2 up front 3 in the back

so cliche- a bit rusty to say the least.
heart racing, legs and lungs burning, mouth wide open, sweat on my brow... all this before i even hit the trailhead.
it was my first off road adventure since october of last year. it was everything i expected and less than i had hoped.
i left the house shortly after john got home. i took the spot as the sycip is still buried and my other bikes are missing something. it felt pretty good. i rolled down into the trail. it was a little wetter than expected. most of the trail was dry, but there were spots that were pretty slick. i headed down and hit racoon alley. it wasn't too bad. i was super cautious between the trees and the roots. shortly after jill's ledge i started climbing up the steep entrance and was surprised that i wasn't going to make it. i blame clogged tires to a point, but if i attacked it in an easier gear other than what i rode it "last year" i woulda make it. anyway, i started to roll backwards and missed grabbing a tree and tumbled down doing a couple somersaults before coming to a hault. got back up and continued. i don't think this was a confidence killer, but i was definitely surprised. i had to be conscious of speed- i was super sketchy. its so hard to not go hard. i didn't have any more stumbles... but i had a mistimed log, hit the brakes hard in corners, couldn't keep the front wheel pointed in a straight line at times. i was just tired and rusty. the logs got better as i rode. they turned out to be no biggee. fatigue at this point would have played more of a roll if i had missed one.
i didn't go far. just the mesa trail. i didn't even ride the unparallel big log. on the way back i did a couple of hard efforts just to gain some confidence. i could hit it hard for a few moments but couldn't sustain it at all. on the way back i pulled the ultimate rookie mistake and looked at the finger type branch down handing over the trail and it totally grabbed me. it did this to my bottle cage.


































if i was left handed i might think about leaving it. it was pretty easy to grab.
i rode the majority of the mesa 2 up front and 3 in the back, last year i rode it 2 up front and 7 or 8 in the back.
i arrived home a little more tired than i thought i would be. my neck is also pretty sore from my acrobatics down the hill. i shouldn't be too disappointed. it'll come back fast. its only been 4 weeks since i pushed rage out.
it was funny riding. all these thoughts were racing through my head and what i thought about most was what i'd write in my blog. i had all these good thoughts, and now i've totally forgotten all of them. i don't see myself bringing a note pad out with me though.