Dorked Out

I've broken an elbow and kneecap in the last 5 years and I don't want to break anything ever again.  I don't want to hurt anything either.  So obviously I shouldn't be mountain biking but I can't help myself.  So I finally bought some fancy elbow pads and kneepads.  I am the only one who wears them!  I feel like a dork!   But...I want to keep riding.  Here I am, dorked out and ready to ride at my two favorite (local) places:   Camrock,

and John Muir:

Badger Trail

Here's Marilyn on the Badger Trail, which we rode for the first time a few weeks ago.  This hooks up to the Capital City trail, or you can catch it at MarketPlace just off Seminole highway.  The trail is asphalt for about 5 miles and then turns into gravel.  The gravel was pretty coarse and Marilyn didn't like it so we just stayed on the asphalt.  It was a beautiful day.  This trail is great, much needed because riding on Seminole highway and roads south is not fun to me.  There is no shoulder and lots of traffic.

Levis/Trow Mound Recreation Area

This is a great mountain biking area, but it's a 2.5 hour drive from home, so I think I'd just go here once a year.  Here's a description of the area:  http://www.co.clark.wi.us/ClarkCounty/Departments/forestryparks/LevisMound/Bike.asp

with a link to the map.

I took snodgrass, lower glen, yellow jacket, out to trow mound, then the sidewinder and upper hermosa which were the most fun and technical.  Followed lower hermosa back, got on to lower glen, intended to take upper glen to do part of levis mound but missed the turn and ended up back on snodgrass to return.  Next time I think I'll start out the same, but come back on dead turkey after lower hermosa, and get on some of the technical trails on levis mound.

This is supposed to be some of the finest mountain biking in the midwest.  I thought it was great but not a heck of a lot better than my favorites close to home:  camrock, and john muir.

camrock and john muir

I've been riding my favorite trails every weekend:  That is camrock area #3 and the John Muir trails at Kettle Moraine.  Last weekend I took the 12-mile blue route at John Muir, which is the hardest one.  What fun.  I even passed two gals.  I was catching up to them on the technical downhill and then passed them on a long steep climb.   This shows my three strengths in mountain biking.  I'm better than average technically compared to other women, and I have endurance and can handle the heat, thanks to my healthy diet.   Of course, I have many weaknesses, the main one being that I have much less strength than EVERYONE ELSE and I always get beat on the easy level and easy uphill stuff.

Today I experienced more challenges at camrock.  I tried to go over a steeper set of logs than I had done before.  It was a good time to try it but I did just what the mountain bike book said you will do if you do it wrong:  I didn't counter the back wheel bouncing up which caused it to flip over.  I didn't flip all the way over and handled the fall pretty well but I landed on my left arm and leg, like I usually do because I'm left-handed.  The problem with that is that I broke my left elbow in January and I'm trying to be cautious and avoid hurting it anymore.  um, you might say I shouldn't be mountain biking but I'll ignore that comment.  I just ordered some elbow pads and kneepads.   I also fell at a spot that I've fallen at twice already.  This is just dumb maneuvering.  I'm doing something that's natural on a roadbike and all wrong on a mountain bike, which is taking turns on the inside.  If anything, you need to take turns on the outside so the rear wheel will follow in the tracks better.  At this particular spot I am in a rut, my front wheel catches in the left bank and I fly off, fortunately in a cozy soft bed of tall grass.  It's almost fun, but irritating because it's dumb.  So next time I ride I will concentrate on going over logs properly--today I concentrated on the first step, but next time I'll concentrate on the more important last step--and following the "line" of the trail better.

I'm still commuting on weekdays, typically 14 miles with a stop at the grocery store.  My partner and I share 3 good things about our day as a nightly ritual and my bike ride often makes the list.  We aren't strict about it sometimes going on to 5 or 6 things which usually guarantees that the bike ride makes the list.  Last week I discovered mulberries along the bike path.  All these years I've ridden that path and never realized what a treasure they were.  Now I know.

Capital City trail and "Ride the Drive"

Today was a very fun road bike ride.  I did my favorite ride--halfway around Lake Monona, then hook up to the Capital City Trail and take that until it meets up with the Southwest bike path back into town---a fun downhill ride for about 5 miles, then my usual bike path home to the east side.  The ride is mostly on bike paths both in the countryside and city.  I really enjoy it.  That ride is usually is about 25 miles, but I did a 3-mile detour today because it was "Ride the Drive"!   John Nolen Dr and East Wash were closed to cars and full of bikes instead.  It was so fun!  I wish rush hour looked like this every day!

Here were some beautiful trees on the Capital City trail.  Were they dogwoods in bloom?  I don't know.

 Here's John Nolan drive,

 and East Wash.

It was a perfect day, about 80 degrees, sunny, low wind and humidity.

