Finding a day to ride to the overlook was going to be a challenge with all of the December activities and travel scheduled, so I took the first available Sunday morning. It was nice for the weather to cooperate by getting the snow out of the way on Friday. By Sunday, the paved roads were clear.
Another advantage to Sunday is the relative sparseness of people out in the woods, compared to days when hunting is permitted. In my entire time up in the 'shed today, I only saw one vehicle, one dog walker, and three bikers.
This report marks the end of one of my "projects," getting a years worth of panorama shots from the same spot. Although I missed February, I'm not going to extend this project, instead using my time to do more of my Fixing Frederick project, or spend more time riding off road next year.
| Waiting to start. Clear and dry pavement. |
| Approaching the mountain. |
| Frozen fishponds. |
| Once the pavement ended, packed snow, with lots of icy patches was the order of the day. Keeping near the center of the lane kept me near the best riding surface. |
| The tracks of the elusive cross-country skier, pretty rare here in Maryland. |
| Trail to the overlook. Near the overlook I saw some other mountain bikers on a parallel trail and called out to them, but they didn't hear, or ignored me. |
| Snowy rocks at the overlook, with a Quickbeam somewhere in there. |
| Better shot of the Quickbeam. The mostly sunny skies are giving way to more overcast skies. |
| A Panorama of the Monocacy River Valley. |
| Heading back up the trail I took the path that the other riders had taken, hoping I might catch up to them. Riding in the deeper snow was great, especially where they had broken trail just a bit. Their tracks even led me to a section of trail I hadn't ridden before, but I never caught up to them (not surprising). Once the trail got back to Gambrill Park Rd. I headed down while their tracks went back up. Maybe next time guys. |
| Riding today was a challenge. Going up hill, standing to crank, like I usually do when climbing, made the nearly bald rear tire slip out. I had to stay seated and pay close attention to balance. Letting some air out of the tire helped a lot, but risked a pinch flat of the skinny tire. Studded tires would be a good investment if I plan to do a lot of this. |
| Fixed gear was a definite advantage. After just a short time, my brakes were nearly useless. Being fixed let me use back pressure to control my speed. Very nice. Disc brakes would have been a help here too. |
| My favorite section of the descent, where the creek runs right along side of the road. |
| Today's Map. |
| Today's Profile. |