More Dirt

     Overwhelmed with my newfound confidence on the dirt, I went out to try my hand at another more challenging track.  I needed to check out a piece of real estate I have which is near the Yankee Springs rec area, so I thought I would spend a couple of hours on their MTB trails.  The trails there are quite a bit more technical than the AL Sabo trails, but not as demanding as Ft. Custer.  Most are winding through some old and large stands of fragrant pines and the shade and cool weather made for some very pleasant conditions.

But as everybody knows, whenever there is a substantial amount of pine in the area,  there is also a substantial

amount of really, really deep sand.  Some of these bottoms were met at great speed and it felt like aiming straight into quicksand.  Even with 2 1/4" tires, the bike just sunk in, the first time I hit one, it nearly threw me over the handlebars but I learned quickly to hit the bottom in gear and pedaling to keep motivating over the top.  Most of the really sandy bottoms occurred at the base of some very technical descents full of boulders and roots, with multiple erosion drops of 2-3 feet.

   It was honestly more than I should have been confronting and after about 15 miles, I found myself a little burnt out and dismounted several times to avoid particularly brutal descents.  Standing at the top for a rest I was wondering, with all these exposed root systems

do the trees mind? 

 Do they resent it, or do they look forward to weekends like a great foot message?  

Hm, enough of the aging hippie talk, I was lucky to find it a slow morning and only a few riders to annoy as they sped past me, bouncing happily through the forest like a bunch of children in the plastic ball pit at an indoor playground.
      Maybe I'll start looking at it as a playground next year when I rework the cockpit and can actually do

The Hunq some justice out here.
  Right now I think he seemed happy to be grimy

but I can just imagine him thinking,

 "You Puny Human!"