daily cardio: mtn bike trail / rice cooker scrambled eggs
I got up a little late this morning (accidentally stayed up to 4am doing research I will describe separately), and by the time I rolled out of the bunk the sun was shining generously. The battery bank was accepting 27.43A from solar, the most I think I’ve seen in the morning.
I made coffee and watched current acceptance drop. By the time I drank the java and walked doggo the system was ready for a non-trivial load.
rice cooker scrambled eggs
The eggs were “soft” scrambled as the cooker shut off, but set up nicely over the next couple of minutes thanks to thermal inertia and the cooker’s WARM circuit.
a hike down the mountain bike path
We’d been walking past a feature that looked more like an eroded rivulet from runoff more than a trail but I couldn’t be sure.
It was steep and looked loose, so after wolfing the eggs I grabbed the trekking poles for balance, day pack for water, and headed down the hill. After about 50’ I started seeing bike tracks so even if it were just erosion someone else had been exploring.
About 100yds in it became obvious it was a mountain bike trail for down-hillers; steep enough I’m not sure it would be possible to ride uphill. The poles came in handy and saved me from falling at least once and probably twice. After about an hour of strenuous downhill we came to some bike ramps/jumps; I took a pic and decided to turn back since it would be (literally) all uphill from here.
I suspect the trail would have curved back to the road at some point but I didn’t have enough in the tank to chance it. Better to head back up the known path.
There were some intense-looking red mushrooms, and some brown mushrooms that looked exactly like baked potatoes sitting on the ground. Muffin will eat anything (sticks, rocks, firepit remnants) so I kept her under control around them.
I took that last pic with the camera level so you can get a feel for the path’s condition and grade.
My legs were definitely moving slower on the way back up, and there were places where it was steep enough that your heels didn’t touch the ground. We got back to the road and I noticed my walking wasn’t entirely straight as we went back up that much-milder grade. Must have been more fatigued than I thought. It took about an hour in front of the swamp cooler for my temp and heart rate to normalize. But my curiousity was satisfied.
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