Colours are getting more saturated in the steppe, wind is picking up more regularly. No nasties are biting at us during riding and patches of soft sand boost our heartrates and deflate our morale a touch. Mix this in with morning temperatures that drop well below 10C and all the signs of autumn appear to be there.
Some lovely recent rides, were care is again taken for choosing riding direction based on wind strength and direction. the idea is: ride out into the wind, and back with the wind. In practice it usually turns out as ride out into the wind, ride back into as well….
None the less we continue to ride, and good rides we have seen again.
Saturday saw some folk explore the entire length of the side canal of the Ural northbound towards the point were it intersects with the Ural around 40km north of Atyrau. New very sweet trails along canal and river were successfully mapped and tested and have been dubbed “Gone Bananas”. This full new loop makes for Centurion (100km+) distance riding. With three starters and finishers this ride made it into the big rides hall of fame.
Others in the meantime rode Pete’s with some extension to HB and ZP and were nicely blown back to Levee Junction from Pete’s.
With a beautiful sunrise on Sunday a group headed dead west into the wind to ride the “lala Lada brick road” towards Zhaks fall, whereafter they had a sweet tailwind blow them back to town for the call of the Krushka.
Two brave souls diverted to explore and map possible Centurion track westbound; they may still be en-route as this hits the binary world.
Saturday and Sunday ride photos
Saturday Gone Bananas
Sunday Lada Brick Road
