Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Ain't no mountain high enough to keep me from woo!"

It's been far too long since we last saw this view, when we did this big loop.  But through the hot summer, we've been keeping our bike rides to about 5 mile round trips, in the shade. The only thing holding her back this summer to longer distance was the heat and my health.

Today, I woke up to a foggy, cool day. My health-o-meter read "slightly crappy with a chance of don't-get-your-hopes-up."  To me, the conditions were ripe to go further distance on our ride today.

And Juno was too happy to oblige. She didn't even lay down on her water breaks and just stood there, ready to rock and roll, hoping I'd make the call to climb the mountain. And so we did. She pulled so well, I almost hurled. It was me who had to stop and rest multiple times, which made it quite humbling since I don't think I've ever stopped on this climb. We made it up to our vista lookout, which sometimes offers a views of more mountains, but as you can see it was much too foggy. Perfect husky bikejoring weather!

And to make this ride even better, Loki---once again---tangled his line under his thigh on  a long descent. If he would just keep with Juno's pace (which he's completely capable of) it would never happen.  Usually, when he tangles, he panics like a bull being wrangled by a rodeo cowboy.  This time, instead of panicking, he froze when I said "WAIT!" I dismounted and quickly untangled him and praised him over and over while feeding him a jackpot of treats for not panicking. Juno just looked on without too much laughter.  I hope that will cure his fear of tangling. I couldn't be more proud of my rough-tough scare-dee-cat!

"Princess, are woo sure it's a good idea to go the whole way? I think your jodhpurs would benefit if we turn around now."
"Daddy-O stop being such a pansy! I can take it! Come on, there's two of us and only one of her. We have ways of convincing her! Tee-hee-hee!"

At the turn around spot, Juno desperately tried to get me to go onto the single track trails, but I made the hard call to cut it shorter since we haven't done the loop in a long time.  It was the right call. She's a little stiff tonight from the added mileage and extra elevation (1300 feet). Nothing a little massage and Traumeel won't cure.  We'll ride this particular distance and route a couple of times and I'll watch for how she responds before we add any more distance.

It's nice to see my "hip challenged" Sibe is fitter than me right now.