Mountain Biking

An easy?? day of mountain biking today to get some active rest. I stayed away from most of the major hills, although a few did sneak up on me. I followed another route that I took last week, but with a few modifications. Basically I stayed off the trails that were only marked for runners. Question: How can a trail be marked for both hikers and horses, but not for mountain bikers? You think that a 6 ft, 2000 lb horse would have a harder time negotiating its way over technical terrain than someone on a mountain bike. Especially since the horse is carrying someone along the way.

I got this bike from John W. about 2 years ago and have take decent care of it since. I took it to the shop a few times for a tune-up and things have been working pretty well on it, but I defintely think I need to clean it more often. It's so easy after you get home to just throw it in the shed and head inside, especially since mountain bikes are so much harder to clean than road bikes. I mean there is dirt and grime EVERYWHERE. I wish I could just fill my neighbor's pool with soap and soak it in there for a few hours.

It was a pretty good ride. I took a few miles at the beginning and end on Forbidden Drive just to get my legs spinning at a decent cadence. Probably close to 9 miles overall in 70 minutes.

Mountain Biking

Nothing noteworthy happening over the weekend, but I did get in a good moutain bike ride on Friday afternoon. I had a funeral to go to on Monday, and seeing as I had already taken the full day off, I headed out into the Wissahickon on sunny, 70F day. Since I've been living in Conshohocken, I've been sticking mainly to the NorthWestern side of the park. Unless I'm out for a longer trail run, I don't tend to venture out past Valley Green Inn too often. It's just easier to park on NorthWestern and there are some pretty good loops that start and end from there. Some of the trails are pretty technical on this side, and there are some pretty steep and rocky hills that can bring a beginner like myself to tears. Sometimes I find myself spending more time walking my bike than actually riding it. So I figured I'd see if there was any easier terrain on the other side.

Trails were defintely better for mountain bikers, if you happen to be looking for a smooth ride with some challenging, albeit doable hills that can be easily mastered in a few tries. I was pushing through a couple of creeks

and sailing some some good hills before I got sidetracked onto an unmarked trail that was clearly not intended for bikers. Rather than turn back, which is something I should defintely start doing more, I pushed forward knowing that the turn off would be just up ahead. All in all, it was a great ride. If I could get over the mental hump of packing up the bike and making the drive over to the park, I think I would definitely start doing this much more often. Maybe I'll just have to start bring the bike to work, so I won't have to go home beforehand.

It lasted about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Distance unknown, but I would say roughly 10 miles.

Mountain Biking

Took out the mountain bike for the first time in a while on an awesome Saturday. Didn't feel much like driving to the park so I just rode up there. It's kind of a pain having to ride almost 5 miles there. The ride to the park is almost entirely uphill as well.

I logged about 15 miles in 1:50 on this route. GPS on my phone died just as I was making my way out of the park, but it did include the return ride home.

I was defintely feeling some strain in my lower back, and forgot how much translational power it takes to move up some of those hills. Between forcing the pedals down and pulling on the handlebars for added stability, my core takes the brunt of the load. Defintely a fun ride. I need to work on some technical skills so I can start meeting up with other people.