Ride at Dauset Trails

Today was the last day of training for the Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Trail Ride which takes place starting this coming Friday. Yesterday afternoon, a friend and a real cool dude, John, text me seeing if I would join him on a ride at Dauset Trails. I jumped on this because 1) he and I work weird schedules and it is rare for us to be able to ride on the same day, and 2) I haven't been out at Dauset Trails in many  months.

Dauset Trails is a privately owned nature area that has a petting zoo and also a serious set of singletrack trails that links up with Indian Springs State Park. If you want more info on Dauset Trails, click here.

We got at the trailhead around 915 AM, kinda of coolish but it warmed up quickly. The trails were in excellent condition, although a few areas were slippery due to leaf and pine straw cover. We did a little over 16 miles and I had one of my best average speeds! Here are some pics of the area...

A funny thing about leaves and pine straw, they are slick when on the ground, however as the tires push the leaves and pine straw into the dirt, it is not as slick. However, if one happens to get on a bridge that has the same leaves and pine straw on it, it is very slick, which John found out as the bridge made a slight turn to the left...

They don't call me Fallow for short. Actually that is the new trail name given to me by Dan. There is a reason behind this. In the past, and obviously current, people who rode with me would inevitably fall on the ride. I would not fall, but they would. Therefore Dan gave me the trail name "Fallow"...those who follOW me will FALL. Fortunately John didn't get hurt...well not much. The fall drew some blood, but otherwise he was okay...except for a sore shoulder...and..well you get the picture.

His fall also happened to be toward the end of our ride on the last part of single track we took which was the link from Dauset to Indian Springs State Park. We then got on the road and did a short road ride back to the trailhead. It was great riding with John and I look forward to future rides with him.

Over the next few days I will be in final preparation for the Ride for the Refugees...cleaning my bike, packing, resting my legs, etc. Oh, yes and mentally preparing myself for what could be a cold and potentially wet ride. The forecast is not looking too good with highs in the 40s and 50s, and rain moving in Saturday night and Sunday.