Surprise Me!

Yesterday after work, I went out to ride at Burchfield. Normally, we don't go anywhere near it this early in the season, but I had heard a rumor that due to the unseasonably warm, dry weather, it was pretty rideable. I was itching to get back on a real trail, so I skipped out of work a bit early and headed out there.

Once at Burchfield, I was treated to a few surprises:

Surprise #1—The trail was indeed dry! I'll admit I was a bit skeptical. A lot of the trails at Burchfield are so low lying and close to the river that it's usually quite wet until late in the spring. This was definitely a good surprise.

Surprise #2—Someone has been doing quite a bit of work at Burchfield. There were some brand new bridges to replace some of the decrepit ones and even some gravel and drainage pipes in place of what used to be muddy quagmire for most of the year. Nice!

Surprise #3—No matter how burned out I get on a trail, spending a winter riding nothing but the trainer and the River Trail will pretty much cure it. Burchfield is amazingly fun again.

Surprise #4—My Fat Cyclist water bottle looks really sweet on the Badger. See?

Surprise #5—Did you ever catch a leaf in your front tire when you were riding? It makes a really annoying noise and you can't really reach it to pull it out. It always happens to me when I have some good speed and momentum going and I don't want to stop to remove it. I always wish it would just fall out on its own and yesterday, this actually happened. Such a small thing, but so satisfying.

Surprise #6—That incredibly non-sketchy downhill still inexplicably scares the crap out of me, but I keep riding down it to try and cure myself.

Surprise #7—I still completely love, for reasons I have yet to understand, this little section of trail that goes behind Heron Pond.