On-on

Today was a blast! It is Saturday December 4, 2004 and I went to Johnson Branch State Park with some wonderful friends of mine.
Lefty and Mouthful were going to ride in the 6 hour endurance ride. I decided on Friday evening that this sounded like it would be a blast…since weather has been difficult to get onto the trails to ride.
Running/walking the trails is great for a Hash event (dang it Beaver Breath…I HATE Mesquite and briars STILL!)
Hash names are very weird at times, but a fun personality can handle them!


Anyway back to the story of my trial on trail :)

So Lefty (aka Mike) and Mouthful (aka Antje) and I (aka Slinky) left their house at 8:00 AM. I was up at 6:30 AM on this crisp, cold, bright Saturday morning to get to their house before 7:30 AM. Jeez…a SATURDAY and I am up and ready to go on trail!
There is a very focused Lefty packing sustaining food for the ride….Mouthful (bless her) had coffee ready when I walked through the door.
I love coffee….yes I do.
We got everything loaded…dogs ready…and off we go!
Johnson Branch takes about an hour to get to from Mike and Antje's home. It was a nice easy ride for me…but I couldn't sleep on the way there even if I had to!
Total Excitement! It has been about a month since I have been on the mountain bike. My bikes name is "Sera n Dippity" …actually I'm Dippity and the bike is Sera :)
Please note the picture of the bike at the end of this post… It fits.
LOL

I was riding with Antje just for the mountain bike training. Mike was riding for a time and practice… there was also a Guy named Shannon who was riding there too! (he hasn't got a bike hash name yet :)
So…Antje and I take off…gosh it was beautifully cold and the rustle of the leaves under the wheels is awesome.
The trail is very twisty technical at the beginning…or rather where WE started! Maybe it just got that way when Antje and I discovered somewhere around the half way mark that we were going backwards to the race!
Help me now!
So far…no falls…a couple of walks across wet crossings (to cold to get wet in my opinion) and I kissed a tree with my shoulder when Jenna Dog ran between my wheel and the frame while on a down stroke of my pedals!
I missed the dog…but not the tree :)
*sigh*
Yes, the tree is still living and standing in it's proper place.
After a while Antje and I are noticing a LOT of riders are going opposite of us…and everyone is telling us we are 'going the wrong way'. At this point…I start answering "well heck! SHE'S leading! I'm just the follow through."
After a while of this I was climbing another 'little hill' and supporting a well timed falling tree (Antje moved so I could get OUT from supporting the dead falling tree) and we ran into another couple of racers.
All going the wrong way from us :)
The loop is actually easier to ride backwards folks!
I do agree with Mouthful on this.

We get to another part that crosses a fire road (AFTER Antje has gotten a breathalyzer test from Mike when we crossed paths) and I am not familiar with this trail mind you. I'm thinking this is a cool trail to take!
So we hit the other section. I noted the fire road had a sign that CLEARLY states: EXIT <--
We go straight :) *sigh* to finish the trail.
This is where it got weird.
Antje is zipping along and I had to pull over for 3 racers that were going the 'wrong way for us'. I finally get to start pedaling again…and SOMEHOW got off trail.
Dang it.
I am hollering "ARE YOU?" and I can't hear a THING from Antje. Lots of leaves and dead fall can silence a forest pretty well.
No more falling trees on me though :)
So I keep going and it is a bit rough. I KNOW I am off trail now.
Shoot….where to go?
Uphill of course!
Came across the fire road and remembered: EXIT <--
So….I turned --> to go up hill…forever uphill.
There actually were a few really cool down hills that reminded me of Cleburne State Park. I had a REALLY bad spill there once and that scene did cross my mind.
I didn't fall though and relaxed well on the trail.
Then I start going up up up up up.

This was reminding me of a trail I rode in Arkansas once. It is located in Russelville, Arkansas and was designed by The Army Corp of Engineers. It is really close to the Dam on the Arkansas River. The name if the trail is Old Post Road Park Bike Trail and has great views from the top. I think the name of the expert loop was insightful..."the Black Bra". This is a very boulder filled loop and some of the downhills are off of 5 ft dropps. GREAT air time! The lower part of the trail (practice loop) is 2 1/2 miles that ride through beutiful Cedar trees with glimpses of the river.
You can see Dardnelle Rock acroos the river. There is actually a story of these two Small mountains written in song.
The title of that song is " Running Bear and Little White Dove ". Do you know the song?
It has a 2.5 mile uphill at a 4 degree pitch. I rode the whole thing then whitout 'touching down' my feet. The downhill was WELL worth it.
Get the picture yet guys?
I LOVE going down. MUCH easier and more thrilling!

I finally got to the top of this one long steep hill and was so happy to finally catch a glimse of the van through the trees. I could hear the dogs barking a welcome to me of "…come sit with us!" so I thought this was cool!
I was cold and very tired.
I did remember hearing The Taskmistress (aka Beth aka Whore Paint) in the background of my mind the WHOLE way!
Pedal Pedal Pedal!
It was slow pedaling but it WAS constant.
Goodness my legs were on burn mode and my back was in spasms for some odd reason.

I made it to the truck. Petted the dogs…took them on a walk and waited for my friends to return…which they did eventually.
Antje rode the long loop. I got credit for the long loop :) (yeah me!)
Mike rode 2 times on the course. The Guy named Shannon was going out for more after 2 1/2 loops.
You rock Shannon!

We left after nibbles and chatter… Antje got kisses from Mike…and the dogs.
Once in the Escape Pod (Mikes VW conversion van that is AWESOME) I noticed I was wasted out tired!
Almost went to sleep on the way home except Bailey Dog is nervous in riding in cars and is worse than any locked down 3 year old.

Ah….we are back at Lefty and Mouthful's wonderful home.
Mike is loading my bike in my truck and I am ready to go home for a nap.

Wouldn't you know it?
I can't sleep.
Jeez…I was thinking about how I felt on the trail. My power and my silence…when I wasn't wheezing for breath ;)…and how good it feels to be active.

I love riding on the trails…the trees, the smell, the feel… all are about my connection with my world.

I am happy…REALLY happy.
On-on…again

Circe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know
them for what they are."
~Marcus Aurelius~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~