Cochiti Mesa. Ann and I Took the 45 mile drive to the trailhead for some epic riding. This area is just spectacular and the trail network is amazing. There is an incredible amount of superb singletrack up here and I know I've just scratched the surface of it all. Add to that, beautiful rock formations, ancient ruins, wildlife, running water, and scenic vistas and it's a hard place to beat.

The ride ended up being about 12 miles longer than originally planned due to my foul up with the gps and a wrong scaled map. I could see Ann was about reaching the limits of her comfort zone, so I got our path righted, and got us headed back. With the impending thunder storm and the creeks running quite high, it was the right decision. Still we managed 30 miles and the gps profile says we did 5,000 feet of climbing on a nice mix of singletrack and doubletrack. I brought the singlespeed as has been my standard this summer while Ann was on her trusty S-Works. Definitely need to get back there to explore some more. Maybe later this fall when Dixon's Orchard is serving up fresh apple cider.

Here's a link to a map and profile of one of the big Cochiti loop options courtesy of FOO If you right click on the image, you can save it to your computer and use your graphics software to get it to a scale to suit your needs.

I think Ann is planning on killing me during a run tomorrow morning, so she'll get her payback soon. Though, I had fun watching her catch and pass 2 guys who had a 10-minute head start on us from Dixon's. She's a better rider than she thinks she is. Enjoy a few pictures of the area on an overcast and rainy day. Grace and Peace.