"Why would you get up at 5 am to go riding with somebody you met over the internet? Are they axe murderers?"
Well, I hoped they weren't axe murderers, and it did sound a little strange, but I'd been procrastinating about finding some new people to ride with for months, ever since I got back into mountain biking last summer after a several year hiatus. Kendog had posted a couple of ride reports from his rambles in the Watershed to the mtbr.com singlespeed board, so I asked if I could tag along.
5 am came really early, but I managed to find myself driving up the mountain in the dark (hum Dueling Banjos here) in time to get to Hamburg Rd. by 6. I pulled into the parking lot and there was one other car there. It was Ken. "We're waiting for one other person to show up," he said. I was distracted from listening to him by the debilitating cold, so I started to get my gear together.
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| Ken | Sami |
In a few minutes another car pulled into the lot and someone with way too much energy for 6 am bounded out. "Hi, I'm Sami." Ah ha, so this is Cleatgrrl.
In the freezing dark I appraised my riding partners. My first hint was that maybe, together, they weighed as much as me. They were both years younger than me and they looked too fit. Sami was on her geared bike and Ken was riding an old Iron Horse with SS dropouts. I was riding my very first mountain bike, a rigid 1988 Diamondback ascent conversion to singlespeed. My "Proof of Concept" bike as I like to call it.
The game plan was to ride north to the Thurmont Overlook, and then return. Sounds great. Off we go. I noticed that my 15w vintage niterider wasn't quite as bright as the 8 billion candlepower blinders on Sami's bike. She was behind me and I felt like a rabbit in the headlights. No problem though, about 200 yards into the ride she blazed by and disappeared. Tough. Us old guys need to be more cautious. What if I break my hip? I kept seeing lights off ahead of me somewhere and felt like I was in the Blair Witch Project. Fortunately, my partners were gracious enough to wait for me at the most confusing intersections.
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Just enough light to see. |
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After about 45 minutes to an hour it was getting light enough to see. This was fortunate for me, as my light was pretty much shot by then. But my riding was getting better. It went from appalling, to only very bad. Man, I'd forgotten how rocky the 'Shed was. Pretty soon a pattern developed. I'd take longer on any technical section or hill, while my friends would blaze through. Then they would wait for me, and as soon as I struggle in, would flash off down the trail. Wait, maybe they are some crazed deviants trying to kill me! Damn internet! Somewhere along this section I noticed that I'd managed to turn off my new GPS that I got for Christmas. Oh well, so much for ride stats.
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The sun coming up. |
While the riding was hard for me, it was fun. And the view from the overlook in the early morning sun was worth the effort. We took a short break (Ok, I passed out from exertion) and headed back along the Blue trail.
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The view straight down. |
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Thurmont off to the North East |
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Bikers on the rocks. |
I think the return wasn't as bad, climbing wise, but I'm not sure. Everything looks so different in the dark haze of oxygen deprivation.
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Actually, it looks a lot like this. Probably as close to them as I was all morning. |
Since time was short, we bailed the trail and road the last couple of miles on the road. Sorry guys, I'll do better next time.
OK, it kicked my butt, but I had fun, and I don't think I held my partners up too much. My "Proof of Concept" (Proof of poor fitness) bike held up ok, except for a bottom bracket that started shrieking about half way through the ride when I put it under strain (yeah, THAT was the reason I walked all those hills). I like my singlespeed, but I think I'm going to have to fix my gearie bike to take advantage of its suspension when riding up there. Rigid is fine in Linganore, and McKeldin, and OK in Avalon but I'm going to use bouncy forks up in the 'Shed.
I used my GPS on the return leg to track out route, downloaded it onto my PC and used Magellan's Mapsend TOPO to get the Map, Profile and Stats that appear here.
Here's the route back from the overlook:
Stats are for the return leg only. Next time I'll try to remember to
turn on my GPS when we start.
Linear Distance: 7.969
Climbing Distance: 4.467
Descending Distance: 3.402
Climbing Elevation: 821 ft.
Descending Elevation: 539 ft.