There's been lots of rain so far this year, and some cold weather too...at least for Southern California. On Christmas day, it was pouring rain and on New Years day, it was 29 degrees at the local high desert trail riding area. I am finally at that age that I don't care for those sorts of weather adventures. Freezing hands don't go well with arthritis. Neither does driving home in somewhat wet riding gear. I missed a couple of weekends of riding due to weather and also illness (when you you work every day with a large group of people, you tend to catch colds and flu more easily), so I was sorely missing a nice trail ride by last weekend, even though a few storm fronts dropped a lot of rain on the region. I was originally planning to go to a party....but as the weather began to clear up late in the morning on Sunday, my plans suddenly shifted and I found myself loading the 501 onto the jeep and heading for McCain valley instead. I was hoping that there would no rain out there, based on the weather forecast for that area...which is always a gamble. But luckily, the gamble paid off this time. Cloudy and about mid 40s, but no rain or wind...so very nice riding conditions for the day. And of course some hero dirt, a few patches of mud and some puddles to play in.
