Sat, 28 Jan 2006

We finally went back to the Ft Pierce trail today.
Rob and I had gone up there about two years ago. It was a nice trail, and we were having fun, until Rob broke his chain. I had a chain tool, but no rivets, so we had to go home after riding only half the trail. Then the four-wheeler guys started tearing up the trails, then the land was sold and the new owners chased everyone off, then the hurricanes came through and destroyed everything. So we were excited when we heard the trail was open again, and in a (mostly) legal fashion. Me and Rob and John went up this morning.

We got all inflated and helmeted and gloved and adjusted and hydrated and everything else you do before a ride.

The trail was very nice. Lots of wooden structures, lots of carpet, some twisty trails, roots, and a bit of sand. John took my camera and got a shot of me with Rob. Then he shot one of me crossing a log bridge. I look a little tentative, but I was moving pretty fast there. I returned the favor and tried to take an action shot of John.

We all went down at least once. The trail was new and surprising, unlike the other local trails that we have memorized. We regrouped at the truck. A pretty good-sized group had gathered in the parking area.

We went back out for a couple more laps. We all crashed at least two more times. John and Rob lost blood, but I just did some faceplants in the dirt. We drank some water, cleaned up a bit, loaded up the truck, and rolled on out.

We had decided to stop at Halpatiokee part on the way home, as we'd heard the trails had improved there. Rob and I rode there late last year during a bike hash. The hash had obviously been active there, as we saw a check and some marks, all done in fresh flour. The trails really weren't different from what we had seen before. We did a mile or so of singletrack, then a couple miles of grassy doubletrack. The last time Rob and I had been there it had been muddy doubletrack, so it was a nice change.

All in all it was a great morning. We rode a new trail, and got reaquainted with an old one. We did three laps of a little over three miles each at Ft Pierce, and just over five miles at Halpatiokee, for a total of 15 miles for the day.

posted at: 19:28 | permalink |