Back to the BLAG

Hey everyone!  Sorry for the outage, but I've been busy with all sorts of things recently and the blog was starting to stress me out a little bit.  I'm back though, and 1000% less emo in my posts.  All posts pertaining to my whining are gone because this is not LiveJournal, and I am no longer fourteen.  In any case, let's move on!

It's been about two weeks since I've actually updated this sucker, and so much has happened.  I went on a mountain biking trip with two friends a few weekends ago, which was an absolute blast.  There will be more on that later.  I went full roadie and shaved my legs.  Which I will write about later this week.  I've gone several hundred miles on my inexpensive tires without a flat, which is a new record.  Last but not least, I've decided to start watching my diet and calorie intake during the day.  I've cut out the beer and liquor and am really striving to be at my target cycling weight.

Anyhow, on to the mountain biking trip!  I had an excellent time this weekend.  I'd like to thank Brandon for throwing everything together and getting it organized, and Tim for driving me out in his badass truck.  We went to Brown County, Indiana, and I can safely say I had the most excellent, if not also the most frustrating, time out there.  For those of you not in the know, Brown County was rated as one of the IMBA "Epic Rides" in 2011, and still stands as one of their model trails that others are compared against.

For those of you who know me a little better, you will certainly know that mountain biking was how I was reintroduced to the two wheeled world after a long absence.  I started nearly seven years ago.  Recently obligations, responsibilities, and just the general buzz of day-to-day life have limited the time I've been able to spend on a mountain bike.  You have to load up a vehicle, drive out to the destination, unpack, ride, pack back up, and head out.  Unless I have a few hours to kill, it isn't always a viable option for me.

Anyhow, tackling trails like this, after only being on my mountain bike one previous time this season, was a little nerve-racking.  There were some superb trails with lots of flow in the beginning and I could get moving very quickly.  The hills always seemed reasonable, and while challenging, never left me feeling drained.  One hill supposedly had over 1,000 feet of vertical climb, but the trails were planned out in such a way that I never really hated climbing.

On top of Hesitation Point, the 1,000' climb.

The first day went smoothly for me, except for the descents.  I have a bad habit of tensing up, and not letting my bike do the work for me.  This is fine on climbs, but often slows me down and leads to some interesting situations on downhill segments.  The downhill on Hesitation Point was brutal to me.  I lost control of my bike and slid about forty feet down the hillside.  Of course, other than damaging my ego, it also tore up the shorts and bike shorts I was wearing underneath.  This forced my hand to make an on-the-fly daisy duke conversion with a pocket knife.  I regret nothing.

The camping was done at eXplore Brown County, and was pretty decent.  The campgrounds were a little more family oriented than I think anyone would have anticipated, but it still made for a good time.  All in all, I would visit again.  However, a word to fellow mountain bikers, the mountain bike trails at the campsite were NOT worth trying to figure out.  While they certainly weren't the worst trails I've ever ridden on, the layout is confusing and is second only to the map they give you in terms of disorganization.

Tim, with Camp Beer!

This trip really made me remember why I love mountain biking.  While road biking is fun in it's own ways, sometimes you need a little more excitement to really get you going.  Flying down some of those hills and hitting the little bunny hop jumps really reminded me of this.  I hope to get out more next year and not let mountain biking be forgotten again.  I come back from Brown County beat up, but with a smile on my face.

Stick with me later this week where I try to justify shaving my legs and review some razor burn remedies.  Goodness, does this itch.