Chris Fraser // Mini Epic

Well I decided to do this ride last minute. I haven't been doing bigger rides recently and wanted to challenge myself. Got to the ride start at 0900, had an egg bagel and some bad coffee then put on some good tunes. A mix of metal including Slayer Motorhead and Rancid. The skies were crystal clear and temp was low 60's. Jones trail was uneventful, a good warm up. Black road is nice and smooth, I love the redwoods! John Nicholas is really nice, not too steep. Trail was in great condition, loamy and damp! Things were progressing well! Then, just before turtle rock my chain started skipping around. I thought it might be an adjustment issue so ignored it hoping it would just fix itself hahaha! Got to turtle rock to take a pic and have a look at things. My rear derailleur cable was partially broken/frayed and complete failure appeared imminent. I wondered how i would get home when it did finally fail. Uber? Warden(wife)? Transmogrifier? Oh well I figured im not very far from civilization and only had 12 more miles to the top of the hill. I continued on and found the chains happy place. It worked fine in the top and bottom two gears. Otherwise it would just dance around haha! Long ridge was fun and smooth but legs were starting to tire. I hadn't ridden sunny jim trail before and didn't know what to expect. Steep and painful. Oh well got through it unscathed! And derailleur was hanging on by a thread! Comeon derailleur u can do it! Top of Montebello was cool and windy. Laid down for a moment and then found one of the mountain residents(tick) had burrowed himself into my thigh. Hey buddy, no free rides!! Dug him out and carried on. Canyon was fast and fun, road back to the car was peaceful. Very pretty neighborhoods! Made it back to REI, feeling a bit lucky that i did make it given derailleur issue. Immediately went in and bought a new cable then to 7 eleven for big gulp and a burrito. Yum! Thanks Dave for putting the event together!! Great route!