turtles, beavers, and birds

I did get a ride in on Friday.  I was taking the Glow Worm out because it's fun as all hell, and the HiFi was still dirty as all hell.  I wasn't sure where I was going to ride... I figured I'd skip Sherman Branch because, even though I know it's singlespeed heaven, a 20 would be just to small out there so I decided to hit up Colonel Francis Beatty to see how I would fair out there.

Recently the trail gnomes had been out to conduct a mass root removal... blah.  I guess I understand the motivation to remove roots that people are riding around, thus causing the trail to widen... but still...  I haven't ridden the trail enough to miss the roots that were taken, although I could see evidence of their removal by the orange spray paint where they marked them, the new gouges in the trail where the roots once where, and in some cases, the roots themselves just chucked to the side.  Ride wise, didn't make a damn difference to me.

I rode 3 laps out there.  Probably would have only done two, but I lost my bottle.
AGAIN.
Same.  Damn.  One.

When I was cleaning and filling my bottles that morning I did notice that this lost bottle seemed a bit soft under the hot water.  I dunno if the damn thing is just too soft and pliable with old age that it wiggles itself out of cages... or if I just hadn't gotten him all the way in my NEW cage, thus presenting us with a case of user error.  In any case... I guess there were still enough roots out there combined with the rigid set up to rattle my bottle out.

On the second lap I tried to keep my eye out for the bottle, but no luck.  Third lap, I stopped a bunch to check out "suspect" areas of the trail... nothing.  The whole time I was just hoping to see my bottle so I could give it a big middle finger before snatching it back u and retiring it to gatorade duty around the house.

I did, however, have a little nature show while on the trail.

The wild box turtle.  He was a big mother.  But a shy fellow.

I don't know how he saw me on the camouflaged Glow Worm.

 Then we had evidence of the magical and mysterious beaver.  I didn't see any evidence of him out in the water... but he's been chewing on shore for sure.

That tree will put a serious hurting on the stream if it falls.

And then we had a slow moving bird of some sort...  just high stepping it in the water

Hanging out on one leg

Overall, the riding was fun.  Yes, there are some "rough" sections on a rigid out there.  Especially on some of those rooty, drop ridden, eroded sections.  But everything was rideable.  I mean, I did feel like I got an arm workout by the end of it, but it was fun.  By the end of lap 3 I was just fine with riding the 20, but there were enough sections that I just wanted more.  I even ghost shifted where the singletrack dumps you onto the road for a quick jaunt.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the singlespeed ride style.  Time to get more cogs and start pushing things.

Oh... I will share this gem with you before I leave.  On Annie's birthday we went bowling (her call - it was fun) and we had some food at the alley.  Apparently this place has been highlighted on the Food Network or something...  So anyway, apparently at TEN Park Lanes the menu doesn't always match the bill.  I ordered the pulled pork plate.  But I paid for something completely different.

How did she know we were from Boston?