YOU GUYS I'M SO STOKED!!!
First, a digression. There are crews in our condo complex tearing down and rebuilding decks. They bring their dogs to the work site (aka our cul de sac), where the dogs just roam around. Mostly, this is fine. This morning, I left my gloves out on our second story deck - the stairs only lead to our condo, nowhere else - and took my dogs for a walk. When I came back ... one glove was gone. WTF? I searched high and low with no luck. I worried that perhaps they'd just dumped a ten foot pile of dirt on top of my glove. I finally asked one of the crew. "Oh, yeah, I saw Caesar with it. Caesar steals gloves." So then a bunch of the crew were calling Caesar, with no luck. Eventually, one of the guys found my glove, which was slobbery but otherwise unscathed.
So, yeah, that was an interesting start to the ride.
Anyway, I rode Blair Witch again. Last time I rode it, there were two log sections that I walked. Logs are my nemesis (along with rocks, roots, gravel, sand, animals, people, lack of people, and shadows - but really, logs are the worst). They just look like momentum killers, and seem designed to tip you over without chance of recovery if you get stuck. Now, I'm not even talking about a full sized log of any size where you have to lift your front wheel - that's not happening for me right now. In this case, I mean the stacked logs that form sort of a triangle to ride over.
There were two such sections that I walked last time. One was just a section of maybe one inch diameter logs - okay, fine, sticks - on the ground. Irrationally, that sort of thing freaks me out. But I rode right over it this time, and all was well.
So then I approached the next section. These were larger logs, stacked to form a ramp. Clearly meant to be ridden without much fuss. I stopped at the obstacle. I assessed the front side. I assessed the back side. I chose my line. I walked my bike over the obstacle to see how well it would roll and whether I absolutely had to lift the front wheel. I decided I wouldn't have to lift the wheel - as long as I was moving at a decent clip. I decided I would push the bike out in front of me for a "drop" rather than rolling it. I had a plan. A lady hiking with her child and dog in the distance gave me a few curious looks. I thought about asking her to spot me in case I hurt myself, but then decided that was a little too weird. I needed to *know* I could ride this, or I shouldn't ride it.
I walked my bike back far enough to get some speed. Then I dropped the bike, walked up to the obstacle again, and eyeballed it. I walked back to the bike. I reviewed my plan. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Not totally effective. So then I got on my bike and pedaled, hard! And found myself braking as I approached the obstacle. That would not do. I forced myself to let go of the brakes, and while I didn't pedal any more, I was going fast enough to ride right up the logs where I'd planned. I think I half tried to do the push for a drop, but I wasn't going very fast and haven't tried that technique when the back of the bike is lower than the front. So I just rolled right down the back side. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Also, OMG I DID IT!
I rode that adrenaline high all the way down. The last little bit of trail in the loop back to Breck has some nice switchbacks, rocks, roots, the whole deal. I felt like a rock star the rest of the ride. Total confidence. Smoove and in control.
Okay, guys, this obstacle may not look like much - anything - to you. But to me, it was a big flipping deal!
Front side (the side toward which I rode):
Back side (the side down which I rode):