The forecast threatened rain, but we had great weather for the UAF Hidden Trails Trot version of the Tuesday Night MTB Ride.
Ten of us came out for the ride and we briefly picked up Forrest, who rode part of the the part of the Equinox Marathon Trail we rode (a portion of the ride off UAF). Mosquitoes were out in force, so several stops included reapplication of dope.
We checked out trails, formal and informal, all around UAF, and managed to do most of the Skarland 6-Mile Trail in the process. Several downed trees and a couple of downed riders, but the crashes were slo-mo and minor, though a couple of us were bearing scars from crashes last week.
We finished the ride with ascents and descents of the ever-fun Bicycle Bumps. And we mostly avoided mechanicals except when Carl broke his chain right after finishing a descent of Bicycle Bumps. Fortunately, Eric had a right-size master link. Unfortunately, Carl put the chain together without properly threading it through everything. Fortunately, Eric has a cool tool that makes undoing master links easy. We were back on the road again in no time. (Here’s a link to that tool for anyone who’s interested. Just found out Beaver Sports sells them!)
Photos by Nikki.
Next ride is the Circle-Fairbanks Trail Tramp. (We won’t be doing the shuttle suggested in the ride description due to the pandemic.) Check the ride schedule here: https://www.fairbankscycleclub.org/rides/tuesday-night-mountain-bike-rides/
Here’s some photos from Ken, swiped from Strava. (The one of Tony out in the weeds is a good portrayal of the silly parts of this ride.)
