What a ride!

Wow, today I was able to get out onto the Sugar Bottom trails. Incredible. No wonder so many people like this mountain biking thing. It is way more fun them straining away on a piece of pavement going up and down hills with nothing to do but pedal. Wow. Riding this trail was the most fun I've ever had doing any athletic event. I'm serious. The whole time I was riding I was smiling, and concentrating, and pedaling hard and killing myself, and thinking about what to do next on that section, and how to brake the right way, and loving it.

Based on my rough calculation of the mileage I only rode about 5-6 miles. (I think I must have an old map because some of the areas I went through don't seem to be shown) But it took me about 90 minutes, and it was great. There are tons of uphill parts, which obviously affects my speed, but I certainly wasn't the fastest person out there.

I wiped out twice when the hill went up too quickly and I couldn't keep my speed up. I took 3 breaks while killing myself (I accidentally took the most difficult part of the trail out of the block which is not good for my first time ever), and it was great. The down hill speeds flying through trees and over rocks and bumps were great. The switch backs were fantastic. And I even loved the uphills parts (even if I had to walk a few times). It's great. No wonder it was voted one of the 50 best trails America.

It's a great workout too. Not only are my legs fried, but my arms are killing me from all the work they had to do, plus my shoulders and back. Great workout in a little time. Sounds good to me. I'm sure I was maxing out my heart rate most of the time so I was definitely feeling the burn.

We are already working on plans for how I can get down there to ride these trails at least twice a week. Man, mountain biking is where it's at.

FGLB