Last week, Sarah and I decided to hike the North Tower Loop, one of the mountain bike trails I ride regularly at Brown County State Park. I had never hiked it before, and she had never seen it at all.

It was a bit odd hiking a trail with which I’m quite familiar from bike rides. It was a completely different perspective, and most of the parts that are tricky on a bike are quite easy on foot. The slower pace allowed me to enjoy the scenery more and take some photos with my good camera, which I never take on bike rides.

We ran into my mountain biking buddy Dave, who was out riding. We talked for a few minutes before he took off. He was riding the trail in both directions, so we expected to see him again.

We saw Dave sooner than we expected. It turns out that the trail meanders so much that there’s a spot where two disparate parts of the trail come within about 30 feet of each other — we just never noticed before because unless someone’s riding on the other part at the same time, you can’t see the trail through the brush. You learn something new every day!

It was a really fun hike. I’ve seen this trail in all seasons and conditions, but always from my bike. It was cool to get a different perspective; we’ll have to go back and hike some of the other mountain bike trails sometime.

I haven’t done much mountain biking this year. More and more, I’ve been appreciating the fact that when I ride on the road, I can leave from my front door, rather than driving 30 minutes each way or more to a good mountain biking trail.
But last night, Dave and I rode at Brown County, and I was reminded of how much I love mountain biking.  Tight, twisty trails, holding on for dear life during the descents, harder climbs, lack of traffic, and more remote locations are all unique to mountain biking. And I love all of it. The mountain biking experience simply can’t be replicated on the road.

I rode well. We rode the North Tower Loop in good time and headed toward the Aynes Loop, which Dave rode last weekend for the first time since his wreck. Dave felt up for tackling it again, and I was hoping to ride it. The climb felt longer than I remembered, (and I remembered it being long). But it’s 10 solid minutes of climbing, and I can’t think of a road climb that compares. I can think of steeper road climbs (North Shore Drive, Boltinghouse etc) but nothing that requires the same level of sustained effort. And certainly nothing that throws a bunch of big rocks in your way just as you are almost at the top.

I made it over those rocks without too much trouble, but when we started down the other side, I picked the wrong line and choked by the even bigger rocks on that side. I’ve ridden over/around them enough times to know there are a few ways that work, but the way I was headed was not one of those ways. I  stopped and walked over those rocks. I did much better after that.

The trails were in superb condition. Some areas Dave said were mud holes last weekend are now just slightly soft, and overall the trail surface was just wet enough to be tacky. Traction was great.

The climbing on the Aynes Loop always pays off during the descent, and this ride was no exception. We flew around countless switchbacks. Over logs and rocks. Up a few more climbs. And finally made the final, rocky descent back down to the other trail. After another long climb, we really let loose on our way down to the parking lot.

Our ride was only a 9-10 miles, but it felt much longer (in a good way). I hope to get some longer mountain bike rides in soon; I’ve been missing it more than I realized.

… before I say what I hit, try and guess.

Ready?

I went mountain biking at Brown County State Park with Dave and Casey, one of his boys. I hadn’t met Casey before, so that was cool. He was fun to ride with. At one point a turkey was running on the trail ahead of us. We quickly caught up to him and he ran off to the side of the trail. That was pretty amusing.

Later, during a blistering downhill run back to my car, I came around a turn to see a raccoon right in the middle of the trail. I got ready to bunny hop (err, raccoon hop) over it if necessary, but after freezing for half a second, the raccoon ran out of the way and climbed straight up a tree.

If you guessed “raccoon,” you win. If you guessed something else, what was it?

April was not a good month for cycling for me. Despite the fact that spring weather finally arrived, I spent about two weeks off the bike. I had two of my wisdom teeth extracted, and had some really bad allergy problems. Shockingly, looking back on my riding, I only rode my road bike once in April.

The flipside of this has been increased productivity in other areas. I had more time for some geeky projects (and even made a little extra money), photography, hiking, and music. I am looking forward to getting more time in the saddle again, but I may need to find a better balance between riding and … well, everything else.

All told, I rode 135.10 miles in April. That’s least I’ve ridden in a full month since I started tracking my miles. That’s breaks down to 47.30 road miles,  54.30 commuting miles, and 33.00 mountain biking miles. Oh, and one half-mile errand.

I was finally able to get outside and do some riding and some more hiking this weekend. My doctor gave me some Allegra D and it helps enough with my allergies that I can get outside and be active. I still get a little stuffy or sniffly and have a little trouble breathing at times, but it’s a vast improvement.

Saturday, Dave and I hit the trails at Brown County State Park. This was our first mountain bike ride together since his accident around New Year’s. It’s great he’s finally back on the trails, and we had a gorgeous day for riding, in the upper 60s and sunny, with a breeze that felt great. We rode the North Tower Loop 3 times, twice clockwise and once counterclockwise. I wasn’t as sluggish as I expected after two weeks with basically no riding. There were a few muddy spots but overall things are in great shape. We rode for about two hours.

Sunday was a very full day. After getting some breakfast, Sarah and I headed to McCormick’s Creek State Park to take some photos and do a little hiking. I borrowed a Tamron 28-300mm lens from a coworker and wanted to try it out. I’m thinking about buying one, or something similar. It has some macro capability, and having that range of zoom is great. Here are some of my better shots. First, we went by the waterfall.

Falls at McCormick’s Creek

Another shot of the falls

Redbud. These are everywhere.

Ferns and moss

My favorite shot of the whole day

Foam in the creek

Stairs

After spending some time by the falls, we decided to head over by Trail 2, which we hadn’t hiked before. We looked at the map and saw it had a side trail to an old quarry. That sounded interesting, so we went for it. There were wildflowers everywhere by the trailhead, so we spent a while getting some shots of them.

 
Wild Blue Phlox

Virginia Bluebells

Mayapples — these are all over the place, too

Trail 2

The old quarry

Hardy plant

Huge frog

Quarry ruins

Creek

Another creek

 
Trail 2 again


Fiddlehead ferns, partially unraveled

Trillium

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

After our hike, we headed home, got the dog, and headed out for another short hike in the forest in my old neighborhood. We hiked for about 30-45 minutes.

Rob

After that, we went back home and I went for a brief road ride, about 14 miles. It was a full day and at the end of it I felt tired, but great. I’m glad that spring is here, and I’m finally able to properly enjoy it.