While it’s not the first time I’ve been out on the mountain bike this year, Three Sisters in Evergreen, Colorado is always a fun ride. We tried to get the Moab group together for the ride, but it was kind of short notice. Only half of us made it to the trailhead.

I pulled out the trusty old hardtail, a ’98 Stumpjumper, for the ride. Joey was on her Marin and Lara was on a Diamondback DH bike.

We kept a very slow pace, which was good ’cause I’m sporting about 25 extra pounds. Lara’s bike weighs about as much as she does, and she had to work it to get it up the hills.

We started off from the eastern parking lot and headed out on the Hidden Fawn Trail. Usually we see elk all over this trail, but not this time. Hidden Fawn made for a good warmup as we bombed around to Sister’s Trail. We usually hang a right there and go up the switchbacks, but this time we hit Ponderosa and climbed up to Brother’s Lookout. So far, so good. No mechanicals, no wipeouts… Well, one pedal bite…

Speaking of mechanicals, I’m a bit fearful of my headset. It’s almost the only thing OEM left on the bike, and it’s seen some better days. The reason I haven’t ditched it is because I don’t want to mess with a new fork where the crown height messes with ‘ol Stumpy’s handling. I figure it’s a done deal that the race is fused to the steerer tube. A new fork would be great, IF I could find a 63-67mm with a reasonable price tag.

We took off from the Lookout, and I cleaned the slot move on the way down. I had to do a bit of theatrical-looking leaning, but no dabs. I’m glad to report there’s not a lot of rust on the handling skills. From there we took a little turn on Silver Fox, then right on Homestead. Homestead is a blast. It’s not real technical or long, but has the little whoop-tee-do’s I like. A good line pays handsomely there.

After Homestead, we hit Bluebird and crossed Buffalo Park Road onto the Wild Iris Loop. It’s through a meadow, and is almost a false flat. I remember the first time I ever went through there I bombed it in the big ring and almost had to stuff my heart back down into my chest.

From Wild Iris, we started the climb up Evergreen Mountain Trail West. It’s a bit of a grunt this early in the season and Lara’s DH bike wasn’t doing her any favors on the way up. We hit the Summit Trail and continued the climb.

On a side note, there was a wipeout of magnitude on the part of the climb. Lara and I pulled off to let some faster climbers around. One turned her head to say something about this jackass who bombed through downhill without yielding right-of-way. In mid-sentence, her front tire washed out and she bit it hard. Her knee bounced off of a rock audibly. I hope she’s OK.

We made it up to the eaten up switchback, and I cleaned it, most of the way anyway. I couldn’t pop my front wheel over a rut in the rock, and had to dab about 10 yards past the switchback. Grrrr. Next time.

We stopped at the big rock outcropping on the backside of the loop. I rode my bike up the big boulder. There’s something about solid rock inclines I just really like. We stayed there and popped some pictures before heading back down. Evergreen Mountain Trail East is a blast on the downhill. Even with the headset issue, I still ripped down the trail. Old habits die hard, I guess.

We polished the ride off and headed back to town. This is where the elk finally showed up.  Grazing next to the high-school parking lot. My post-ride headaches continue, although I’ve found Excedrin Migraine knocks them back a bit. I’m beginning to wonder if the constant vibration of riding is causing the pain. The headaches seem to be worse after I’ve downhilled with exuberance. As long as the Excedrin makes it managable, I won’t let up.