Ocho!

For ride #8 Highroller went deep on Father's Day courtesy of Chainsaw and the Weasel who stuffed me full of cranberry granola pancakes at Freshies and then set me free by heading up to Steamboat Lake for a date with the beach.  THIS guy decided some climbing was in order (remember I'm racing the Thunderhead Hill Climb, like, tomorrow) so I headed up through Strawberry Park to the unloved Elk Park Rd, there to discover 6 ancient SE Asian ladies diligently clearcutting the forest of all fern fiddleheads to later fry in tempura batter I assume.  Once it became clear I wasn't going to bust them they kindly removed the pinch-claw lockdown they had me contorted into and let me scamper off, up, up, up the semi-unrelenting climb to the Lower Bear junction where I ran into none other than the infamous D. Hyde and his lovely Eve descending from their own private Idaho.  Neglecting to mention the martial artists grannies lurking below I waved them on and continued with the solo climbing all the way up to vacant Elk Park and the FS boundary with the Zirkel Wilderness.  Was it freakin' beautiful? Did I have the place to myself?  Were there flowers in abundance and clear flowing streams to ford? Yes, yes and Yes!
From thenst I dropped down to Lower Bear (one of the best stretches of singletrack around IMO) to the Strawberry Park Hotsprings, Hotsprings TR to Mad Creek, up, up again to Swamp Park and another touch at the FS boundary, then one more climb up and over to Red Dirt before finally dropping down to the pave and then big-ringing it all the way homeward for cheeseburgers and ice cream.  Maybe 5 hours door to door. That family 'o mine is pretty cool, thanks guys!  Incredibly I feel pretty ok, though finding the worst of the damage is starting to take 48 hours to show up as I slink further into aged decrepitude, I reserve the right to be crippled tomorrow.
Y'all?