OUT and ABOUT and not wanting to be IN

Friday Night Date Night: Words+Pix+Vid

By Friday afternoon this week, my brain had been sucked out of my head and I was feeling like a broken record ... psychologically, intellectually (as intellectual as I can pretend to be, anyway), and emotionally. Just wasted, worked and not feeling particularly physically present (or well for that matter).

Friday night is reserved for Date Ride Night! So, I took myself on a date ride over in the Bergen Peak area. Apparently, I felt pretty wasted physically, too.... Good thing I brought the camera along!



Meadow View was beautiful, and I leap-frogged with another (random) rider for a short bit. It was apparent that he was heading up Bergen Peak loop, and so, for the sake of everyone's solo friday night sojourns, I opted to keep going straight and see if the legs opened up along the trail through the trees at the base of the mountain.


My HummingBird Pony at rest on a seldom visited ridge line

They didn't. But somehow, someone turned the wheels up the TooLong trail. Ugh. I did NOT want to ride this trail. I swear it. But, I did not want to turn around, and I did not want to go back inside yet.... So, up we go. Oddly, I cleared all the first obstacles without even trying (the obstacles from the last 'Fog' video I did). Surprise-surprise! Then, at one switch back, I decided to follow a faint trail off into the woods... in search of, perhaps, a place to NAP. No, I'm not kidding.

Ah, quiet and invisible ... and soooo beautiful!

I played-hiked-rode-and explored around for about 45-minutes, and found myself in old, old familiar areas (used to play here as a child). No paths really still exist... but it was fun to be kind of exploring.


Sneaking through the woods, old trail would appear for a while, then disappear like magic

At the landing spot... the furthest point out

I found my way back to the TooLong trail, oddly not much higher up than when I had jumped off it. I had this really, really deep longing to just STAY OUTSIDE. I couldn't pedal to save my life, but I did NOT want to go back inside. So I thought: ah-well, there are 2 sections up ahead that I've not cleared yet. I'll ride easy in granny and just go session those two sections.

Luckily I had my camera ;-) So I took some Session Vids!!! THEY ARE BORING!!!! They are repetitive, and not particularly interesting. But you know, it was fun to do ;-) The vid is posted near the bottom of this post.

• The first section was simply something I've not really even bothered trying before. Not sure why. It's much more narrow than it looks, and the step up looks big, but apparently rolls really easily. Oddly, I nailed it on the first try. I actually laughed out loud after clearing it.


• The second section is this odd, triple-root step, right next to a tree. Steeper than it looks. I've never bothered trying this one uphill either... mostly because I never thought I could do it. Now, it's been done!


• The third section I've cleared once before. Ed snapped the pic posted below, and now I have it captured on vid from a different perspective. I have to say, it's much different doing this one without a spotter ;-) Fun stuff indeed. Ed's pic from the first time:
  
  


• The fourth section I've cleared once before, and Ed got a series of pix of that one too... but I'm not sure he's published those. In the vid, I ended up leaving before TRULY clearing it. The last attempt this day I had to dab just as my rear wheel cleared the final stupid water bar. VERY frustrating. But oh-well.

THE VID (I promise you it is very, very repetitive... and might not be interesting except to a few people):

Jj's Inner Sessions from jenyjo on Vimeo.

At SOME point, this entire mountain will be done in ONE fluid, fast, beautiful motion. And that will be a beautiful day for me ;-) .... In both directions, of course... because we all know that the other way up this mountain is a series of a different kind of challenges. A fun one, I might add ;-)

By the time I was done with the top section (the last one in the vid), it was much later than I had expected to be out. So I bombed down Bergen trail completely and utterly in the zone, and flying along all well adjusted and zennnnnnned out.

Then I had a flat.

Then I got home.

And then I went out to a super sweet dinner with my super sweet SWEETIE! Made the afternoon and evening just deeeevine!

That was my Friday night date night!

Jj

ps: i'm working on getting a helmet cam -- so i can show both the outer perspective, as well as the rider perspective. could be fun ;-)