What? Not enough torture on Friday night? It was Saturday afternoon, and I found myself stuck in weekend merge traffic on Kalanianaole to meet Jeff, Sara, Doctor Paul, Danny, and Root at Ditch for another ride. There was the brief out-of-context spectacle of kanban-musume hawking Mothers’ Day roses on the roadside by the stables to distract my attention from the impending leg pain and monkey-butt on the upcoming ride. This was the second time we would ride this trail in 24 hours!
At the trailhead, there was a good trade wind breeze blowing, and the sky was a mix of clouds and blue. We geared up and climbed Government Road to the Ditch junction. There was a moment of indecision before we decided to continue upward and do the side loop to start. The immediate concern of monkey-butt was unexpectedly unrealized; however, the leftover lactic acid from the night before brought on the burn early, and depleted muscle glycogen stores made for sluggish legs. Oddly, I felt better on that climb than I usually do. I was fatigued, but the level of discomfort didn’t seem to peak out the same level as the ride the day before. It could either be residual endorphins from the previous workout, or just being more frugal in gear selection. There were some odd cut ti plants and miscellaneous branches and brassaia along the trail – not quite like someone had been clearing out the trail, but instead just chopping at random things. At the lower traverse, we went East to re-explore the trail in that direction. The trail still diminished in the same general area in the Royal Palm grove.
Returning to the road, we climbed back up to the Ditch trail junction, and went out along the trail. The conditions were hard and dry. We could even see our tracks from the night before here and there where the ground was powdery enough for the tires to leave tracks. About halfway in, Paul went down at that outbound right turn with the inside and outside lines separated by a boulder. On the narrower inner line, his front tire washed out, and he low-sided. His knee and shin took some gas as he slid across the boulder, but the bike was virtually unscathed. Some antiseptic wipes and betadine and he was good to go. Battle scars! We turned up the upper trail, then climbed up the cardiac arrest hill to the big tree, where we had a rest before descending the flailing fat guy drop-in. We bypassed the inner loop and backtracked out the main trail. I broke off from the group and went up the straight-shot section of the inner loop (the end closer to the road) and came back down on the oft-seen-but-seldom-ridden lauae fern drop-in. The ride out was fast, fun, and effortless.
Back at the trailhead, the neighborhood dog that always comes by for a belly rub came to visit. After giving everything a sniff, he wandered back to the party at his home.
More pictures here.
D = 11.52 km (7.16-miles), Vavr = 11.1 km/h (6.9 mph), Vmax = 36.5 km/h (22.7 mph), T = 1-hour, 2-minutes (actual trail time approximately 2-hours)
Mahalo to mama-bear Sara for again being there to rescue me after another of my foolish spills. Appreciate the sweet burn from Dave’s betadine and Sara’s antispetic wipes. Will try Sara’s leg armor next time as I’m running out of skin by leaving it all on the rocks…..