#underprepared

I haven't been biking much due to pandemic sluggishness and malaise, but I was going up to Guerneville for the weekend with friends, so I brought my bike and set out to do a much smaller loop that included the mythical Old Caz. I've been gradually biking on more gravel and forest roads (just with my normal bike) and enjoying it...

I started up a fairly steep dead end road in some pain, ill-prepared on a hot day just riding in jeans and a t-shirt -- I almost turned back but someone at a stand set up to support a local race that day gave me energy drinks and snacks. I'm glad I persevered-- then it was curving paths down on gravel and dirt through the woods and through a stream-- only 10 miles from town but it felt like the wilderness.

I didn't really know what I was doing on dirt :), so I took it easy on the downhills (I passed someone who'd crashed during the race and broken a bone-- thankfully I read later that they'd healed well), and then had a relaxing flat ride on Austin Creek Rd through the redwoods back to Guerneville.