Not mine, but hang in there. Read on (nothing like a good cliff hanger!)
Quiver Queen has been wanting to get me on a mountain bike for the longest time. So we agree to meet at this mountain bike place called Millstone Hill Trails. It's a network of 50 miles of trails that wind around these old abandoned quarries in Barre, VT.
So we get there, get the lay of the land from the bike place. The guy there goes over the routes with us, says to me, "You look fit, I think you could do our blues, no problem." He outlines a route that's about 10-12 miles. I rent a bike, and off we go.
For a while I was doing very well. The scenery is spectacular!
We pass quarries like this:
and this:
and see great slag piles of the rock they didn't use (we learn that it accounts for about 75% of the rock they extracted from the quarries!):
Here we are:
I did fine till we got to the part where it was all cork screwy, with dipsy-doodles and downhills and uphills over rocks and roots and around trees and boulders and so on. Hard stuff for me, but maybe easy for more experienced riders. It was tough.
Oh, I neglected to mention that Mr. SD was with us. Well, he had a bit of an "incident" -- his foot slid off the pedal on an uphill and he caught his shin on the studs. Blood is streaming down his leg. His socks, his sneakers -- all red.
So we finally get back, after about 4 hours. For those of you who don't know, QQ is a doctor. And fortunately, she carries a medical kit in her car. So she looks at Mr. SD's leg and says "I can fix that up." Yes, we had parking lot surgery on Mr. SD. Twenty stitches worth:
So now we're back home. My legs are aching, I'm exhausted, and I have a new found respect for all you mountain bikers.
Quiver Queen has been wanting to get me on a mountain bike for the longest time. So we agree to meet at this mountain bike place called Millstone Hill Trails. It's a network of 50 miles of trails that wind around these old abandoned quarries in Barre, VT.
So we get there, get the lay of the land from the bike place. The guy there goes over the routes with us, says to me, "You look fit, I think you could do our blues, no problem." He outlines a route that's about 10-12 miles. I rent a bike, and off we go.
For a while I was doing very well. The scenery is spectacular!
We pass quarries like this:
and this:
and see great slag piles of the rock they didn't use (we learn that it accounts for about 75% of the rock they extracted from the quarries!):
Here we are:
I did fine till we got to the part where it was all cork screwy, with dipsy-doodles and downhills and uphills over rocks and roots and around trees and boulders and so on. Hard stuff for me, but maybe easy for more experienced riders. It was tough.
Oh, I neglected to mention that Mr. SD was with us. Well, he had a bit of an "incident" -- his foot slid off the pedal on an uphill and he caught his shin on the studs. Blood is streaming down his leg. His socks, his sneakers -- all red.
So we finally get back, after about 4 hours. For those of you who don't know, QQ is a doctor. And fortunately, she carries a medical kit in her car. So she looks at Mr. SD's leg and says "I can fix that up." Yes, we had parking lot surgery on Mr. SD. Twenty stitches worth:
So now we're back home. My legs are aching, I'm exhausted, and I have a new found respect for all you mountain bikers.
I LOVE the surgery pic (of course, I'm one of those weird people who would love to see pictures of the actual surgery :D).
