Alum, Alum, Henry's S24O, and Chestnut Ridge

It's been a busy week of biking around here. Wednesday after work, I went to P2 with a few friends. Our first lap was still slick from an afternoon thunderstorm, so it was slower and a bit tentative as we warmed up and the trail dried. But the next lap, I was ready to open it up with my latest bike build:

Still (but not steel) singlespeed, but now with 100% more suspension! I really enjoyed railing this around the twisty, rooty P2 singletrack. For solo rides, I tend to putter around the trail, but group rides bring out my competitive spirit. In this case, I ended getting a bit too far ahead of our group while I chased down a pair of racy looking guys (one had a number plate, even) on what I think of as Midwest race bikes: carbon hardtails, big drop from saddle to seat. In the end, I caught them just before the parking lot, and the quick lap allowed me to get home before bedtime for the kids.

Saturday morning, Brian and I hit P2 again. We took some action shots:

Day 18: Krampus at Chestnut Ridge

Since I ended up coming home early from my road trip, I had a free, unplanned day today. I guess I could have cancelled my vacation day and gone to work, but what are the chances of that actually happening?

After watching Kate's dance class, I headed south for Chestnut Ridge. It was a warm day and the trail was in decent shape (at least, with use of the wet weather bypass). I soon met a rider walking his bike down the trail. Flat tire, slow leak, no tools. Unfortunately, we found that my patch kit glue was dry, so we dry fit a patch and pumped it as best we could. It was more or less holding air--maybe enough for him to ride back to the parking lot.

I continued climbing up to the barn for a breather: