Mongo is the Guru of Galbraith — the inspiration behind GalbraithMt.com — and had wanted to see Duthie’s progress. We at BikeIntelligencer tend to think of Duthie as a miniature Galbraith, offering both cross-country fare and tasty freeride bits. So we were charged to hear Mongo’s enthusiasm for what’s coming together at Duthie.

Plenty of wood for the bog ...

It’s quite a testament to the public-private partnership of King County and the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. And there’s more to come. We saw a lot of activity and dirt in motion.

After touring Duthie we headed over to Grand Ridge to stretch our legs a bit. Talk about potential — Mongo was jabbering on and on about how much territory the ridge has to offer. With terrain like that, you could spray the hillside with trails and have some great loops to boot. We can’t wait.

... and plenty of rubble.

We cruised down to the legendary Bog, only to find piles of rubble and skinned timber stacked right at the base of the slope. Obviously the trail custodians are poised to finally do something about the ugliest section of trail this side of Wales. The Bog itself is actually drier than I’ve ever seen it. It’s still not really rideable — too much gooey stuff, and you can’t keep enough momentum to stay on the pedals — but you can at least hoof it through the entire way.

We scampered across, then began the long climb to the ridge line. Eventually we came to the Canyon Creek Bridge — which by coincidence will be dedicated today in an official King County Parks-Washington Trails Association event. We put together a crude iPhone video and commentary in observance of the dedication, scheduled to begin at noon.

From there it was up, up, up, the trail in tacky, prime condition. As many times as we’ve done Grand Ridge, it never seems ordinary. The fall colors, more open skies (due to dropped leaves from deciduous trees) and trail care have put Grand Ridge in a rare zone. The weekend rains may jeopardize it all, but one of Grand Ridge’s distinct virtues is its fast recovery time from moisture.

All in all, a great interlude for us and wondrous intro for Mongo to the special joys of Issaquah-area mountain biking. The season may be drawing to a close, but this stuff should remain open and rideable through much of the winter. Enjoy!

The first Outerbike, a kind of mega version of Interbike’s traditional Outdoor Demo pre-event in the Las Vegas desert, apparently went well.

Photo op: A bridge at Grand Ridge.

All the people riding had $3,000 bike at home and they left psyched to buy a $5,000 bike,” said Ashley Korenblat, owner of Western Spirit Cycling. “All the super high end brands just killed it. They were totally slammed.

On Issaquah’s Grand Ridge, the best close-in cross-country mountain biking trail to Seattle, the Washington Trails Association and King County Parks will dedicate the new Canyon Creek bridge on site at noon tomorrow.

In the case of a cheeseball tricycle capable of genitally lacerating tots, Toys Rn’t Us. The trikes have been recalled by Fisher-Price under the auspices of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Dangerous trike