The Don Rats

Ride with the Don Rats take 2: incredible. More trails I had never seen or accessed before, night riding (without lights, yikes), beers and good conversation. What more could a man want for an evening? Unfortunately, my camera is still lacking in batteries, so I didn't get any cool pictures, but hopefully I'll make a trip through the don this weekend to get photographic evidence of these awesome trails.

An accurate depiction of riding at night without a light

At the beginning of the ride, I asked why there were no published maps of the extended trail system. The de facto leader of the crew, Tim, gave me a roundabout answer that basically amounted to: because we don't want to. As I rode more of their unmarked trails, I began to really understand. The main trail system has been coopted by the city to be a family-friendly walking space or has been washed out by the number of riders who go through every day. These guys have put years of work into their trail building and basically say "anyone who can discover these trails by themselves deserves to ride them. Mountain biker elitism? Perhaps. But the perfection of their work (or what I could see around my front wheel) justified their secrecy.

Anyway, here are a couple more pictures, one from the ride on Tuesday and on of my legs post-ride. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to ride through again this weekend during daylight and snap a couple of pictures.

Tuesday's group

You can't tell, but my right leg literally doesn't have any skin showing
beneath all the mud.