John and I woke up early on Saturday morning. We decided to meet at Fountainhead Regional Park for a mountain bike ride, and then head to the Potomac to do some afternoon paddling. Ian Curt decided to head to the river early and do some kayaking...
It was quite some time since I was last on my bike. I rode almost every day before moving to the Washington area, but for lack of company, local trail knowledge and the ever alluring lure of the river, have stayed off the bike.
My front fork has a busted seal, and as a result the shocks do will not hold any air. Therefore, I rode rigid the entire morning. Everything was fine for the first four miles or so, but the constant roots, hard braking because of leaf covered trails, and boulder fields began to wear on my wrists and my legs. The trails were great and offered a wide variety of difficulty and challenge. They flowed well, and there was a good mix of cross country terrain.
The fun started when we got to a small section of trials riding, a few teeter totters, and balance logs. I pulled a wheelie off of one of the teeter totters, launched into a back flip, and landed on my head, an elegant and graceful return to mountain biking. A few more near crashes, and four miles later we were finished and exhausted. We headed out to get some food and watch some kayak videos before hitting the river.
We got a bit of a late start on the river, so we decided to set shuttle and paddle the gorge. We were going to attain up and paddle O-deck, but we put in at Sandy Beach and had to break our way through a river of ice two inches thick before hitting the main channel. We were losing light and decided to paddle down. We were cold and tired from the trail, but as always enjoyed the float through the gorge.
No comments:
Post a Comment