I was hoping to get a ride or two after this ride, but fate said "no". I got busy and tired and this and that, and then on Thanksgiving weekend, the weather began to get wintery. So....11/09 was probably the last time for me to get a ride in for the rest of the year.
It started out pretty chilly that morning....17 degrees when I went to the storage unit to pick up the 501. It warmed up to the low 40s by the time I reached my staging spot in the mountains, so that wasn't too bad. I had a short warm up loop in the forest area and then headed down to what I like to call the Utah moors....just a rocky plateau of shallow rolling hills. I had been there before, but wanted to explore further. I found a nice little pocket of sparsely spaced forest that had a good loop running through it, and a couple of other interesting trails. I was also going to hit a little pavement and head over to Dowd mountain and run the scenic loop there, but tarmac speeds were a little too chilly-willy for me, so I turned back and headed in early. Good thing too, because I hadn't been paying attention to just how worn out my drive components were getting. I bought sprockets and chain last year actually, but then forgot about doing the maintenance. Things are different when your bikes live somewhere else besides at your home. Out of sight-out of mind. Anyway, I did the work and changed out the parts the following weekend. So all is good, except for the weather.
It started out pretty chilly that morning....17 degrees when I went to the storage unit to pick up the 501. It warmed up to the low 40s by the time I reached my staging spot in the mountains, so that wasn't too bad. I had a short warm up loop in the forest area and then headed down to what I like to call the Utah moors....just a rocky plateau of shallow rolling hills. I had been there before, but wanted to explore further. I found a nice little pocket of sparsely spaced forest that had a good loop running through it, and a couple of other interesting trails. I was also going to hit a little pavement and head over to Dowd mountain and run the scenic loop there, but tarmac speeds were a little too chilly-willy for me, so I turned back and headed in early. Good thing too, because I hadn't been paying attention to just how worn out my drive components were getting. I bought sprockets and chain last year actually, but then forgot about doing the maintenance. Things are different when your bikes live somewhere else besides at your home. Out of sight-out of mind. Anyway, I did the work and changed out the parts the following weekend. So all is good, except for the weather.
