Against my better judgment, I decided to get out and go ride today. I had a crap load of stuff to do at home, but I felt like I deserved a break from doing the house chores, so that’s exactly what I did, take a break. Phil had been talking to me for a couple of weeks now about doing Soquel Demonstration Forest, I knew his bike was made for this type of terrain, and from his known riding style it would fit. I finally confirmed with him more or less on Friday about the ride.

Zo had also been itching to ride, even though he rides like every week, but what better guide to have than him up at SDF. I called him on Saturday to see if he was able to ride, and true to form, he was. Zo met up with me at my place and I drove over to pick up Phil for the ride up.

In the parking lot, we met up with Phil’s other riding friends, Nick & John.

Zo did not disappoint with his trail choices. After not being in shape for so long, the ride was a little tiring for me at the beginning. It was hard to keep pace with this guys and I played the role of Slacker as I have always done. The trail had it’s drops, jumps, roots, everything that you could enjoy. I followed Phil through a few sections that I probably shouldn’t have, but did anyways. It was a nice challenge. There were some things that probably surprised Phil as well, as he was right on Zo’s tail following him through some of the paces.

Nick & John played it a little safer as from what I understand, their history was on their mind, I don’t blame them, this is not a fun area to crash, but it does happen. Fortunately, we only had one minor spill, that was Phil coming off a log.

As we were getting close to the bottom, my legs were starting to give out. I was cramping so bad, I couldn’t stand up straight at one point. The climb back out was painful for me, I was last. It was painful, not because my heart was out, but I was fighting the cramping pains to get the wheels turning.

All in all it was a good ride, a little masochistic, but a great ride none-the-less.