A detail of the upper portion of the old Fairhaven building that
houses Village Books and Paper Dreams.
Rode the Chuckanuts with Mark on a day that dawned gloriously clear after a miasmic day
before.
We started out on Old Samish Parkway, rode the Interurban to Cleator, and then climbed to the top, where Double Black Diamond awaited. We found a little bit of snow at the top of DBD, and the exposed bedrock was surprisingly slippery where it was water slicked. Not a good sign as you're about to start down DBD!
But away we plunged with Mark in the lead. It was immediately apparent that the
conditions were much sketchier than the last time we rode it. The heavy rains yesterday
had thoroughly wet everything, and there was a fair amount of gooshy mud, even on the
steep faces.
I found myself in fully locked-up skids several times on the first few steep sections.
When Mark slowed ahead, I had to dump, whacking the tendons on the back of my knee pretty
smartly. But again we plunged, and I followed Mark as he rode a gloriously elegant line up
to the right around a off-camber rock, and then again up to the right around the tree at
the top of the first steep face. He rode it, but I walked. We both rode the second face,
which was really treacherous in places.
Approximately 1800 verts.
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