I was feeling kinda puny and didn't do so well the last time I went riding with Richard and we are supposed to ride this Tuesday so I decided to take a little trip myself and see how I would fair. I took off from the house and headed toward the Cahaba River Wildlife Management Area (CRWMA). I had marked it off with the Jeep so I knew it was two miles to the creek at the bottom of the big hill right before the CRWMA started.
Once on the dirt road of the CRWMA I took the dirt road to the right. Slid my bike under the gate and took off. That is a well graded road that brings you behind the gate at the shooting range. I hung a right and went wheeling on down the road. Of course I very quickly came to a slick hill that 4-wheel drive vehicles spin up. Needless to say I had to walk my bike up it. Once up it I kept turning to the left and stayed on the road that will bring you out on the first road past the shooting range road.
Of course this road is washed out, has overhanging limbs, two streams cross it and it was wrapped up in spider webs. It made for a very eventful ride. Only once did I have to stop to remove a spider that looked like it could take down a rhino. I had to stop twice to cross the streams and once when I encountered a rock covered hill. I finally made it out to the first road past the shooting range road mentioned above. This road is much better.
So I hung a left there and headed back to the main CRWMA road. This was a nice ride. However I happened to go by a grown up side road that I had seen scrapes on last year. I thought, hey, I can ride down this road and very quickly see if there are scrapes this year. Now that was an exciting ride. I was dodging small trees, bouncing over small dead trees in the road, riding through small limbs blown off by the last hurricane and riding through a thick mat of leaves.
Unfortunately I only found one small rub at the beginning of the road and nothing else. So the ride out wasn't as exciting as the ride in since I had nothing to look forward to except surviving and getting out.
So I made it out and headed on to the main road. Of course it was at about this point that I ran out of water. I rode on by the shooting range with people blasting away below but I didn't hear any bullets whining overhead so that was good. For some reason I was able to make some really good time by the shooting rangle. :-)
I hit the main road and hung a left to go back home. I hadn't realized how rough the road was coming in but going out I was bouncing all over the place. It was nice to get back to the highway. However now I had the hill from down under to contend with. The last time I had attempted it I had to stop and walk part of the way. But slow and steady wins the race and this time I paced myself and made it all the way to the to top without stopping.
The hard part was over and I was ready to get home and get some water so I brought it on in. I was pleased with how well I did and how nice the ride was. I look forward to the next time I can challenge a portion of the CRWMA.
