Fun, fun, fun.
Finally gave it a try. I've been told numerous times in the past to
avoid the trails because the landowners were cracking down on
riders, due to the stunt builders. Lately I've heard that the pressure is
off, since the stunts have been torn down. The place is riddled with
"No Trespassing" signs, but even some local joggers said that they
are up just for liability security. Otherwise, go for it.
My BSG gave me directions on how to get to the top. I know where
to park at the bottom, but then you'd have to ride the rail next to the
railroad track up the gulch until you hit the singletrack. And what kind
of nut case wants to do long uphills? ;-)
Where to park was the best info I had. No map, no info on the
length of the ride (as if that's possible), and no idea of where to go.
Wow, that was a great ride. And it's close to where I live. To top it
all off, not only was this my first ride here, and on my new bike, I
had no clue about the trails, and I was also going solo. :-)
I suited up and started to pedal. Ended up back where I was
parked after a 1.5 mile loop. But what a loop! A short and easy up
followed by a relentlessly technical return. Tight, twisting turns with
constant roots and logs. That was just my warm up, considering I'm
still not in shape.
So I rode off in another direction. Ugh. There were trails going
every which way! Took one route, but it seemed to be heading
down the gulch. I back tracked and tried another trail. Ended up in
someone's back yard. Took another trail and it quickly turned into
a sweet downhill run. That dropped me onto the railroad track
heading up the gulch. Switched on the ETA and headed up for abit.
Really liking that feature. I started to see trails on the other side of
the track, so I picked one and rode it. I climbed up for aways and
then was nearly flattened when a jet flew right above me. Did I
mention that most of this area is owned by Boeing? I sorta forgot
about the proximity to Paine field.
One of the nice things about this place is even though I got myself
lost, the area isn't so big that it would be an issue. Just rode around
until I found my van. Although I didn't crash at all, I still lost a fair
amount of blood, partly due to all the overhanging sticker bushes
on the other side of those blind turns. My new ride also is set up to
zip-tie hydraulic housing onto the frame with those special mounts.
And I learned the painful way that there is a wrong way to attach
the zip-tie. Those things definitely rank low on my comfortable flesh
cutting material. Bumped the side of my left knee hard against it on
one of the downhill dances.
Forgot to bring my camera, so no pics obviously. But if you wanted
some, don't worry, because I'm *definitely* going back! :-)
--
If I crashed into a tree and nobody was around
to hear me scream, did I really make a sound?
Cameron