Jen's Spring Break - Day 2

Today's ride took me to Mill Mountain. I goofed up and put my Garmin Edge on Auto Pause, which drives me up the wall because it thinks when I'm going really slow that I'm stopped and stops recording time and other data. I like to know my total time regardless of whether I'm stopped or not. This is how race timing is, so this makes more sense to me. My moving time according to it and therefore ride time was 1:35:11. I was out on my bike over 2 hours. Today I was logging some NMBP hours, so I had to stop on a few occassion to remove some branches and stuff from the trails. I was also working on a bike patrol project so I was stopping to tie survey tape in a few places. Ah well, if I focus on the time too much I'll get discouraged.

I enjoyed a nice 11.56 mile ride today. Mill Mtn is challenging because there's a lot of climbing to do. I was a bit fatigued today from yesterday's ride at Carvin's Cove, so the granny gear got used quite a bit. In terms of ride highlights, I would like to mention Virginia Pine Trail. I hope that one day it can be looped into the system rather than a feeder trail. I think people will miss out on the fun trail that it is because most people want to loop trails together. The switchbacks are fun, and the trail has a smooth flow to it. The bottom of the trail drops into a neighborhood street. There is a sweet little bridge over the dip that used to end the trail. Virginia Pine is however a leaf sucker. By that I mean there are some sections where the trail is buried in piles of leaves.









The other highlight of my ride today was finding and riding Crystal Spring Trail. I found the trailhead on Woodcliff Ave. a few weeks ago, but today I wanted to ride it. I could see the trail from the Old Road as I descended, so I followed my instincts and found a nice, gravel-filled trail/road. If the gravel and rocks weren't so loose this would be a lot more fun, but I did enjoy it as a way of getting off of Mill Mtn without having to come down Walnut Avenue. I think it might be an easier way of climbing to start off too. I'll try this one day after work. I think I actually rode parts of every trail on Mill Mtn today. YAY!

Anyway, I thought it was a tad colder today, and my nose has been running all evening. I hope it's just from pollen and that I'm not catching a cold. That would be a total bummer. Extra Vitamin C being consumed as a precaution. Going to bed now, so that I can ride tomorrow. Probably a road ride... somewhere without hills... hmmmmm....