Life is an adventure and should be full of passion: Evening trail ride

29 March, 2013

Evening trail ride

Yesterday after work the weather was nice and the trails were dry and @KYMBALou gave the greenlight. But I had to pick up my bike from my LBS Clarksville Schwinn. My drivetrain made all kinds of racket during my race on Sunday. Had to replace the bottom bracket. It was trashed. I'm thinking that spin through the deep creek at Jake Mountain and my lack of bike maintenance are what caused it. Brian said there was water sitting in it. Note to self, if you ride in water or power wash your bike, take the saddle out and turn it upside down for a couple of hours to drain.

By the time I got home, ate a bite of food, changed clothes and aired my tires it was 10 after 6 when I started out. I put my headlight on the handlebars and headed to the park. It was a beautiful evening. I started to ride down Dog Hill and Tim O yells at me, "ma'am, you can't ride these trails". Always being funny he is. Tim's a great guy. At first I wondered if I had enough clothes on as riding on the road was brisk. But when I hit the Hogan's fountain climb I warmed up quite nicely thank you. I felt surprisingly well considering I hadn't been in the saddle since Sunday and this was Thursday. Spinning on the road for 2 miles to the park helps. There weren't as many people out as I had expected, a few walkers and a few runners and a couple of MTBers. As I rode No Net I was feeling really good so I headed to Wilderness at Seneca by way of the Golf Course. Riding around the golf course is always a challenge for me. The trail is rutted and lots of roots and some little punchy climbs. As I circled around the backside I saw 3 CS Schwinn racers. The trails were great. Wilderness only had the 2 usual spots that stay wet except in drought conditions. A lady MTBer was leaving as I was entering the trailhead. Later as I wound back around on the bucket loop there were 4 trail runners going in the opposite direction. Those were the only people I saw in Wilderness. Once I got to the top of the hill I wussed out and rode the switchbacks back down instead of taking the hill climb back over to Pee Wee Reese. I rode the road back to Cherokee and finished up the loop. As I took a few minutes in the gravel lot resting I checked the time, ate half a Lara bar and started again. I knew I would run out of daylight, but I didn't care. I rode the 5 mile Cherokee loop clockwise. Ran into Seth, Joe and Brian twice. The last time I was climbing Barret hill after No Net and heard them up top coming down. So I pulled over. Already had my headlight on at this point as the sun had settled behind the trees. They were flying down through there, no lights all three dressed in black. If they hadn't been so loud I'd not have seen them. As I make my way to Hogan's fountain the sky turns pitch dark. I thought about a conversation I had with coworkers. One saying she won't walk alone in the park, too risky. If I waited to only walk or ride with others I would never get out there. I try to be alert and aware, but I'm gonna do the things I like to do. The full moon didn't rise until 11 pm last night. Which made me sad as the sky was cloudless. My toes were cold and I started getting a little chilled. I couldn't see the walkers as I rode up Dog Hill on the road heading back towards home. I finished with 20 miles, it took me 2:40 but I just wanted to ride. Not concerned with speed after 3 days off.

Didn't ride today, hope to ride Saturday and Sunday and Monday. Have to take a day here and there though. Besides the hands weren't happy today.

Sounds like the weather will be outstanding tomorrow and then rain Sunday morning. Now to decide where to go and ride. Have plans to make some yummy soup in the morning early.