Lost in the forest

        The past few days I have been living at 23's place in Granada, just training and hanging out. He lives right by a huge national forest with ton of great XC trails. All week I have been incorporating big rides into my training and have found a ton of cool loops. There isn't really many trees here, so the best way to find new trails is to just get to the top of a peak and try to spot a trail you haven't ridden yet. Earlier in the week I found two great loops that were new to me and a lot of fun, but I wanted to find some trails with more singletrack and technical sections. I spotted a cool trail pretty low in one of the valleys that I wanted to check out today. I figured out how to get down there and after a long decent, I found it. Trouble was, there was a river running through the valley from the snow melt which I had to cross about five times. This meant each time taking off my shoes and socks and walking through the freezing water. That got old quick. With all the stopping, I wasn't getting very far and I was a long way from home. The further I went, the more it seemed like this really wasn't a trail, at least not at this time of year. I'm sure during summer It would be great, not having any water to go through, but now even what was there was washed away from the spring thaw. Eventually I got to  a point that I couldn't go any further, and I was running out of daylight. If I went back the way I came, through the water and up around the mountain to get home, I would probably still be out there now, cause most of the way in was descending. I decided to try and climb out of the valley hoping to find another trail I knew higher up somewhere, and by climb I mean actually climb up the hillside carrying the bike on my back. Good thing the Top Fuel is so light haha. I was starting to worry because the sun had gone behind the mountain and It was only a matter of time until it was dark. I got up to a high point and was able to spot an old building and luckily it had an access road leading away from it. I got to it just as it got dark and started to push up. Eventually it crossed a trail I knew and I was able to find my way home, a few hours later than planned. Before I left I told Sander and Martin that I was going on an adventure, so they were a little worried when I was out so long after dark. It was indeed an adventure, and would I do it again? Hell yes! There are so many more trails up there I want to explore, now I know not to go down on that one again but I'm sure there are some good ones waiting to be found. Earlier in the week I would go out with Justin which was great, It's so much more fun with two people. We had a good few days training together but he had to go back to New Zealand yesterday. Looks like I'm going to be getting lost on my own for a while haha. Forecast is for bad weather over the weekend, but I'm from Pennsylvania so that wont slow me down. Looking forward to getting on the downhill bike this weekend and some more big rides to come.

NM