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.

Mountain Biking Kansas City area

I visited my family last weekend and rode a pretty good mountain biking trail.  I would definitely do it again.  This was the Smithville Lake trail.  One reason to do it is that my sister and brother-in-law like to take their fishing boat there so I can ride while they fish, which is what we did.  Actually it was kind of humorous:  we went for a ride in the boat, then realized the mountain biking trails were in another place, so we put the bike in the boat and went to a dock close to the trails (sailboat cove).  Here's a link to the biking map:
http://www.northlandtrails.org/maps/smvmtb.htm
I rode most of it except for lakeside speedway which was closed because it was too wet.  One irritating thing that I suppose you could say was amusing in retrospect was that I was the first one on some of the trails in a 2 days probably because of the big rains they had (2 days previous), and I got "attacked" by spider webs.  oh my god, it was awful.  giant spider webs.  Obviously I ran into them but it felt like an attack.   Then this guy passed me and I said, "oh good, you get to eat the spider webs now!" and sure enough, my attacks ceased, for a little while anyway, then he must have veared onto another path.

We also drove to Stocksdale park in Liberty, which I would like to try next time.  It is not too far from my parents or my sister's house.  
Here is a link to the trails in the area:
http://earthriders.com/trails/trails.php?mo

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.