Post Winter First Time Trail Ride

Oh did that feel good. Finally, after a way-too long wait for snow and ice to melt off the Rattling Creek trails, I got on the oh-so-sweet rocky singletrack. I say rocky because there was a LOT of washing going on from the downpour on Thursday and it seems the trails get rockier and rockier with every rain. Some trails weren't rideable today with water still flowing -- more like gushing -- straight down the trail. But who cares -- it was awesome to be on them. If you park furthermost east and head to the furthermost west point of the trail network, it's about 12 miles and a very nice, gradual climb in the process. It took me a little longer than expected because of a handful of dismounts and detours around flooded sections which made the clock time 3 hours, but the bike time was still 2:34 at 133 average heart rate. The majority of the climbing was singletrack. Perfecto. Its kinda hard to keep the heart rate down when you're climbing and pounding through rock gardens. There were numerous times I was in the 150s. Eatough is saying keep it between 65 and 75% yet Laub says let it go into the 150s. So I'm going say the little bit it drifted should be ok. Total trip was about 18 miles. My new Mountain King tires were awesome. I had forgotten how nice grippy, tubeless tires are. How did I go so long without them. I've been running a race tire with less agressive tread and have been struggling a little. Duh... get a grip Chili! Doh.