Fountainhead: Round Two

Wow, what a difference some experience on a trail makes!

Having had so much fun the first time around and having spread the word about how awesome Fountainhead’s mountain bike trail was, I returned to the trail with friend Moe.

The weather was a bit warmer, with the sun having decided to come out and the temperature in the low 70s.

So, we got our bikes and equipment all set and headed to the trailhead, when we noticed Moe had forgotten his helmet. Helmets being required, and the trail being difficult, we set out to get another helmet…

…(series of events unrelated to mountain biking)…

…a few hours later, we were back at the trailhead, Moe sporting his new helmet. And we were off.

I noticed right off the bat that things were easier. My experience of having been there along with the trail being dry (as opposed to the moist first trip of mine) made getting around a lot quicker. I also quickly noticed that my bike ride of 48 miles not too long before had affected my left knee more than I originally thought, and it acted up. Going uphill became much harder since my left knee was still recovering from a strain, so there was a lot of walking up the hills.

It was Moe’s first experience on the trail, and he loved every minute of it. When we got to an area (I call it the “playground”) with teeter-totters and a 40 foot log you had to try and bike across without falling off, we decided to try going on them. Moe started us off by making it through both teeter-totters eventually. I was too scared my first time to try going on them, but after a few practice runs of almost falling off, I made it over both teeter-totters eventually. Basically you had to bike up one side, get past the midpoint, then keep your balance as gravity took over and set you to the ground so you could ride forward and off. The first teeter-totter was 1.5 feet wide, and the second was 1 foot wide with a steeper angle. The log was a different story, with neither of us being able to make it more than a few feet before bailing. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time playing here.

Back onto the trail, we ran into a couple of other bikers on the trail, all much more experienced than we were. Haha, we had to stop many times while watching them pass through the most difficult parts without a sweat!

With Moe having gone fast through a certain part, I stopped to take a leaf out of my back tire. Suddenly I heard rustling in the leaves a few feet from me and looked up to see a black snake move at a speed of 10 mph away from me along the trail! I shouted out to Moe to get his camera, and he started inching closer to it to get a picture. As he got closer, the snake started shaking its tail just like a rattlesnake, showing it’s discontent. I’m thinking the entire time of all the times I’ve watched shows like “When Animals Attack” as Moe inches closer for a better picture, when the snake decides to move away from both of us at its same quick pace! We found out after our trip that the snake was a black rat snake, a non-poisonous snake that mimics a rattlesnake with its tail for self-defense.

Still paranoid about seeing the snake, every time we ran over a stick that rustled some leaves we thought of it. It still didn’t stop us from having a good time, though. Getting near the end, we pedaled non-stop through the finish and were proud of ourselves. Fountainhead was still a challenge, but I’m much more confident about it.