Long weekend and lots of riding. Did the annual BOMB Thanksgiving ride. Just a social ride, but fun to get out bright and early in the foothills, followed by strong coffee and pie at our place afterwards. Guess there were only 7 riders with Ann taking the girls and I taking the guys for a short and easy spin. One of the girls in Ann's group is brand new to riding and struggled a lot getting up Simms Park Road. We looked her bike over after the ride and the darn thing weighs 43 pounds and is a hardtail no less. I think we convinced her that a good bike is worth the cash, if you're going to ride. Our group ran into Matt and Jeni at the top of Cedar Hill as we were finishing, and they were starting their Turkey Day Century road ride. Great day to be out.

Friday was hiking day for me and the pup while Ann did a trail run with the big dog. Also took care of some bike maintenance. It was a power hike up the Pino trail and I was feeling it Saturday when I rode at Cedro. Was supposed to go to White Mesa, but I guess some of the crew got sick, so the plans were changed. Ann met up with the tri-girls and got them out for a dirt ride in the foothills for their first time this year. Guess they all did great. I was solo, but ran into a couple of middle-aged guys at the Cedro parking lot that didn't know their way around the trails, so I offered to be the guide for the day. They were decent and fit riders, both on Moots softails and I pretty much took them on the entire loop used for this year's Cedro race. Sunday got together after church with Carl, Matt L., and Mark for a medium-sized loop starting at Mars Ct. Most cars I've ever seen out there and we ran into a large group of old timers riding on Cajun Pine, then later ran into Damian and a couple of other guys on the "new trail" along the 106 ridge at David Canyon. Lots of traffic out that way for some reason, but as with all our trails, they never are really crowded. Will try to squeeze in a night ride or two this week before the frigid temperatures hit and hopefully be able to get out on the roadie for my "power lunch". Out till next time......

Four Corners Road Trip. Took a mini vacation to the Four Corners region of New Mexico. Hit up the High Desert Trail system in Gallup, the Glade Run trail system in Farmington, and the Alien Run trail in Aztec. Absolutely perfect weather to ride in and I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves, so check out both posts. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Grace and Peace.

More Four Corners road trip.

Take a Vet Biking. In honor of Veteran's Day, Carl and I took Lt. Colonel Retired, Matt for a little Cedro Epic Friday afternoon. Since retiring, Matt's traded his Blackhawk helicopter for two wheeled travel and he's been putting in some serious miles. Must be nice to be retired at 42, eh? The guys couldn't meet until the noon hour, so I went out a little earlier to hammer out some extra miles on the SS. I hammered out a nice loop at David and Otero Canyons, then made a beeline over to Cedro to meet the guys. We put together a nice loop over there too hitting all the singletrack we could manage between Sedillo and Oak Flat. I ended up with a bit over 33 miles, several thousand feet climbing and the average speed was just a little over 10mph. We didn't ride too hard the second half of the ride, but just kept a steady pace. Carl hasn't spent much time on the mountain bike this year as he's been towing his daughter around behind his roadie. The guy knows how to dig deep though, regardless of the shape he's in. What do you expect from a former top 20 finisher at the Xterra World Championships. He's still on the Turner factory ride he had from years ago, and it's still a sweet bike, about 7 years after he got it. A good Veteran's Day and nice to be able to add extra miles on a 3 day weekend. Thanks to all the vets out there who served and defended our country.

BOMBFEST IV. We kicked off the fourth annual bombfest with 10 volunteers who cranked out some incredibly fine work on our adopted trail at Elena Gallegos. The monsoons had pretty much left the trail in shambles, so we got trail #230 looking darn good again. We constructed a total of 15 water dips and 3 rock drop ledges, using huge granite slabs we hauled from some borrow areas. We also dug several borrow pits to haul moist, silty, clayey soil throughout the trail that hopefully won't erode as easily as the sandy, weathered granite that comprises most of the foothills tread. Thanks to Clif Bar for providing great snacks for our work day! Following the trail work, we headed back to the Double Shelter reservation area for a feast. We invited the Wombats along since they were out working on their trail too. Ann and a big group were already gathered and the grill was fired up and a feast and fun was had by all. We had a few rides, mostly beginners, but Tom took a more advanced group to climb our handiwork and they said it rode quite well. I'd done a 30-plus miler on the SS at Cedro Friday afternoon, so I just took a beginner out for a quick loop but mostly stuck around to cook burgers and clean up after everyone left. Got out Sunday for a really nice SS ride at Cedro while Ann did the doggie dash and dawdle. Ran into Tom again as I was finishing up, and he showed me his new mapping project at Cedro. It's going to be a great resource once he releases it. Man, there's so much out there that most folks have no idea is there. I know I find new stuff every year out there and I really never get tired of riding the area.