I suppose if one wanted to register a complaint about Sunday's ride, one could say it was TOO COLD. After weeks of unrelenting heat and humidity, we finally were treated to a weekend of below average temps....although the humidity remained high. And although the start time for today's anticipated HOT weather ride was backed up to 7:15, we still did not manage to get started until 7:30 when 5 riders--Matthew, Joe, Nelson, Rod and Robco--set out from Wendy and Portrero into the moist coolness of Sycamore Canyon. Almost immediately we did an RCY split at a pavement intersection where 2 continued on the pavement and 3 of us headed for the singletrack detour that took us thru rolling hills of golden grasses to the rocky Sage Trail which we then climbed back to the pavement where we re-met the other 2. Phew. At this point we also met up with Andy, Reuben, and their friend Doug who had caught up to us and briefly rode with us past the water tower and on to the entrance to Guadalasca Trail. At this point the New 3 left us to climb Hell Hill while the Original 5 decided to climb Guadalasca. And while climbing Guadalasca in the cool but humid early morning mist, none other than Ali, having arrived late, caught up with us, moving the peleton's number up to 6. A little wet from the humid air, we arrived at the top of the Backbone Trail section called Wood Canyon View Trail.

Filled with apples and bananas, we six headed down the always fun twisty Wood Canyon View Trail. On the way down I received a walkie-talkie transmission from Andy who was apparently at the bottom of the same trail. Although I thought we would meet them at the bottom, we were delayed when we came upon another group of riders in distress--a flat tire and lack of proper materials to fix it. And to show what a small world it is, the rider with the flat ended up being the son of Rod's cousin!

After a failed attempt by the group to patch a tube, Rod loaned his cousin a new tube and we left them as we headed down to the Sycamore Canyon floor. Turning left we headed back via the fireroad and the Two Foxes Trail, eventually tackling the final climb up the Asphalt Bitch, paying our respects to our friend George at The Bench.