On July 6th, I was itching for a Fortenberry Family fun day. I did some research and found a mountain bike trail over by our friend Abie's house. Jessie is what you would call an "inside pet." She really doesn't like hard core outdoor fun that involves strenuous exercising. So, we left her at home and loaded up our bikes and headed to Abie's house.
Once we got to Abie's house, we checked out the condition of every one's bikes and then road over to the trail head. The ride there was a nice leisurely ride. I remember thinking that I was going to hate it on the way home. Boy, was I right. We took the novice trail, since we are what you would call flatlanders. We stick to the paved bike trails of our neighborhood. These were trails maintained by DORBA (which is some sort of professional organization ). We were out of our league, but we had so much fun. There was this huge drop and then you have to ride out of it. Abie and I had a hard time navigating, but did pretty well. Unfortunately, Jonathan wiped out. Fred watched the three of us, and thought he had analyzed our techniques and knew what not to do. The next thing I know Fred rode down and straight into a thorn bush.
It was hot and miserable, because we didn't get started early enough. Isn't that the way it always goes? I was riding behind Jonathan. He would brake going downhill and then wouldn't have enough momentum to get himself up the next hill, so he would stop. I have bruises all over my legs. My legs kept knocking against my bike when I would have to stop to keep from hitting him or would actually hit him.
It was hard going, but we felt very good about ourselves that we managed to do something so hard. I was proud of us. I would like to go back, but I am not taking my son - that is for sure. He belongs on the paved bike paths for a little while longer.
After we finished, we were exhausted. My legs were jelly and Abie had a flat tire. And, we still had to ride back to Abie's house - uphill! I was so sad that we didn't just drive to the trail head. Next time, I want to be dropped of at the trail head.
No comments:
Post a Comment