Kennedy Trail Sunride

September 8, 2012

Outdoors

Sean convinced me that waking up at 5am on Saturday to go for a ride was a good idea. Had a great time again with him going up Kennedy Trail, this time at sunrise. We started out when it was barely light enough to see. It was really gorgeous when we got up above the cloud layer.

Sean let me ride his awesome bike again, and he rode the family beater bike. We made it to the top about 15 minutes faster than last time -- the cool air helped quite a bit.

About a third of the way down, I was ahead of him and I heard him yelp. I stopped, turned around, and pedaled back up the hill. Thankfully he was still on the trail, but he had the bike upside-down and had already removed the back wheel. The brakes had heated up the rim so much that the valve stem melted off the tube! He was halfway done replacing the tube when I got up to him (fast!). We went to pump up the tube, but the little pin in the pump had broken off and so there was nothing to push on the valve to open it to let air in. We walked down a bit, then we decided to put a little pebble in the pump to push in the valve pin. That worked! So we were back in the saddle to bomb back down the hill.

I'm even more motivated now to get a bike of my own... probably this week.

Update 3PM same day ... "this week" was a little short-sighted. Brought <a href="http://www.cannondale.com/2012-trail-sl-29er-4-20758">this one</a> home today from <a href="http://wheelaway.com">Wheel Away</a> in Campbell. Great shop, and it helps that Ric the owner is a crazy track-day car guy too... <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenobot/7958168622/" title="Canondale Trail SL 29'ER 4 by thenobot, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8180/7958168622_7f954afdfa_z.jpg" width="640" height="364" alt="Canondale Trail SL 29'ER 4"></a>

Next day update. Did 90 minutes in Fremont Alder with Sean (what a trooper!). Bike did great -- no problems, only fun. Sorry to the many people on the trail that we "dusted" on the downhill parts!