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Somtimes I say "I was too busy having fun to take pictures," and it really means that I've been on a ride where I've taken plenty of pictures before. This time however, I was genuinely too busy having fun.

After several rides in Wildwood, I was looking for a change of scenery. (And hopefully an absence of ticks!) So yesterday morning I headed out to Sycamore Canyon, with my friend Deanne. (Who happens to run a local women's road cycling group!)

Neither of us had been out there more than once or twice, and so we set out with a couple of goals in mind. D wanted to ride "the fast one we did with the awesome dips", and I wanted to find "the really fun, semi-techy switchback climb." We both got our wish. D's fast, dippy road was Wood Canyon Fire Road, which was a blast, and we found our way from there up the Guadalasca trail. D's been training hard in the velodrome, and hadn't been on a mountain bike in a while, but still managed to tough it out up Guadalasca's switchbacks to top out on the Overlook Fire Rd.

And we got to ride Sin Nombre too. A fantastic ride. We made a couple of wrong turns, but I can't say it mattered.

I've been avoiding Sycamore for my after-work rides because I don't know the park well, and I don't want to get stuck riding in the dark. Now that I know the place a little bit, I can't wait to head out tomorrow night!

(Map: "Exploring Sycamore Canyon")