New Year's Eve Ride at Sprain Ridge

Well, the ride today was pretty awesome. I rendezvoused with Alex on the train and we rode from the Hastings on Hudson Station to the trail head. That was quite a miserable jaunt. The roads were slushy and cold salty water soaked our butts on the way to the trail.

I love my new F1. It handles great and I love the Lefty. Locking out the fork and throwing the chain on to the big ring on the way to the trails was a joy. I didn't miss the single speed at all today. The Lefty took up the hits, big and small, with ease and gave me a lot more confidence in the descents. (although we didn't carry much speed anywhere today in the snow)

Alex, just after wiping out on solid ice -ouch!

Two to three inches of snow made the riding a little tough. Alex went down on solid ice a few times today and I'm sure he's sore now! I took a nice dive over the handlebars in a baby-head strewn switchback. I sailed through the air, downhill and remember tucking my chin in just before my helmet made contact with a few big rocks. My left knee took a hard hit on an unforgiving rock/root and I have a nice lump to show for it. Getting up, I was shocked to see that I actually broke my front brake lever body. I couldn't believe it. I've never seen a lever body brake like that. (pictures in the gallery below)

Loving my new F1

We weren't' the only ones on the trail this morning though. We came across a herd of deer which didn't seem frightened by us. The woods were silent as large flakes floated down and the deer stood looking at us, flicking their ears nibbling on... whatever they were nibbling on. We also saw some tire tracks from another rider who was out before us.