blustery, part II

H and Milton washed our MTBs Saturday afternoon.  It is possible that this jinxed us for our Park City ride on Sunday.

Milton is very helpful

It had clouded up overnight Saturday, so it was still warmish when we got up.  With that in mind, I didn't bother to put a fleece in my bag when H and I packed up for a Round Valley MTB ride.  We also didn't have to wait until noon for it to warm up enough to ride, as we did last weekend.  We rolled into the Quinn's Trailhead parking lot around 10 a.m. and it was about as full as we've seen it.  This would change.

Gathering clouds

We started out by riding to Rademan Ridge (trail runners, hikers and dogs, a few MTBers), then riding down the ridge and descending Rambler to the jeep road.  As we climbed the Sagebrush Switchbacks (a/k/a Rambler), it start to rain.  H and I had a disagreement about how much rain there was: he said sprinkles; I said a light rain, definitely more than sprinkles.  It made for pleasant climbing temperatures but as the rain continued, the trails got wetter and my new-ish tires, still with fairly robust treads, started picking up dirt/mud.  At the pass, we switched over and climbed PorcUClimb, then descended the ridge a little bit and picked up Rambler again, to descend the top half of what we call the Sweet Sixteen.  We both rode that section well, no doubt because we were sure we weren't going to meet any riders coming up.  What with the rain and all.

Not really that clean anymore

When we had gotten over to the Practice Loop area, I tapped out.  I was getting chilled and my treads were caked with mud.  I went back to the truck, to wipe off the mud and change into dry clothes, while H did another four miles.  As soon as he got back, the rain stopped.  We had our little post-ride picnic (sandwiches and beer) at a covered picnic table and then hopped into the truck.  For the second weekend in a row, and on June 30th no less, we drove back to SLC with the heat on.