Bob got a new mountain bike and helmet and, being the gentleman he is, gave me his old bike and helmet. He found out about an easy system of trails to try with me and I was actually excited about going when I woke up this morning. When we pulled into the trailhead parking lot, it was called the “Skunk Lot”. That was my first clue this biking trip might stink. I hopped on the bike and circled the parking lot to try to get used to it. I tried to push the petals backwards to put the brakes on, but apparently bikes don’t do that unless they are made for a 5 year old. I forgot “grown-up” bikes have brakes near the handlebars.
We found a couple of guys with bulging calf muscles in the parking lot and figured they would be perfect to ask which trails to go on. Bob made sure to tell them I had never been mountain biking before. They gave us some guidance, wished us luck and said “Maybe we’ll see you out on the trail in a bit!”. HA! The only way we’d see them on the trail is if they passed us on their way back to the parking lot, while Bob and I were still chugging along… just leaving the parking lot.
We saw some deer and got pretty close to them. One in particular didn’t seem too scared and I thought he was getting ready to attack me so I told Bob to get pedaling, and fast. After escaping with my life, we passed a few horses along the way and several near-pro bikers that whizzed by.
Yet another scary moment was the first big down-hill part of the trail. It was steep and had lots of rocks. Bob greeted the challenge with a smile and enjoyed it. I slammed on my grown-up brakes and walked down the hill. I’m the world’s biggest klutz, so a hill + rocks= trip to the emergency room. I wasn’t going to take my chances. The bottom of the hill took us to a lake. And by lake, I mean a really big pond (nothing compares to a lake after growing up near the great lakes).
At this point I realized Bob left the trail map in the car and was just guessing where to go. We ended up at a dead-end because the trail ran into a swift-moving stream. I wasn’t up for swimming across it with my hand-me-down bike, so we backtracked a bit and Bob finally got us back to the Skunk Lot. Bob enjoyed the trails and I think I may have accidentally agreed to go again with him.
