After the whistle blew, I cut out and tried to determine the closest place likely to be legal and have a decent amount of good trail. I settled on Green Lakes State Park. I heard the riding is decent but with only an hour of sunlight left and no map, I was sure to not get too much riding in. I did find a map at the office when I stumbled upon it so that helped keep me oriented. Again I learned xc skiing does only so much for keeping you in shape for xc riding. I eventually warmed up near the end of the ride and was able to keep a good pace up some decent climbs but I have a long way to go especially if I am going to do any early season racing. There was some ok trail once I got back into the park but it troubles me that I will have to pay $7 a day to ride there in the summer. It kind of reminded me of riding at Jacobsburg State Park in PA but with much less single track, not as good terrain, and no free year-round access. There were a lot of runners out on the trails, which appear to be really good for xc running.
The bike is making me do some early season head scratching. Maybe I am running to high a PSI in the tires or they are not suitable for the soil but corners are really dicey. I feel like even with moderate speed the bike is going to wash out from underneath me - not a confidence booster, for sure. I also need to dial in the rear derailleur shifting some. I think I might need to purchase a new hanger as the one on the bike seems slightly bent.
I forgot my camera but there were some money shots of views north and west, especially with the setting sun. Oh, and the deer are incredible brazen.
An Addendum: Might need to make a trip here as it sounds like a well-thought out design at a Blue Marsh Lake scale.
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