The Bonk

My husband and I went to ride in AF Canyon today. I have been telling him for weeks how great Deer Creek South Fork is and we finally got the chance to go together. Instead of starting at my regular spot (Timpanooke Campground) we went to Cascade Springs and parked in the open campground area. Since Royce does not get out much to ride his bike I figured this would be a good spot to start and we could take it a section at a time by going up and back or doing a smaller loop. The trail was in great condition from here up to the Summit except for the part of the trail slated to be worked on this Saturday, and it has been broken in fairly well although I don't think this is the permanent path. I did see a dead bird on the trail, it was pretty big. I wasn't quite sure if I should move it or not, so I left it there. As we got to the Summit Royce was a little winded, but ready to go forward and do the loop. So onward it was. The next part of the Trail Ridge 157 is not ideal. Sometimes this part can be okay, but other times it has a lot of loose dirt and rocks. Today it was loose, with a lot loose rocks. I took this part of the trail cautiously since I had crashed on this particular part of the trail Saturday and didn't feel like doing it again. I didn't crash this time, but came close, and in the exact same spot! Except this time I stopped and lucky for me I was able to look back and figure out what I was doing wrong. Then it was onward down the trail. At the next intersection (Salamander Flats or Ridge 157) Royce took the lead and continued forward on Ridge 157. This part of the downhill was not too bad and is pretty a pretty fast trail. I surprisingly caught up to Royce just prior to the next intersection, apparently his chain had dropped. He quickly fixed it and we met up at the Pine Hollow/Ridge 157 intersection. We stayed on 157. About this point Royce was looking a little peaked, but he wanted to go on, so we did. This part of the trail is uphill, but not too bad. You have a few rocks to maneuver around and over, but for the most part it is a fairly nice grade that is steady all the way. We only went abut .25 of a mile when I looked behind me and couldn't see Royce. I waited and waited, and began to wonder if he had mechanical problems. About that time he caught up to me and looked pretty bad. And he was, he did not feel good at all. He had the classic symptoms, hot, nausea, exhaustion, nausea and more nausea....he had bonked, I thought for sure he was going to toss his cookies right then and there. Since he was so bad off we decided to split up. He would immediately go down hill to Timpanooke Campground and I would head back to the car via Deer Creek South Fork of course (I was too close to turn around). We separated and I went on my way. I love uphill, and this one is not too bad. There is a short downhill, and then you come to the beast. The hill that has loose dirt, loose rocks and is one of those 50/50 hills. Today was not the day. I had to walk about 12 feet....bummer. I continued riding, and then I came to it, my favorite part of the trail. A trail I call heaven. It is sooooo much fun. This trail goes so smoothly and flows. You go down, down, down and then you go down so more and just when you think you are done because you start to go up, you are fooled and you go down some more until you get to the road. Sometimes my quads will be burning from being in my downhill position for so long. The hardest part for me on this trail is not going too fast. Today was perfect. I was on my brakes a little bit more, but I was having fun and going the perfect speed. About half way down I had an epiphany and realized I was not looking far enough ahead. I always look ahead, but apparently not far enough. This is kind of a difficult thing to do because I want to see what is coming up, but looking only a little bit ahead versus a lot a head doesn't necessarily help this. I noticed when I look a little bit ahead I see the obstacles, but I have to go slower to react to them and the control I have over my bike is not as solid. Today on the last half of the downhill when I started to look further ahead I noticed my speed increase, I had better control of my bike, going over the obstacles was not near as difficult and the turns were much easier. The rest of the down hill went smoothly and then I was back at my car. I racked my bike and went to get Royce. When I got to him he was still looking pretty wasted. We got rolling and I gave Royce my EFS and a gu to see if it would help him. At this point I should be done writing, and tell you all is well and after a few hours Royce felt better, and he now knows what it feels like to bonk. But I can't, because as we headed out the of canyon, right at the very end, just before the guard shack, we saw a doe and her baby. The car in front just drove right around them (I guess they don't care about watching wildlife), but I stopped, and so did the doe. Check it out! She looked right at me for a long time, before we finally parted ways. I had enough time to grab my camera, take a picture, zoom in and take another picture and then continue to look at her. It is always cool to see wildlife up close.