Over the river and through the woods...

The day before Christmas Eve I returned to the MTB with a ride out at OMSP. It wasn't as nice as the day before, weather-wise, but it wasn't bad. Just overcast.

Jon joined the Beast and I once again, and we left the South trailhead, riding the trail clockwise. I love the first section of this trail, lots of twists and turns with short climbs and descents...it's a nice fast section of singletrack.

As the day before, I struggled to keep up with the clearly stronger riders (Jon and Jeff) on the climbs, especially the climb up to Peavine Falls road from the North Trailhead, but I learned long ago that when I'm riding with the Beast, I simply let him ride off the front if that's what he wants to do...if I try to match him, I'm going to kill myself sooner. So I let him go, set my own rythm and work my way along, getting a good workout that leaves me enough to survive later.

Jon impressed me by cleaning through Blood Rock, though never having seen it before. I opted to walk through rather than risk a fall, since I was effectively riding with one hand. On the plus side, I killed the downhill section before and after Blood Rock and really had a great time.

Halfway through the final section, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, there were signs pointing to a new trail, and it appeared (to me) that the old MTWR was closed for some reason. Turns out it wasn't closed, but I was going too fast to read the sign, so I made the turn onto the new trail. Soon we found ourselves in a mud bog that was both long and deep. Then a creek without a bridge. It appears we had found the new trail that is being cut around the northwest side of the lake that will eventually cross the dam and link with the South Trailhead. It wasn't too long, and we ended up back at the parking area after fooling around in the weeds for a while.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that there have been changing stalls, and a bike wash station built near the parking area. We really liked having the chance to wash the mud off the bikes before heading home. A very nice touch.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy doing the loop out there. I've got to get on the MTB more often. Last year I had ridden at Oak Mountain most Saturdays since early September, but this was my first time out this year. It's a good workout, and I need more of that.

And it was a pleasure to have Jon along, as he experienced southern mountain biking for the first time. I think he had as much fun as we did. I hope we get the chance to do this ride again when I'm more fit to keep up.