Ahh, nothing like getting out twice in one week - the holidays really are the best time of year...lol. After knocking out 50 or so miles a few days prior, the stated objective for the day-after-Xmas ride was to take it easy as we had a relative new rider (this being his 4th dirt ride ever), a returning trail rider coming back on a classic XR600 (woof) as well as a couple of guys that don't ride TSF all that often. Plan was to hit some of the easier trails out of Diamond Mill and do a loop around 35-40 miles.
Arrived at staging just before 9:00 and assembled our motley crew: mostly team orange with my GG and the 'ole Honda thrown in the mix.
Headed up Mike's trail and took that over to Jones Creek for a warm-up. From there, it was down Cedar Creek and then up Deerfence - these definitely ensured all arm pump was taken care of...lol.
Took a wrong turn at some point and found ourselves at where we usually exit Stumpy, just went with it and headed down Stumpy and over to Elk Wallow. I can tell you the guy on the XR600 was getting his workout in, he rode that thing like a pro and I had a great time chasing him down Stumpy. The rock ravine of Elk Wallow gave him some grief, but nothing too bad.
From there, it was over to Truck Dent and then one of the newer sections of Summit (I think); had fun bombing through those and made our way over to Diamond Mill Ridge. Most of this was deja vu from a few days earlier...lol. Ripping DM Ridge never really gets old though, and it was awesome to chase different folks along the way.
Stopped for a break and discovered our XR600 rider had hit something hard on the front and had a flat. It's a good thing my buddy packed a spare tube and was planning to pay it forward from when we had a front flat earlier in the week, so we commenced tube changing on the logging road in the snow.
As we're all throwing suggestions on how to best change the tube (lol), a group of riders pulls up after finishing DM Ridge. Cool to see a Dad out with his boys and one of his buds - can't wait to be doing the same thing with my boys in a few years. They wish us well and keep going as tube changing continues. Another 10 minutes pass and a big group of riders comes surging out of DM Ridge...seems a popular destination today...lol. It's Tom and his group of guys, so we BS for a few and then they head on their way too.
Back to watching the tube change and enjoying some gourmet snacks...nothing like some smoked salmon and a little blue cheese on the trail...lol.
