Mountain Biking

I’m still recovering from the injury so the past couple days have been workouts of a different sort. I went to the trails and scretched through them on my bike. I forgot how much I enjoy going out there and riding. I am going to check out a few other trails on the bike for fun.

Today I went to the track and ran some speed drills. I repeated 800s until I was nearly dizzy. It’s good to feel workout pain because then I can reward myself with Mexican food.

Today wasn’t feeling like a running day for me but I wanted to get a good workout in. Since it has been several weeks without mountain biking, I decided that would be a good alternative.

I am happy to say that I didn’t take one fall today. I did, unfortunately, have to hop off the bike a couple times when the going got tough, and slow…

It sounds like the thunder and rain is starting to come so I finished in good time.

May is designated, among other things, as National Bike Awareness Month in the US. This week has been the bike to work week with Friday being designated as a bike to work day.

I try to bike to work every day that I am not meeting a client or appearing in court. I think that the benefits are great: lower amounts of miles on my car, less fuel, exercise, being able to see my community at a slower pace, and stress relief. The negatives are only few: not being able to get to work immediately, being sweaty, drivers who don’t want to share the road, coworkers thinking it’s odd, and not being able to run out and buy a lunch.

How do I deal with the negatives? Well, I bring a messenger bag with me that has my change of clothes. I also put a couple of moisture wipes in it to take off the sweat. In my office, I have an underarm deodorant bar so that I can freshen up. I ride in on back road routes so that I won’t have to deal with as many cars, and I can explore new areas that way. I bring my lunch which also saves money.

I really enjoy it and hope that a few people try it. I didn’t think it would be as easy as it actually is.  As for the distance — this guy I knew in Dallas rides 42 miles a day, three times a week. Give it a try this week!

I got home from work and didn’t want to go out to exercise. Monday is one of the days I won’t run, but I do try to cross train. I decided to grab my mountain bike and go on a long ride. I ended up riding for a little over an hour and feel better for it.

I love it when I’m going downhill at a breakneck speed with nothing but roots to swerve around. It’s always a good idea to do some form of cross training and I’m more than pleased to get on my mountain bike once or twice a week. When I ride the trails, I think that I learn a lot more about the trails than I can from running by itself. I use this knowledge to make the trail runs a little smoother.

In an effort to rest for the race, I decided that it would be a good idea to ride the trail I normally run. Today was a really nice day for mountain biking. I went out to the trail and found one of my running buddies. He was just getting in from the run and let me know there was one other biker out there.

Off I went to see if I could find the other biker. It’s weird to experience the trail from a different vantage point. There were sections of the trail that were much quicker on the bike, but I found areas that were far easier on foot.

I’m excited about the run on Saturday. I’m going to camp out at Tyler State Park tomorrow night. Then I’ll be ready for the run on Saturday morning.

I went out today with my friend for about 5 hours of mountain bike riding. We went about 9 miles but were slowed down with a flat tire (thanks for leaving broken bottles on the trails…).

We rode the Northshore trail at Lake Grapevine. This trail is a long out and back that accomodates hikers, bikers, and runners. I was able to see many of all three types. It was fun to see some of the runners out there and made me wish I could have run a little too.

More pictures of the trail are available if you click on the picture.

I’m still such a newbie at mountain biking that it’s usually a trainwreck when I ride. Today I went to a fairly technical trail in Dallas — Boulder Park — and hit the turf a few times.

My first fall was early on in the ride. When I arrived at the park, I noticed that the trail head had a sign saying that it was closed and their was no trespassing allowed. This didn’t surprise me because the DORBA website stated there were some issues but you could still ride it. I went off to another entrance and started my ride but I didn’t see anyone else there. Out on the trail, I heard a noise and decided to look, yes, while riding, for the other person. When I looked back in front of me, I was driving into tree. This threw me from my bike onto the trail.

The second fall happened while I was going downhill. I think that I hit my brakes which planted my front wheel. Of course, I ended up going over the top of the handlebars as my bike flipped over! Ouch!

The worst fall was the third one and it happened going up hill. There is a more difficult section of the trail where you go down a short embankment and then ascent through rocks. As soon as I ascended, I ended up planting my front wheel and flying off the bike into rocks. I bruised my hip, hurt my hand (a little), and cut up my leg. Oh, and I also dislodged my handlebars from their alignment with the wheel.

All in all an awesome ride!