today I tried out a "long" route for mountain biking. Well, long for me.
I started out at the trailhead to al foster trail. This is a wide mostly flat crushed limestone trail. At the trailhead is a miniature railway, that gives rides on the weekends during the summer, so it's very crowded on a sunday with people waiting to ride the little train. But once you're on the trail usually I have it to myself. Today though, lots of riders and hikers. About 2.5 miles of al foster, and I come to the lower part of stinging nettle. It's not maintained very well, and there have been lots of trees down and one corner that looks like it's going to collapse down to the river. I decided to avoid that part and looped through one of the connectors and back to stinging nettle. There's this once ditch- narrow and steep, it comes down to a V at the bottom. So far I've always made it, although I always feel like it was pure luch, and I worry about destroying my front wheel or my front shocks in the bottom of this thing. Today, though, I did my first endo. Not a bad place to endo, since it's so narrow the opposite bank is very close, so you don't fall far. I got up, made sure nobody had seen it, checked my bike over, and went on. at the far loop of stinging nettle is the trail between the railroad tracks and the river, a narrow part that's hike a bike for me. Giant roots that you have to lift your bike over, and no room for error between the trail and the slope down to the river. At the end of this is castlewood park, river scene trail. I rode this nice wide dirt trail- again lots of cyclists and tons of hikers. Then I rode up the road to love trail. I took this one to ries road where I doubled back and got on grotpeter to go to rollercoaster. I actually passed someone!!! there was a guy ahead of me, and he kept stopping to rest. I'd pass him, then hear him coming up behind me and get over and let him by. Soon I'd go by as he stopped to rest again.
I did rollercoaster but wasn't very confident today- I almost didn't make it over the telephone pole someone had put across the trail because I just didn't have much momentum. I walked around the sharp right turn to steep downhill. I almost went off the edge of the last bit of rollercoaster where it's pretty rocky and downhill. Back on grotpeter trail down the rocky rooty part, walk the railroad ties. But I rode around the sharp right turn with the tree in the middle of it. I finished, then rode back down the road to river scene, hike a bike back to stinging nettle. Rode the upper part of stinging nettle back to al foster, and back to my car. I'd forgotten my water bottle, as usual, and was really thirsty by the time I got back. Total 15.5 miles. I got muddy and had some grease under my chin- not sure how that got there. My 5 year old said, what's that mommy, that black stuff. Did you fall? I said yes. He said how come you always fall on that bike?
vickie