Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Another great ride in the Sandilands

Pat & I decided to do a late afternoon Monday ride - nothing too intense as he raced yesterday but it turned out we definitely put on some kms in explore mode. That's right yet another new trail to discover. Apparently we were on a bit of a nature trail - we were in 4X4 mode with the Toyota and came across a rather large cinnamon colored bear who stood up on his hind legs, sniffed the air and decided we were trouble and then rambled off into the bush.

We were kind of half hoping we'd meet up with him on the trail later so I'd have more a story but we met a few other creatures along the way. I rescued a distressed and dusty turtle that looked quite misplaced three-quarters up a hill in the middle of our trail, so I took him on a short ride down to a creek which led to a nearby lake (which we also visited for the first time). A short while later, a rabbit jumped out in front of me and the result was my heart doing its best thumper impersonation. Later we saw a few deer as well and just were totally immersed in fern covered forests - simply beautiful. The air had a bit of a smoke haze in it due to forest fires up north so it kind made everything look just a bit different - could've been my rose colored lenses though too.

I'm not sure how many klicks we actually put on - felt like at least 20 or so, and we were hoping to loop back and ride up back to the truck but came across a large swampy area about 2 kms away. We decided that it still would be quicker to go through than turn back and so we trudged our way through some soupy stuff that brought us some Nam' flashbacks (or at least it felt that way).

My legs feel great and I'm looking forward to future exploratory rides but methinks that particular loop will need to be altered if we do it again!

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