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I planned on a shortish ride, no more than 90 minutes or so. I headed out to Shepherd's Flat, then out the Sheep Corral trail and down the Dead Cow Trail, and then back up Palo Comado and back to shepherd's Flat. But by then I was warmed up, and I just didn't want to quit.

Chesebro Cyn Ride

So I head past the Flat and along the short trail, and up an Edison road I'd never explored before. I know it heads up across a couple of ridgelines to the Alberson Fire Rd, which I certainly know my way around. I thought the full loop around to China Flat (and then back down through Cheesebro) might include more climbing than I wanted to commit to, but a quick climb to the top sounded like fun.

(Yes, I'm a freak. I like riding my bike uphill.)

The road was in good shape, aside from scattered rock fall, and the climbing felt great. So great, that when I hit the top, I just kept going, and decided that I wanted to do the whole loop around to China Flat after all. Unfortunately, I found myself five minutes later at the bottom of the valley with at least one major climb ahead, the sun sinking fast, no food in my pack and no real clear idea of how long it would take to get back into familiar territory. So, reluctantly, I took a picture of "the road not taken", and turned around.

My legs felt super-strong all the way back up to the ridge, and the trail was all downhill from there back to the trailhead.

I'm really happy with how my legs have responded to last week's long ride. My Christmas Eve ride left me averse to big rides for a couple of weeks, but once I was warmed up this afternoon, I felt like I could have gone all day. I did 2½ hours, and felt like I could have done 2½ more if the sun and my growling stomach hadn't called me home.

My work schedule will be a little interesting this week, but I'll have Wednesday afternoon all to myself, and I'm planning to come back this way and do the loop.