Crandalls again

Ok, so I ride Crandalls a lot - closest riding spot, so its going to get the nod often.

It was a strange confluence of Bikerag and Sunday morning ride groups last night at Crandalls, with five riders (we picked up one guy on the trail by chance). It was a really hot day, but surprisingly the ride was not too bad comfort wise, that said I don't think my shorts and shirt could have been any more wet at the end if I had gone swimming. I processed a lot of fluid.

The mosquitoes and deer flies were epic. That word is completely overused, but is also the only one I can think of to describe it. I led the ride all night, just because no one else knew the turns, so that probably didn't help. I got about 15 deer fly bites and a few mosquito bites - its relatively easy to outrun and outsmart the mosquitoes - just don't stand still, but the deer flies can catch you on the climbs (and even some of the flats!) and as previously noted they can bite through spandex. I've been toughing it out in the woods, but after that experience I think I'll be riding the road a lot more in the coming weeks.

The Big Unit performed well - I'm continuing to re-learn how to ride a hardtail. The relatively short chainstays and wheelbase made it a lot more fun in the twisties than the RIP. I felt like I remembered a bit about descending the technical stuff and had a point where I was flying down a rooty section and it felt ok.