Getting a little crazier

With the rise of confidence daring may follow, and it sure did today.

Spreading like a virus, the fun of mountain biking at Fountainhead was again had by myself and Moe, with Peter joining us for his first trip there.

The temperatures were hot, reaching 80 degrees on this sunny day. We were ready for it, with extra amounts of water being carried. And I was wearing a knee brace for my left knee, to help until it fully heals.

Moe and I took a much quicker pace than we ever had, with Peter following us as closely as he could. He stepped up to the challenge, especially with encountering everything for a first time. The heat took its toll on our group, with more water breaks having to be made and Peter sharing part of his lunch with the woods early on in the trip. Farther along the trip, my left knee started to act up a little bit, and Peter’s left hamstring started giving him some trouble. But we kept on.

Getting to the “playground”, we decided to try everything out and add a little of our own to the mix. Peter learned to do the teeter-totters with the rest of us, and we had some fun. I turned my attention to the 40 foot log that had been too difficult to cross with determination. The log was between 6 and 8 inches in width that you could bike on, with diagonal ramps leading up to and from it. I got a good amount of speed and tried it, kept my balance, nearly fell off near the end, but made it! I felt so accomplished that we made a video of my second crossing of it. Then Moe built his own jump using a few logs and pieces of wood and tried it with success. Then I tried it. I forgot to pull up on the front and nearly flipped forward, doing an unexpected balance on my front tire with my back side almost coming over the top of me for a quick second! That was a quick lesson on taking jumps.

We came across a casualty along the path, with a man having to walk his bike back to the start after having broken off the part connecting his left pedal to the rest of the bike. People are really tough on their bikes, including myself.

Also along the trail we came across an obviously Washington Capitals bird, whose chirping was reminiscent of the “Let’s Go Caps!” cheer. We may not be in the playoffs anymore, but it’s clear there are some hockey fans in nature!

Among other random things, the lesson of wearing gloves was learned first-hand by Moe, whose hands fared much, much better through the trip than did mine or Peter’s. The frequent bumpiness was quite hard on the hands and wrists, so I will be using gloves next time I venture out on a mountain bike trail.

Having infected another person to Fountainhead’s greatness, I think it’s time to try another mountain bike trail, at least to mix things up a bit. There’s plenty out there, and we’re ready for everything that can be thrown at us!

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.

Fountainhead: A Kick in the Pants

Feeling motivated this morning, I decided to head down to Fountainhead Regional Park (part of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority) to try out their famed mountain biking trail. This trail was made exclusively for mountain biking, and no hikers/equestrians/anyone else are allowed to use the trail. So that meant it had to be good, right?

Absolutely!

My expectations were more than surpassed when I started the trail itself. I found the very first part to be a sudden jump forward into a technical ride, made more difficult since everything was a little moist from the previous rain.

I found that the trail was very well made, with the path using every feature of the terrain surrounding it to provide a network of loops, giving the rider the option to turn back many times. I decided to do every loop that was thrown at me, and that proved to be quite a task! There were countless tree roots to run over, along with rocks and the occasional strategically placed bridge, though even the bridges had little parts to watch out for, like drops on the other end. Every now and then I’d come across a fallen log, etched out to give just enough clearance for those able to lift their bike tires up high enough. I found myself passing these particular obstacles with a 50% success rate. Partway through the trail, I came across a little “playground” of sorts, with a seesaw, a bike-jump bar, and even a log with the top flattened to see how long you could stay on it without falling off.

I, of course, being my beginner self, crashed a few times. The first crash was when I was going down a hill that seemed to slope diagonally to the right and I felt my back tire give out, then the rest of me gave out. Was quite a surprise, but as you can tell, I survived. The rest of the crashes mostly were me coming to a quick stop and having to jump off the bike almost. The only casualty I faced was the snapping of the wire for my bike speedometer, so I’ll have to replace that. My front fender, shaky on my first outing with it, stayed intact and didn’t fall off, even when I crashed.

I was the only person on the trail, and with the sky being overcast time seemingly stood still for me. The only sounds other than the splashing of my tires as I passed through a puddle or the metallic sounds of my bike going over multiple bumps were those of a few birds, including a woodpecker, and a squirrel that decided to run within 2 feet of my front tire (must be an adrenaline-junky).

All in all, once I had made it to the finish, I had gone about 7.78 miles of trail. My favorite part of the trail might be the fact that there were few parts to “rest” so the entire trip kept me on my toes, holding onto my handlebars ready to brake at any surprise.

I do not recommend this for someone who is just getting into the sport of mountain biking, but if you can get a few good rides in, definitely try this trail out. I can’t wait to return and see if I can get some revenge on this behemoth!