Woodlot Snow Ride 2009! (Feb. 28, 2009)

It is bright and early Saturday morning and Jordan and I headed up to the Woodlot for a ride. It snowed Wednesday and many areas of the valey were hit with a few inches of snow. Maple Ridge really didn't get any snow so I figure there was no way that the snow we recieved th other day would have been enough to penetrate the trees. I was wrong. There was a good 5-6" of fresh snow on the trails. It was gonna a be a fun ride.

We hiked our way up the mounatin as far as the bottom of Crazy Carpenter were we stoppped for a snack and decided to suit up while we discussed what trails we were going to ride. We had decided against hiking up the power lines, so Carpenter was out, and we decided that the rock face on Tsuga wouldn't be wise covered in snow, so it was off to Blood Donor.

Jordan just before we drop in to Blood Donor.

With helmets and jackets on, to guard against the huge clumps of snow falling from the trees, we pushed our bikes up the trail to Blood Donor. There were four other riders on the trail taking turns hitting the 16' gap on the trail, I find that jump scary enough when it is dry out let alone coverd with snow so I opt out. The two of us carved and slid our way down the trail in the snow and rolled our way along the log rides and ladder bridges. I decided to hit the final jump at the end of Blood Donor only to get crooked in the air and come down on my ankle before crashing in the slush. Bad move, I tweaked my ankle pretty good, it hyrt to stand on let alone walk, but fortunately for me it didnt hurt while standing on my pedals, so we kept riding.

Jordan riding a log section on Blood Donor.

The next trail was Giant Killer. We continued our way down the is trail in the snow rding up and over ladder bridges and the occasional log ride. The long log ride section proved to be difficult while covered in snow so I bypassed most of since I didnt want to rist falling off and landing on my already bummed ankle. Live to ride another day.

Myself on a ladder bridge section of Giant Killer.

We popped out of Giant Killer onto the road and dropped back in to Hoots. The upper section thru the clear cut was nicely smoothed out thanks to the snow and didnt seem to hinder traction on the big nasty rockface. We then cruised the rest of the way down and over the last couple jumps and out onto the road again where we made a left and headed back up the hill to Shotgun. We met up with the same four riders as before and chased after them down the trail toward the parking lot. Other than my bunged up ankle, she was a sweet ride out in the snow. Just another winter ride at the Woodlot.