Monday March 10th, 2014

Greetings and welcome!

Thank you to everyone that made it such a fun weekend at Rapids. Saturday was a blast seeing so many riders out enjoying the trails. I really had a great time.

31014oIt was nice to see some families out on the trails last weekend. Our winter hasn’t been very kid friendly with what seemed like every weekend having a high of +5 and a low of-10 or -20. Finally we had a weekend that the families could enjoy, and the rest of us too.

It was a warm one. Saturday we saw 36 and sunny and it was getting a little soft in places. Sunday broke the 40 mark, but it stayed mostly cloudy. At 10:30 Sunday night as I type this it is still 37. Ouch.

But wait.. Tomorrow looks worse.

Right now the NWS forecast for Monday sunny and 52, and Tuesday cloudy and 39. The rest of the week cools off a little, but we should see 42 again Friday. Our normal high for today is 38, so I guess it is not really out of line for this time of year.

31014nWhen I was out riding the nice RXL Sunday it was obvious that the warm weekend had taken a toll. I ride two or three miles of this road to get to the trail, and that will not be a pretty road if it is 52 and sunny tomorrow.

The woods trails were good, but they were getting snirty or stained in spots, and I actually saw my first sunny spot show dirt. It was only one lunch tray sized scorch, but it was a bad omen.

The warm weather and weekend traffic had grown a nice crop of whoopties and bumps too, but I expect that on a Sunday afternoon of a warm and busy weekend. I was happy about having the nice RXL with the long travel suspension. If I had run the pace that was comfortable on the RXL on the 500 my feet would have been flying up in the air like on cartoons. NBD, the groomers will be out once it cools down and it will freeze in as flat as a pool table again.

I don’t know what to say about next weekend except wait and see. Last weekend made our world a little smaller by taking some road trails out of play, but the woods trails remain 90+% intact. There is a lot of snow out there. Next weekend might be March 15th, but I am not ready to call it a season yet. Sunday wasn’t as sunny as expected, maybe Monday’s 52 and sunny won’t be either.

Well, let’s get to the pictures of some of the people that made it a great weekend. Thank you all.

Have a good Monday and thank you for visiting!

RJB