Returning to the trails on the first Winter ride of the season which sadly happened way too late.
It would seem everything was up against me today;
* From a heavy and sluggish (yet surprisingly fun) bike.
*Recovering from a hard work rotation where three days in I got quite sick. Yes, work camps are havens for bugs. Yet I pulled through and didn't miss a day.
* Lack of riding last set off was met with proper payback today.
Yet, in the end it was all win so I didn't really care. Although the ride did have it's fair share of deficiencies. Not even a kilometre in a coughing fit started which almost ended up in a mid trail bazooka barf disaster, luckily seeing people coming down the trail I seemed to hold my shit together.
I rode through the multi use from Kinseman to Hawerlak. The flat snowy trails were hard to push through as I fought with my large tired freak of a bicycle. The first five kilometres in I was missing the summer bikes in a big way. This was the first time I can remember being on the fat bike and not enjoying it one bit.
Luckily that changed. Enter Laurier.
The dog folk welcomed me and I grinned ear to ear. With my terrible state of fitness I decided to turn back instead of heading towards Oliskew, the planned ride. It was in the singletrack heading towards the boardwalk where I fell in love with the fat bike again. From there I took the boardwalk and the easy way up towards Mackinnon. Another coughing fit hit and another potential bazooka barf disaster was averted.
What the actual fuck is wrong with me?
Mackinnon was hit and Mackinnon was loved. The glasses fogged up on the second section aka 'Blue-Ball-Breaker' making things dicy. Seeing things whilst riding mountain bikes in the Winter is somewhat pertinent.
The ride ended unscathed. No more coughing sessions. Just a slow laboured return to warmth, Kinseman and the Jeep.
