Great day! My daughter, Shanna, and I did a family ride with the Adriances at the Heady Trails. It was very muddy, so we stayed on the logging roads, except for the International, which we rode for our ritual run into Canada and back.

It took me almost as long to clean the bikes afterwards as the ride itself, but I really enjoyed the day, especially spending time on the trail with Shanna, who has an upbeat, energetic and slightly whacko presence. I think she had fun too, although she was pretty intent on riding my plush, full suspension Cannodale Jekyll, rather than the Rocky Mountain Cardiac hard tail I bought her.

Approximately 400 verts.

Vert Quest chronicles "The Man Known As Mongo's" pursuit of the World Record for climbing on a mountain bike, 404,000 vertical feet, or the vertical equivalent of 13 sea-level-to-summit ascents of Mt. Everest during a 12 month period. Mongo's mountain bike climbing tricks are distilled in Mongo's Over-the-top Guide to Climbing.