It was a spur of the moment decision.  To try and bike up and over Sheep Mountain in 3 to 4 hours and impress my friends. So I posted where I was going on my Palaver section of my site (just in case … right?) and headed out. It was 103 degrees when I left my apartment.

I reached the top 2.5 hours (2 hours from trail head) and did it all on the bike.  This is the first time I rode the steep sections. I am thinking around 4000 feet of climbing.  I had plenty time to descend into Rattlesnake Creek but then started to get ill and as a result got lost. I took two wrong turns and had to back track. 

The first one was a short jaunt towards Mineral Peak. The second took a hour to realize after descending about 700 feet and crossing a creek.  When I started to climb back up towards the ridge I rode I realized I was on the wrong trail.  My goal at that point was to climb back up and descend onto route 200 via Gold Creek.

I stumbled upon the correct trail as it became too dark to ride and I was feeling too ill to ride. I had to feel my way out of the woods. I posted on my site where I went but no one saw and came looking.  It took forever to stumble out and onto the Rattlesnake Corridor.  It was a miracle I stayed on the trail.

It then took me another hour to ride the jeep trail to the trail head. It is hard enough to cycle in pitch darkness but to do it on the Rattlesnake Corridor where I broke my seat post last year is very hard (and being sick and without water for two hours).

I rolled into town at around 1 something this morning.  I have experienced the worst cramps of my life in the 4ish hours of sleep I got.  That said … I am hoping tonight Thursday Night Ride is not going up Wallman Trail … I’ll definitely walk it … well, maybe.