Spooky Woods Ride

This was a really fun weekend of mountain biking. The weather was again forecast to be amazing all weekend long, and we had the bonus of the Halloween weekend to contend with. Because the weather was so awesome, I wanted to get in as much ride time as possible. Thankfully, I have a boyfriend who will put up no arguments to that desire!

I got off work at about 10am on Friday, and Cam took off around 11am, so we met at his house and did a little planning. We went to Costco to get some stuff, then grabbed lunch at Jason’s Deli. After a quick stop at the bike shop, we drove to the Science Center and Cam gave me some lessons on Rollercoaster to get me ready for the Dirty Duathlon on Sunday. We did Rollercoaster and the hillside a few times, and each time I struggled with the water crossing. Although I practiced it a few times, it just didn’t seem like I was gonna get it in time for the race. I was okay with that, though. I knew I might just have to get off and walk it each time. It didn’t look that hard; it just was!

We rode over to Denman’s after that, and I had a great time chasing Cam around. I noticed something was a little off on the Mongoose I was riding. Cam diagnosed that the middle chainring had reached the end of its proud career. He called the shop, and they had one, so all was good – Cam would switch it out and me and the ‘Goose would be back in business for the rest of the weekend.

After about 2 hours of riding, it was time to get home, clean up the bikes, have some dinner then get ready for the night ride. As it turns out, the new chainring wouldn’t fit, so we had to move to plan B – which ended up being a whole different bike! That meant switching the wheels and the saddle. It took a while, but Cam persevered, and by the time the sun went down, I was riding a Specialized!

Cam hooked up some lights to both bikes, and around 8pm, we took off into the dark to the Spooky Woods ride at Denman’s. I was pretty thankful that we got to ride at Denman’s during the day, so I had some sort of idea about what to expect. It is, however, a whole different story doing it at night!

Once we were safely at the party it was in full-force. There was chili, beer, fire, costumes, and a sweet cooler stereo (ala RAGBRAI) pumping out the Michael Jackson, just like the old high school parties of the past. Oh, and the Night Quarter Rage race. We sat that one out. The highlight was these sweet Jack-o-Lantern logs of fire! And the informal ladies belching contest. Cam really wanted to participate in that one, but we wouldn't let him…


The ride home was quite chilly, but once we were safely home, we agreed it was a really good time!