Ouch, that was fun!

2400 miles on a road bike is pretty much irrelevant to my abilities on a mountain bike. Over the handlebars once, walked up numerous hills (not 'cause I lack the strength, but because I lack the balance to stay on track and maneuver around roots and sticks while cranking hard), and I generally ache all over. By the end of this whoppin' eleven mile ride, my rear wheel was doing a convincing imitation of a Pringle, despite stopping to straighten it two times.

Totally fun.

It's pretty humbling to see a guy on a single-speed 29er (mountain bike tires on road bike size rims, roughly works out to 29" in diameter rather than 26 on a "normal" MTB) go hustling up a hill that I can't make it up in my lowest gear.

Oh, yeah. The ground is hard. When you suddenly find yourself staring at the gound as it approaches you at great speed, it is hard. The bike, when it lands on top of you, is also hard.

I shall refrain from complaining about the wind. It was windy, but it felt good. From what the nice folks at the NOAA say, Death Valley was, if anything, windier than it was last year.

Edited to add a link to some pictures!