Got to go riding! (photos)

[yoothgeye]

My brother-in-law drove down to Roanoke Rapids today so we could ride. He just got a used Specialized Epic FSR and he'd never ridden suspension before (though he use to race mountain bikes). Also new to him today were clip pedals. I rode my Gary Fisher Marlin and we headed to a local trail called the Canal Museum Trail (link below) it is an easy trail and could be ridden on a rat rod, but we have these bikes and doggonit we're gonna ride them! We have both let ourselves go over the Winter and needed a little ride to kick off a Spring/Summer of healthier activity.

I rode with a helmet and a resevoir pack, I emptied the pack. We were only going to ride a section of the trail, but ended up doing the whole trail, which mapquest shows to be 8.7 miles. We started in the middle and rode up to the trailhead and back, then all the way to the end and back, so with a couple side trips, we probably covered 17 miles.

About 2 miles before getting back to the car Mike attacked a hill and snapped his chain. With no extra links we walked till we found a plastic lumber strap and put it around my seat post and his stem and I towed him back. My legs feel like jelly now.

Feels good to be back in the saddle again... and tiring.

Anyone else start riding again for the season? (I don't wanna hear from you all that ride year round :x )

Here's the map of the trail: http://tiny.cc/t8zfa

How we got to the trail.

One of the attractions on the Weldon side of the trail.

Aqueduct on the trail, Weldon side. The fish were running upstream to spawn, cool to watch.

Our tow setup to pull Mike back to the car.

Reason for the tow... no luck finding the pin.

 

[yoothgeye]

Weather was chilly and rainy this morning, so I drove into work. Since then the rain is stopped and the sun is out, though still cool outside. We have a funeral today, so when I went home to get into my fancy clothes I didn't drive back, I hopped on my Schwinn road bike ( viewtopic.php?f=16&t=35225 ) and came back to church.

Less than 2 miles, but it's the furthest I've ever ridden a real road bike. After the beating I took yesterday my legs burned just leaving the driveway, but I like it, just gotta get use to downtube shifting and the brakes. My biggest complaint is that my butt hasn't had time to grow calloused from the little saddle I rode yesterday, and this one really got me on this short ride.

Feels good to ride, I gotta work on this cardio.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

bet you'll be carrying a chain tool from now on eh?

 

[yoothgeye]

bet you'll be carrying a chain tool from now on eh?

Yeah, haha, I was checking my pack, knowing full well that I didn't have any master links or my chain break tool in there.

The broken chain had a master link, about half way in the middle of the broken chain. Mike gave me the chain, I will carry the master with me and patch the chain back together with my chain tool for use on something else.

 

[Carbon]

Great pics, really nice memorial, I have some pretty deep Confederate roots that i'm very proud of. Looks like a great place to go ride, the wife and I, and my 2 year old son have been carving up the neighborhood the last couple of days after work, been so nice out, really looking forward to getting out and riding some more. At 6"1 a solid 220, I've snapped quite a few MB chains back when I used to spend alot of time on them, place called the Pirahna pit, very aggressive trails on a local Marine Corp Air Station, tracks a little over 5 miles long.

 

[yoothgeye]

Great pics, really nice memorial, I have some pretty deep Confederate roots that i'm very proud of. Looks like a great place to go ride, the wife and I, and my 2 year old son have been carving up the neighborhood the last couple of days after work, been so nice out, really looking forward to getting out and riding some more. At 6"1 a solid 220, I've snapped quite a few MB chains back when I used to spend alot of time on them, place called the Pirahna pit, very aggressive trails on a local Marine Corp Air Station, tracks a little over 5 miles long.

This trail is actually a very easy trail, and some families do ride on it. Mostly flat and level, it's up to the rider to make it hard with alternate lines and speed. There is a street access close to the Aqueduct that would make the trip to the Confederate memorial easy.

 

[M.Martian]

Ya always gotta carry a chain breaker on the trail. Even if you don't have any replacement links, you can still at least pull the broken link out and just make the chain slightly shorter. You will lose your big ring, big sprocket combo, but can still ride out of there.

 

[Highridah]

paperclips work in a pinch i always carry one

 

[Buck Masterson]

I took my first ride last night, glad it was on my 7 Speed Schwinn, I went a little farther then I should have so the gears came in handy. I'm very disappointed in myself, I have had some health problems this winter, and I have now lost all of the stamina I gained before winter hit. The ride that pooped me out last night would have not even made me sweat before.

Now it's time to pack everything up to move, and I'm excited because our new town has a bike trail that stretches almost 20 miles long. I can't wait to get myself back in shape and I'm going to kill that trail!