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Ugh, my neck was sore yesterday and now after the hockey game, I woke up to find my neck and shoulder muscles in pretty poor condition. At least not in any condition for off road riding. Coupled with the heavy rain and thunder showers in today's forecast, this may end up being a very long day.
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I am pretty tired now. Riding for the full day really drained me. I have some dirty clothes to clean, a dirty body to clean, and a lot of sleep to catch up on..
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Windelynn organized a day trip to Horseshoe Resort to take part in Riding Adventures. I had been reluctant to join in due to my lack of funds, but apparently everything was included in the (fairly decent) price including equipment and lunch so I figured that it would be worth the money. Besides, I probably would have regretted not going if I stayed in town.
The plan was for Windelynn to pick me up really early in the morning, meet up with the rest of the crew outside of town, and then head up north. Things took a little turn for the late when I got a call half-an-hour after the pickup time informing me that Windelynn had just left. We ended up being the last ones to show up, but also managed to make it to the resort right on time! (I was asleep for most of the trip up.)
There were ten riders from our group, and one extra who hung around and took pictures. The resort was gracious enough to lend him an ATV so that he could follow us around and take some more pictures of us while we were on the trails.
The weather was overcast, cool, and threatening to rain. Apparently, these were perfect conditions for dirt biking. It certainly was not good street or track riding weather, but we took their word for it. We spent some time getting fitted with gear and protection as well as choosing our bikes. There were a few other people who were not part of our group, but most of them got shuffled off with other instructors, so that the main group consisted basically of people from our band. We had two other girls in our group including Tammy Byng.
We were all familiar with riding bikes, so it made the introduction pretty short. Soon enough we were off and riding on the practice track. Of course, on the first turn, I decided to see how sturdy the bike was and rubbed the tire against a mud curb and promptly went down with the bike. I think I was the first person to go down, but since these bikes were so small relative to our street bikes, I picked up my bike, got on, started it up again and continued on the trail.
I will admit that I had the most falls of any of us in the group. In addition, most of the photos taken seem to have me in them, many of which where in various "down" positions. So I cannot deny the visual proof. (Or the witnesses for that matter.)
We spent the better part of the morning on the practice track, the practice bumps, the practice hill, the practice logs, and the practice turn area. It was actually quite fun, and we had not even got out onto the trails yet!
After a quick break, we headed out to the track.
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We were lead through some trails to a track that wound through some small Christmas trees. This field was used to test our clutch control as the bends on the track were too sharp and narrow to turn on with the clutch fully engaged. We spent some time going around in circles as well before heading out to the trails that led to the track.
We split into two groups. One that went at a slightly faster pace than the other. I joined the fast paced group, and we tackled some of the dirt trails that weaved through the forest. It was quite fun, and the terrain was rugged, so we had to work hard to maintain our balance and keep control of the bike. There was not anything too hard here, but it was a good start.
The track was just a path of dirt with bumps and embankments hat you can go around and around on to practice jumps and cornering. We spent some time here getting familiar with the track and learning how to properly use the embankment and lean into the turns.
We were then shown how to properly make a jump on the bike, using one of the embankments as a ramp. It took me three tries before I started to get the hang of it, only to be told that our time was up.
At that point in time, we were again split into two groups. One would hit the trails hard, while the other would take it easy. I decided to go with the fast group. (Probably a dumb idea actually seeing how many times I had already fallen that day.)
Our group ended up being quite small: There were six of us including the instructor and the assistant. Our assistant was actually a teenager who rode his bike like it was an extension of his body. He made everything look effortless.
I, on the other hand, ended up stalling on the first steep hill and dumped the bike. In fact, I ended up stalling and losing control of the bike so often that I probably held up the group for nearly half of the wasted time. We crossed paths with the other (much larger group) and headed deeper into the woods. Then it started to rain. We decided to head back to the base.
When we arrived at the base, the rain had gotten very heavy. Our goggles were obscured by the water, and there was mud everywhere. We were given the opportunity to continue riding. A number of people from the other group had already returned and opted to stay and wait out the rain. Our little group decided to head out again. After donning some rain gear, we returned to the trails. This time, the trails we tackled were even more rugged and unkempt than the previous trails! Most of them had rivers of mud and water flowing down them, making it difficult to navigate, as the water made the trails exceedingly slippery. On level ground this was not that big of an issue, but we were attacking a number of steep grades, both up and down. After I learned my lesson from earlier in the afternoon, I hit the steep inclines hard and in very low (first) gear. I was able to make it through most of them without problems. The downhill was a bit more difficult since locked wheels and an outstretched foot will only slow you down so much. There was one extremely steep incline that had a huge gorge down the middle that was wide enough to swallow up a tire. I was lucky that I jumped over the crevasse when I lost traction and headed to the edge of the trail. There was grass on the other side of the trail so I was able to regain traction and make it up the rest of the way. Durka was not as lucky. Apparently he rolled down the slope while we were waiting. But he was okay.
We then headed back to the camp, but not before taking a small detour up the hill to the top of the ski resort.
It was really fun, and I would like to do it again. The weather was apparently ideal for riding. It was not overly hot, and not too dry. The rain made the trails much more challenging and fun, and it added a whole new dimension to the experience.
We were all exhausted afterwards, and I was happy to get myself out of the wet (and soaked) gear and into some dry clothes. The pictures will fill in the rest of the story.
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