ndanger.organism

Or a supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again until I get better at mountain biking¹

Sometime back in July (or June, or May or maybe August) Jack, Jess, Casey and I went to Moraine State Park. After an hour of walking our bikes over rock we turned around and headed back to the car. Total distance: 2.5 miles.

“Well,” I says to myself, “that was ages ago! Surely I’m a better mountain biker now!” So I borrwed Erin’s car and drove, alone, into the heart of darkness².

Two guys in the parking lot gave me some tips. One had helped build some of the sections and had brought his friend from State College. He advised going into the woods right away instead of taking the power line cut. “But be careful,” he warned, “it starts with some rock gardens.”

Yup. It looks like this:

…but about a million times worse. I rode the rocks until I bounced off and had to walk until I could find a place I could remount. To be fair, after the rocks there were some really nice switch-backs. The trail split and I went down hill and ended up back on the same power-line crossing trail I had ridden before. Like before it was half awesome and half terrible: uphill rock gardens that sucked up all my momentum.

The next few miles were about the same and I rode/walked until I hit the lake. I was on a fire-road looking for the other half of the trail when the two guys from the start came out of the woods. I talked to them and found that I had taken a wrong turn and was riding the loop backwards. I went up the trail they came down. This was my favorite section: lots of rolling dirt.

Finally I ended up back on familiar trails. Trying to find where I went wrong the first time, I took a turn onto a new trail that turned out to be the most extreme uphill rock section of the entire trail. I guess you normally ride it downhill, but still… holy crap. Anyway, lesson learned: if you turn onto a trail that immediately crosses a long wooden bridge stop, turn around, and go back to the power-line cut.

I hiked the rocks and ended up back on the first wooded section. A brief ride & hike and I was free. Free!

I saw a few people I’d talked to on the trail in the parking lot–one of whom wrecked his ankle in the last half mile–and then the two guys from the start showed up. We chatted for a little, then I drove off. I decided to go north on Mt. Royal to figure out that route.

I got lost.

1. A reference, or belated homage.

2. A reference, or incredible stupidity.