Ben loop

Since I won't be going down to Walla Walla this weekend to race CX (too much travel: race-time ratio for me to pencil out... now if I could stay for Sunday's race, then we'd be talking...), I want to make sure I get some good riding in this weekend.

Today, I rode with Ben. Who is a single speed freak that reminds me of hanging out with the bad kids when I was young. Ben isn't bad. But he's fast and he's very technically skilled. So following him for 20 miles of single track riding really pushes me. Following him around for a few hours and watching him effortlessly bomb hills and work the trails makes me think I can do that too.


So, I tend to descend too fast and corner to fast and generally do stuff that is just outside my comfort zone when I ride with Ben. And it rules.

Ben has patched together a bunch of trails from the top of Rimrock, down to Riverside State Park and out to 9-mile. Here's the route. It's about 90% single track. The route is great. There's plenty of short uphill grinds, but no epic awful stuff, and there's lots of twisty flat single track and a few fun descents -- basically, it's a perfect loop. It keeps you interested and pushing hard.


It rained all night. So the 2.5 hour ride was a wet, messy, muddy, rainy, fun pile of muddy crap and it ruled.