Thanks to Anthony and Ali (and Kira*) for joining me on today's dirt epic! And shoutout to ranger Anthony at SF Watershed for greeting us and letting me know we had Fifield-Cahill Ridge all to ourselves today. It was warm and sunny today, when the wind wasn't blowing. Unfortunately, the wind was sometimes quite strong and cold. It was hard to dress and I kept removing and adding layers throughout. It looked like the marine layer was blanketing the ridge but Fifield-Cahill Ridge ended up being sunny and clear. The first half was pretty nice until we got to the top of the ridge and the wind really picked up. It was Anthony's first time doing Planet of the Apes. Every year, it gets more and more beat up. Ali had a small crash trying to avoid what she thought was poison oak but turned out not to be. A superficial scratch on her knee that looked worse than it was was the result. The path by Moss Landing Brewery has also gotten much worse with more of the land slipping away. Same at Pillar Point where that slide on the trail next to the coast has now become a deep hole. In Miramar, we saw whales breaching out in the ocean. There was a labrador that seemed very excited about it, barking out at the ocean towards the whales. Once we got on the trail in Half Moon Bay, the wildflowers were everywhere and so pretty. Lunch at Dad's was great at first. We were able to sit in the sun but the wind eventually made everyone cold. As we were leaving, I said, "I feel like I need to pee." Kira, "Where? In your bladder?" Me, "In my pee-pee!". 😂I got Kira good! The trip down the Cowell-Purisima Coastal Trail was so nice with the tailwind and beautiful scenery. At the start of the singletrack section, around the first switchback, a lizard ran right to left towards my front tire almost pushing me wide off the trail. Then right after that there was a snake on the trail that I startled and it started to try and slither out of the way. I think I missed it. By the time we got to Purisima Creek Redwoods OSP I was pretty tired. I was feeling better today than on the last two rides but I was still probably a bit fatigued and not fully recovered. Ali hasn't been riding much and was tired as well. I was pretty pleased with myself though. I was able to climb slow enough that I didn't put in any effort and kept my HR low while I rode with or just ahead of Ali to keep her company. Everyone was pretty happy to be done, while I still had more climbing to do to get home. At least I got to bomb some more singletrack to finish off the ride. The Epic EVO is such a great bike! *Anthony has renamed Kira to Akira for today’s ride so she’s part of the A-Team after all. 😂