foresthill divide

After demoing bikes last week I came away with the revelation that the new bikes out there are nice. But they’re a little too expensive for me to justify buying one. But I figure if I ride at least twice a month I could reward myself with a new bike at the end of the year. And at the same time I could explore all the trails in the area.

So today I went riding at a trail called Foresthill Divide.

I could see why this trail is called Foresthill Divide… It rides through a forest hill.

Well okay, this part was more of a meadow hill.

Bikers are some of the nicest, most helpful people in the world. Today I got asked if I was okay while riding. “What a helpful guy,” I thought. I didn’t realize until later that the wound on my knee had re-opened and blood was dribbling down my leg.

I finished riding Foresthill Divide pretty early, so I decided to refuel and go for another ride.

So I decided to go down to the Auburn Confluence, my favorite trail. It was pretty close to Foresthill Divide, only one exit away on highway 80.

Climbing the Clementine trail.

Riding down Stonewall to get to the Confluence trail. It was pretty muddy.

The Confluence Trail. My favorite. It’s a rollercoaster ride down, but it’s always over way to quickly.

It’s got some fun singletrack.

Towards the bottom there’s some rock gardens and water features. Here you have the option of rolling over the rock garden on the left or splashing through the water on the right. I almost always pick water.

The aftermath. Blood and mud.

Post ride refueling. The best taco truck in the world. This is why I can ride so much and still be a fatty.

On a completely unrelated note– I went to this Shakespeare Improv show with some friends over the weekend. It was pretty cool, the actors ask for the title of the play, then improvise the whole thing. It had all the elements of a Shakespeare play, tragedy, love triangles, and Shakesperean accents. There were several different subplots, which seemed to be completely unrelated, but were all brought together in the end. Pretty amazing.

I think someday I’d like to take an improv class. I think I’m somewhat witty, it’s just that my brain runs too slowly. In conversation I’ll often think of something witty after the conversation has already moved on to a different topic. This is why I write instead of speak. But maybe an improv class would help my brain work faster in conversation and help me open up more.

Things I’m thankful for:

• Shakespearean Improv
• Beautiful trails in Auburn
• Taco trucks