Monday vacation day = Mohican ride

I took the day off work while Katie and the kids were out of town.  The plan was to head down to Mohican to ride the loop. 

The past three days in a row I got in rides while the family was gone:  a short road ride after work on Friday, a longer road ride on Saturday with Ryan, and a partial loop at Mohican Sunday.

Unfortunately the forecast was not looking good at all for today with a chance of rain.  It didn’t help when I left the house a little later than expected in the morning and was greeted by rain drops on the windshield while driving south.  Oh well, it’s my day off and I would rather ride in a drizzle than not at all.

Damp in the woods.

I parked at the Discovery Forest parking lot and started the loop from there.  I rode about 15 miles beneath dry but threatening clouds.  The trail was damp but not too wet to ride.  It felt good to be out in the woods instead of at a desk on a Monday morning.

A slight but steady rain started about a mile before reaching the campground.  I had a slippery encounter with some rocks in a corner but no harm done.  As much as I wanted to ride the full loop I made the call to skip the first 4 miles and take the short loop connector backwards.

 Hitch-hikin' leaf.

The final five or so miles were wet but I was still having fun.  I made it a point to walk the bridge at about mile 5.  Good thing too, it was slick as I walked across it.

Back to the car I was wet but not drenched.  A wet day in the woods was better than a dry day in the office!

Firewood Helper

Daniel and I went down to the woods to bring home some firewood.  He was a hard worker and didn’t seem to mind that Grampy’s gloves were a little big on his hands.

 Little big hands.

After filling the trailer with firewood we kicked around in the woods and found a snake beneath some old firewood.  Of course we poked it with a stick, it became perturbed and snapped at the stick, and Daniel said “that snake is mean!”

 Little big attitude.

Daniel and the Makeup Bag

So here's a good story...

KT and I were sitting at the kitchen table when Daniel disappeared back the hallway.  Mommy instincts kicked in a short time later and she went to investigate.  "Daniel what are you doing!?  You know to stay out of my makeup bag!"

I head some small feet running in my direction.  Daniel came up to me at the table and showed me his painted toes.  Nice.  I explained that boys don't paint their toes, and KT also explained that makeup is for girls.  Okay, ha-ha, he painted his toes, no big deal.

 Of course he picked blue.  And why is

he wearing Santa PJs in September?

A short time later, after we all went about our business, KT went back to Ellen's room where she had been left laying on the bed.  "DANIEL!  What did you do to your sister!?"

Ellen's first makeup, courtesy big brother Daniel.

I came running back to find that Daniel had learned and applied the lesson.  "Mommy, you said makeup is for girls so I put some on Ellen."  We laughed hard.

Fair Time!

Daniel was absolutely loving the fair this year...

 We "drove" quite a few tractors this year.  Daniel

insisted upon buckling the seat belt on each one.

 Scooping up mommy.

 637 pounds?  I can't believe my eyes!

 Jeepin' on a carnie ride.

KT learned some new chicken care techniques.  I don't expect

to find her brushing our chicken's teeth anytime soon.

Old versus New

Twice in the past week, as I’ve been enjoying my new car, I’ve found scenes of the old versus new…

 An old school station wagon.

 A Mazda Protege5 in red.  The predecessor to the Mazda3

I currently drive, and the same car I owned before the truck.

Daniel Big Boots

Something is out of proportion here.

the Manitoc Experience, my first

Once a year Camp Manitoc, up in the Cuyahoga Valley, is open to the public.  It's a Boy Scout with quite some acreage of wooded, varied terrain.  On the big weekend for mountain bikers, the trails are open for riding on Saturday and races take place on Sunday.  There is also a trail run and cyclocross race on Saturday.

 Ready to roll out.

Ryan and I arrived about 10 am to ride.  It's the biggest mountain bike crowd I've been a part of and was a pretty fun scene.  We parked in a field and geared up for our ride.  It was hot, like in the 90's hot.  The trail was fun.  I remember some good rooty sections, some twisty fun, and a punchy climb or two.  Nothing too crazy and just a fun ride.

 Mid ride photo op.

We returned to the car for some fluid and food replenishment before heading up to the "expo".  There were tents setup with vendors and bike demos.  We waited our turn and both took a spin on full suspension Specialized 29ers.  Ryan was on a $10k carbon fiber ride and I was on the cheap, $5k bike.  The demo loop packed in good trail variations and we got a feel for the full squish bikes.  Yes, you could blast over roots or rocks without much consideration for choosing a line.  And yes, it did not feel as efficient as my hardtail climbing or pedaling hard.  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of our test rides.  I'm going to blame it on not feeling well, I had been sick the previous week and was not feeling my best.

After hanging around a bit we headed out for another lap.  While zig-zagging through some trees I looked ahead to see Ryan stalled out.  Oh yes, his crankarm had once again dislocated from his bike.  A trailside repair had us going again in short order.

 Dislocated crank arm.

Somewhere past the halfway point of the lap my body protested in the heat.  I took a short cut back while Ryan finished the lap.  Oh well, I was glad to have ridden the first lap with energy given how I felt earlier in the week.  When we got back in the car to leave the temperature display said 96F.  On the way up we stopped at a gas station and I bought a gallon jug of water.  It was nearly gone by the end of the trip.

We'll have to put the Manitoc Experience on the calendar again for next year!  Good times.