I went out for another Sunday Pachaug enduro loop ride this weekend (Saturday was a rainy day), and, all-in-all, it was a crappy time I have to say.
Why?
More rain spoiling the party, that's why.
Saturday's rain ended late in the day, and from sunset Saturday to about 4:00pm Sunday, things were dry with the sky (and ground).
Figures, though, that as I was driving out to the starting point of the Pachaug rock n' roll pile enduro loop, it would start to rain lightly as I saw drops on my windshield.
In actuality, I was driving into the region that had already gotten what seemed to be a heavy rain shower just minutes before, and this region included the trails I'd be riding.
What made the ride suck, specifically, was that there were 1,493,087 wet tree branches, heavy with rain water stuck to the leaves, hanging down over the trail and perfectly positioned at head level (my head, that is), and I was ducking my head every second-and-a-half to avoid a wet smack in the face from these branches, something that would result in a spotty goggle lens and crummy optical clarity (poor vision).
As if that wasn't enough (and I was already putting through these sections a lot slower than normal), it started raining fairly hard at about the half-way mark, reducing vision to shit levels even more.
This happened as I was approaching my favorite pine-needled whoop section, and instead of having a fun rip down the trail, it was a slow, tedious, torture-like ordeal with poor vision, low light (I was wearing my dark tinted lens), and wet tree roots on the ground just waiting to take my front wheel out from under me if I wasn't paying attention.
Well, I did pay attention, but it wasn't fun like it usually is.
So, at about the 28 mile mark, I cut the ride short and rode the paved road back to the truck, resulting in 40 total miles for the day.
Bummer, yeah, but, I'm hoping for a quick jerk week and better conditions this coming weekend.
-John
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