Wish #1: Reuben requested the Sycamore Canyon ride for this weekend and thus was granted his first desire with Saturday's choice. Seven riders--John, Dean, George, Joe, Me, and Andy & Reuben (who drove up together at the last moment)--set off on a cold January morn. Down the black pavement into the bowels of Sycamore we rode, cutting over to the trail that took us to the midpoint of the Sage Trail which we then climbed back up to the pavement.

From the top of the Sage Trail we rode the blacktop to the water tower and then down to the beautiful Wood Canyon Trail. We stopped at the entrance to the Guadalasca Trail where Reuben wished for and was granted....

Wish #2: We had 3 choices here....up Guadalasca (my choice), up Hell Hill (no one's choice....at least there is some semblance of sanity in our group), or over to and down the main Sycamore Canyon (Lord Reuben's choice). Well, as was foreshadowed, the mountain biking gods favored Reuben this day and thus it was down the main COLD (upper 30's/low 40's) canyon. I thought that there were going to be several large, cold water crossings in the main canyon, but Andy assured me there would not be (promising to sacrifice his first-born if he was wrong) and he was correct (I didn't need a kid anyway). Very cold but virtually no water.

Near the end of the canyon we took a right turn and started the long climb up the Overlook Trail, happy to get out of the cold canyon and into the heat generating climb under warming skies.

At the top of the Overlook climb we continued to pedal towards the top of Guadalasca for the descent. The ride down the very rutted singletrack was fun but beat us up. Andy and John led the way and I tried unsuccessfully to keep up with them as they zoomed down the beat up, twisty trail. Regrouping at the bottom of Guadalasca we headed back towards the main canyon where we took the paralleling singletrack back towards the Black Bitch climb. Climbing up the steep asphalt we are reminded of the loss of our friend GeorgeL who lost his life to a heart attack on this climb 4 years ago this weekend. Your memorial bench is in good shape, George, providing a peaceful respite for hikers, bikers, runners, horse folks and all lovers of nature.

Back at the cars with almost 26 tough dirt miles on our odometers, we had a pleasant surprise when we were met by Doc Rod who, having been on-call for early morning rounds, left his house late for a 25 mile ride on his road bike to meet us at Wendy and Portrero. Thus he was able to experience Reuben's final wish....

Wish #3: On the Overlook climb, Reuben had broken a rear spoke. Although most of us wanted to go to the Side Street Cafe for eating and viewing delites after the ride, Reuben wanted to go to Chuy's because he could get his spoke replaced at Sundance Cycles in the same shopping center. Incapable of resisting the force of his magical wishes, we followed like sheep to Chuy's. Fortunately, the five of us who went--Dean, Rod, Andy, Reuben, and I--enjoyed grazing on chips and Cal-Mex in spite of it all.

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