Weekend MTB Rides

[Anelia]

Great ride today! We did some wine tasting in a village near my home town. The weather was perfect! Pictures

[Artista]

Great pics, Anelia. Were some of them of your backyard? And what was up with the steep stairs? It looks like there was quite a discussion about them but I don't read a bit of Bulgarian. In fact, I don't even recognize some of the alphabet characters!

[Anelia]

Hi, Artistta,
This is the house of a friend of mine in a village near my home town. They offer wine tasting and also people can rent the whole house or sleep overnight as in a hotel. The wine is specific for the region because it contains many herbs but the most important is the wormwood. In fact, the wine is called wormwood (pelin in Bulgarian). The steep stairs lead to a rock monastery and the discussion was that there used to be old wooden stairs before they constructed the metal ones. I said that the wooden was in deed more romantic but it rotted and it became dangerous for the visitors of the rock phenomenom so the new metal stairs are safer.

[indysteel]

Thanks for the pics, Anelia!

I'm eager to get out for an MTB ride, but between some scheduling conflicts (we had an out of town wedding this past weekend) adn the weather, we haven't gotten out. Plus, we have a "big" vacation coming up (9 nights on the Big Island) and I'm afraid of jinxing myself. While I've never crashed on my MTB (knock on wood), I'd sure hate for my first one to be in advance of the trip. So, it looks like I won't hit the trails until sometime in May.

[Giulianna23]

Great experience. Best mountain bike weekend Ever!!.... Had a Blast!...so much fun!...learned a lot and made new friends !..what else could I asked for?.


My Coach and the group I was placed in, were Awesome!!...can't wait for 2014 clinic.

[Catrin]

It IS a great clinic, isn't it? I had heard your group was headed to ride a portion of Hesitation Point It was good to see you and being around all of those mountain bikes and women having fun on them made me REALLY want to get out there I had a good time volunteering and just hanging out. I should have taken my Gunnar to get in some road riding in the park - there are miles of roads with some he**acious hills but as I left home at 4:45 in the morning that was just too much stuff to grab. I had some nice hikes instead.

[Giulianna23]

It IS a great clinic, isn't it? I had heard your group was headed to ride a portion of Hesitation Point It was good to see you and being around all of those mountain bikes and women having fun on them made me REALLY want to get out there I had a good time volunteering and just hanging out. I should have taken my Gunnar to get in some road riding in the park - there are miles of roads with some he**acious hills but as I left home at 4:45 in the morning that was just too much stuff to grab. I had some nice hikes instead.

Yeah...those pics are at Hesitation Point. That trail has a lot rock gardens and roots and technical stuff. I didn't realize until I got home that it has a 1.65 mile CAT5 elevation climb and we did that!...Wow...no wonder why I had to stop a couple of times to rest my legs for a minute. I really enjoyed it to the fullest though!...My mapmyride app named me QOM ...too darn funny!...lol.

I am definitely going back next year and will be camping for sure. It was nice seeing you as well. I was kind of nervous at first because it was my first time ever in this type of events and knowing that I knew at least one person that knew everything about the clinic made me feel better. Thanks for volunteering. Maybe next year, take your Gunnar and I will also take my road bike and we can hit the paved roads...those hills look very tempting and atractive to me.

[Catrin]

I was told your group was going to the rock garden and back, not the entire trail. They may have changed their mind Aynes Loop has the steepest climb in the park, currently. My heart rate broke 150 WALKING that portion of Aynes - and I wasn't even pushing a bike!

This weekend I would have avoided the two hills from the north gate - I've not ridden enough this year to tackle larger and smaller witch hills (they have other names). There IS a good amount of road to ride between the campground and west entrance - that is likely what I would have done. That steeper/longer one coming from the North Gate my last CAR didn't like to climb