo MTB Team idea came from my past rides with Bryan. That guy is one of the most dependable and agreeable guys I know. Bryan also puts up with my crazy ride ideas which usually push us way beyond our comfort zones. If nothing else, a lot of those rides are epics and we wont soon forget them.

Today’s ride was one of our old favorites starting at the Las Virgenes trailhead. Bryan was running a bit late so I decided to do a little warm up climb.

I ran across the site of some late night love fest up underneath one of the numerous power towers in the area. Must have been a fun night for somebody.

Once Bryan arrived I hooked him up with his share of our recent FRM care package. In return I got some sweet socks from our sponsor Sockguy as well as a couple really cool new shirts from Evomo.

Once we were off, we soon hit the tough climbs in the area. Hey it’s not called “prarie biking” so you really can’t do a ride around here without some climbing. I love climbing more than any other aspect of cycling. This goes for the road as well. The tougher the climb the more rewarding the ride. That’s just me I guess, and my buddy Youssef too, who by the way is getting much better after his recent crash.

Just looking at those pictures of Youssef’s bike makes me cringe. I must commend Cannondale for taking care of fixing Youssef’s bike. They are a good company with some very nice bikes and great people working for them.

Even with as much as I love climbing I sometimes need a little encouragement. I love this top cap that I got from Fast Freddy. Fun and inspirational stuff.

As I mentioned before, no ride is complete for me without a little adventure. Today we hit two sections of secret singletrack. Both of these are in desparate need of maintenence. The last section we rode you could barely call a trail. We had to warn this equestrian to turn around because the trail was so eroded in one section that she would be putting herself and her horse in jeopardy if she had continued. We didn’t see her turn around but I sure hope she took our advice. It was nasty.