Love Gettin' Dirty

It's that time of year....prime for getting off the roads & on the trails! The leaves will soon be changing and there's nothing better than making some road trips to take it all in. With that in mind, El Cap and I headed up to Freedom Park on Sunday to meet up with a few folks and practice our A,B,Cs (trail designation).

It was a little wet with some puddling in sections but for the most part the area drains pretty nicely. When you connect the trails together, there are about eleven miles of well maintained singletrack - thanks to EVMA. Nice options throughout so you can do as little or as much as you want. We decided to taper down (A/B/C, then A/B, then A). Neither we nor the trail were worse for wear afterward - though we did get a little dirty as you can tell from this pic. As is most often the case, the second loop proved to be better (this time it was due not just to typical progression but also because the trail was drying up and getting faster). Still a challenge with slick roots and a few squirrelly sections to keep us focused.

This was Cheetah's third trip up there (after many years of strictly road riding) but you'd never know it. She's been riding borrowed bikes and will hopefully be getting her own soon because she's definitely got what it takes - obvious cardio & handling skills but even more key to me...mental fortitude. I've always been thankful that I got into mtbing when I was younger & took more chances (read dumb). Now that we're older & seemingly wiser, it takes all of those elements above to get out there & give it a go because trail riding inherently holds potential for spills with all that you encounter but it's one hell of a ride!

Had a great time mixing it up & am looking forward to many more miles o' smiles...

See you in the woods!

Ali Cat