First time riding in the dirt for 40 days!!!
When there was no one around , I got off the bike and danced to celebrate!! Woohoo!! It felt good!!And then, it was hard as heck. Man, struggled for 18 miles.
Of course I chose Alafia, and the first trail I hit was North Creek. I've been waiting for rain and it finally arrived to make the trails nice and sweet for me to ride on! Where did that big root come from? Man, the trails must have been atrocious before the rain and trail maintenance. I liked the work done. My first time through, there was a family going down as I rode up to the crest. I dunno about that root. For meeee, 6 one, half dozen the other! The root will slow people down, however there will be brake damage to the trail before the root and trail damage after the root from people jumping it, and others trying to regain control once they land on the other side. If the root was not there, speed would increase only to have riders brake hard going into the nice sweeping turn. It is what it is. No matter what, there will be Trail consequences. Maybe make the first half of the drop, all the way to the root, with more technical obstacles, nothing too hard, but a section that would make riders articulate the trail , get past the root and then roll, picking up some speed before going into the corner. Thats the thing with trail building, too many cooks in the kitchen! A million ways to do it! People are going to ride it no matter what. My second time through, I hit it faster. The root is not smoothest but its there and part of the trail. Hard not to imagine if it was smoother and an easy jump. My third time through and it was more second nature. The rest of the trail was nice. There was a face slapper that I removed before you hit the first banked sweeping turn after the pump section. For meeee, it was good, almost perfect!! A little loose sand on the edges. Nice to be riding again.
