Saturday, July 21, 2007

Mountain Biking Lake Fayetteville Trail

Today we biked the rugged mountain bike single track trail at Fayetteville Lake, a 6.5 mile loop through the woods, up and down hills, around trees, and over rocks and roots and ruts, with plenty of mud holes thrown in for good measure. It was wonderful!

Here Ellen "cross trains" as she walks the bike up one of the multitude of uphills, many of which came after downhills with tight 150 degree turns at the bottom and peppered with huge roots, causing you to lose all momentum and making it impossible to pedal all the way to the next summit. Kudos to Ellen, for this was her first mountain biking adventure, and though apprehensive and tentative at first, she finished with a smile on her face and joy in her heart at having had so much fun and having successfully completed the loop.


Here I finish the uphill slug after my rear axle slipped out of its bracket due to the torque and pressure I was applying to the pedals. I flipped the bike over onto its handlebars and seat in the classic on-trail repair mode, re-seated the axle, tightened the quick release hub, returned the chain to its sprockets, and continued the ride.



It was a wonderful 88 degree day in a magnificent forest and a great workout. You can't ask for more than that!

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