Blue Mounds State Park trails

I think this was the hardest trail I've ever ridden on.  It was close to being no fun, but in the end I felt I want to go back and do better, so it must have been a little fun.  Also, I should have paid more attention to the names of the trails.  Next time I'll start with the "Gneiss & Smooth Trail" instead of the "Overlode Trail".  The rest all sound pretty ominous, "Chert Dip", and "Holy Shist Trail", but maybe the "Basalt and Pepper Trail" will be friendly enough.  The trails are rocky and branchy and have the steepest ups and downs of anywhere I've been.  Yikes.  So I think in the local area I prefer Camrock and John Muir.  But I will be attracted back here by the challenge to handle the rocks and steep parts better.

Note for future reference:  The trail I rode when downhill and then climbed back up at the end.  I suspect that's true of all of them.  Also the map on the state parks website is out of date, but the map you get at the entrance gate looks complete as far as I know.

Kettle Moraine -- John Muir Trails

Here is the link to these fantastic wonderful trails.  Wow.  and only about 45 miles from my house!  Why are they fantastic?   2 reasons:  1)  they are built for mountain biking so it's all singletrack with tons of curves and berms and obstacles and  fun stuff for biking, and 2) it is absolutely beautiful Wisconsin scenery:  woods, valleys, lakes, prairies, it's all there.  just lovely.  I rode the 9 mile green loop.  That's intermediate.  I could ride these every week and probably not get tired of it.

How do these compare to all the trails I did on my southwest trip?    Sorry but that's like asking which of your kids you love more.  As fabulous as these trails are, it was also very fun to ride in Palo Duro, Oklahoma City, and Albuqueque. And also Castlewood outside of St. Louis.  and Flagstaff, AZ.

Camrock area #3

After returning from my trip out west I decided to compare the home turf.   Here's my report on camrock.  It is located about 20 miles from my house.  I think it was built by the Capital Off Road Pathfinders.  They are awesome.  I joined and will try to start going to their work days because they do great stuff!  Here is their terse description of this trail.   I rode most of it except for the "most difficult" section.  I am still avoiding those as my left arm is not full strength yet after breaking my elbow this winter.  Actually the main reason is that I reallly really don't want to get hurt again and spend 2 months healing; so I'm being extra cautious.  And the "more difficult" routes are plenty fun and challenging.

This trail is really fun.  There is a fair amount of easy stuff, but plenty of challenging stuff too.  But what I like about it most is that it was built for mountain biking by mountain bikers.  It's hard to rank all the trails I rode on my trip out west.  This one is right up there because of the care in making these trails.  They are just fun.  Most of the trails I rode out west were just trails that they allow bikes on.  They are really fun to go down on but don't have all the fun curves and wiggles and single-track and berms that we have right here in cam-rock.  So this trail is right up there in fun!  and it's only a 30 minute drive from my house.

Biking update

I have 2 new biking obsessions this spring/summer: road biking and mountain biking. I still commute by bike too, just haven't been blogging--don't have time anymore for the daily updates. I joined a couple of mountain biking clubs (one for everyone, the other for women). Well, the women's group is serious! They do a Tuesday eve road ride to train for strength and endurance I guess, and a Thursday eve. mountain bike ride, and they race all summer long. I don't think I'll race this year because I've got so many trips and other things planned, and it seems I've got plenty to keep myself busy building strength and learning technique.

On the Tuesday eve road rides, I can barely keep up with everyone else. This prompted me to try to improve my "road bike", which isn't a racer. Eight days ago, I went into the bike shop looking at getting skinnier tires, which led to a discussion of new wheels, or perhaps a new bike. Well, 2 hours later I walked out with a new bike!!!! We've had crappy weather since then but I still got in several 25 mile bike rides in horrible winds.

Today was finally a nice day and I spent it at a yoga workshop and then mountain biking at CamRock. That was my first time there. Here I am starting out with my shiny new shoes and jacket (bought more than a bike at the bike shop):

A short ways down the trail, it goes down a steep gully. It was not quite dried out from the rains this week so was a bit slippery. I later talked to a guy who did an end-over going down this gully. That's when you flip over the front of your bike--he fell flat on his back and somehow didn't hurt himself. Okay, I really didn't like hearing this story! I do not want to pursue a dangerous sport! I want to live a long healthy life with no injuries! So, that gives me pause. I will try this out and try to be careful but if I decide it's too dangerous I will have to quit. On the positive side, I had a lot of fun doing the trails. I fell once while trying to go over a log--my pedal got caught on it. The second time I had more speed and coasted over it with the pedals sideways, and that worked perfectly. There were lots of fun downhills and difficult but fun uphills, and gorgeous scenery (river, trees, fields, flowers everywhere).

The other places I've gone mountain biking so far are Quarry Ridge and Blackhawk ski area. These are both fun and have some good technical climbs and drops with rocks and branches to practice on. I look forward to trying out Blue Mound and Kettle moraine, and many other parts of the state.

Tomorrow I hope I have time for a road ride in the late afternoon (busy all morning and early afternoon), and I hope weather is okay. It's funny, I haven't done road biking in years, and all of a sudden I am totally excited by it. Funny how you can turn on a switch for something. I'm really quite lousy at it (slow!). But that's part of the fun--I'm hoping I'll improve at it.