Happy Birthday Natalie Telis!!! 🥳🎂🎉🎈🎊🎁 We were originally supposed to ride on the weekend but Natalie's bike was messed up and had to cancel. Plans for today weren't really materializing so I'm glad we were able to make Demo Forest happen. Unbelievably, this is my first time doing Flow Trail on my own MTB. The only time I've ridden it was years ago and that was borrowing Mike's hardtail - an experience that caused me to write-off hardtails altogether. Natalie had a lunch meeting so I went ahead and did a lap before she was able to arrive. It was chilly on Highland Way but warmed up once you got up to the ridge. On the first lap, I had it all to myself. On the way up, I tried to text Natalie to change our meet up place. As I'd feared, reception was terrible, so there was no guarantee of being able to reach her later. Some foreshadowing... When I got to the top, I actually accidentally got onto the Ridge Trail. I'm so used to riding Aptos Creek Fire Rd. that I would've gone down to Forest of Nisene Marks had I not decided to take a look at the bulletin board with the map. Ridge Trail was rockier and rootier, more technical, than I remembered it. The only section I remembered seeming gnarly the last time I was there was the section just before Sulphur Spring Rd. There was a pretty deep rocky rut that I walked but now it seems fine, still technical, but fine. The first lap of Flow Trail was a lot of fun. There's a flow trail at Waterdog that's bermed but steep that I struggle with but I was ripping the ones at Demo. I think I probably hit a bump funny at some point because by the Segment 3, my right arm felt fatigued but later I realized my right wrist was a little tweaked. I was worried that I was going to be too tired for a second lap but luckily it didn't get any worse for the rest of the trail. I got to the bottom of Flow at 2:23p. I was supposed to meet Natalie at the parking lot entrance at 2:30p. OOPS!!! I didn't realize it was ~4mi. of climbing to get back. I basically did a PR effort not realizing how far it was but not wanting Natalie to wait so long. I was basically burning all the glycogen in my legs, previously already worried about being tired for a second lap, but this was something to worry about after I met Natalie. When I got to the bottom, I didn't see her. Her car was parked next to mine but I also wasn't 100% sure that was her car. Right color and model but there was a UC Santa Cruz sticker on the trunk that I didn't remember seeing before and thought maybe this was a local and not Natalie. I decided to have a snack and finish my bottle. I'd only drank half the bottle and considered just using the other half for lap 2. With the PR effort, I thought it would be best to finish the bottle and grab a 2nd bottle from the car. Great call because Natalie forgot to bring water and had to share mine later. As I was finishing my snack, I saw Natalie rolling down the road towards me. She misunderstood my text and went to the intersection at the top to meet me but realized I meant the parking lot. This all worked out perfectly. She got to do an extra climb which she enjoyed. Crazy, right? I got to refuel and hydrate. On the climb up, near the top, we found a lone red glove sitting on the ground. Natalie was going to pick it up to leave it somewhere but I thought it would be better to leave it on the ground for whoever lost it to come back and find. The 2nd lap was even better, although the sun was right in our eyes and not ideal for the Ridge Trail portion. I was going faster, had more energy and pop in the bike, and just generally feeling the flow much more this lap. The trails are in such good condition right now. Natalie had a great time as well and we got to the bottom with the sun setting at our backs. We got back to the car just after sunset. At the bottom, we found the guy who lost his glove. He said he rode back down the trail and couldn't find it so someone must have picked it up. I guess I made the wrong call. It would've been nice to handed him the glove. At the car, I gave Natalie some cake and sang her a pretty poor rendition of Happy Dirt Day. Then we asked the guy who lost his glove to take our photo.