Local Discoveries

Between working on a house we're selling and working on actual work, I've been busy enough lately to keep me out of any kind of real woods. I guess it also hasn't helped that I've been getting used to 10 years of new bike technology all at once too.

I have done a good bit of local exploration though, and though I usually don't find anything interesting enough to write about, that hasn't been the case recently.

First up, while exploring a sewer line trail along Butternut Creek, I ran into this old chimney.

No idea how old it is, but it's completly surrounded by trees. Also, it has that neat old rocky bottom, but with a modern brick top. I like it.

Second, I have this buddy Gary who managed to get an old Thunderbird stuck in Nickajack Creek when he was a teenager. He had to abandon it there, and it sunk into the sand, but you could see it if the water was the right depth, and everyone started calling the sandy bottom nearby Tunderbird Beach. I've been looking for it ever since, and have found no fewer than 5 other cars/trucks in those woods and that creek, none of which are it.

Could this be it?

It's kind of in the right area?

Gary's overseas right now, so I can't ask him directly, but I will when he gets back.

Third, I tried to go ride "Threadmill" the other day. Years ago (like 10 years ago) I heard that some Sorba chapter build a trail out there. I've even had GPS data on my trails site for it for that whole time, but I'd never actually ridden there. I realized last week that one of my recent-ish explorations (the one where I broke my ribs sending it off that little step) was just down the street. "Man, I should check that out!"

Ha!

Bulldozed!

And very recently too! Google maps still shows it as woods.

The park the trail led out of, Clarkdale Park, is now Old Clarkdale Park, and the new Clarkdale Park is up the road a ways.

Exploring the ruins of the old park, I found a few scraps of trail, some weird brick structure...

(I love stuff like that - totally enigmatic. What the heck was that thing?)

...and somebody's old bamboo fort.

Then I found a levee running off to the north, with a trail up on it, and some old signs way out at the end:

There were bits of old trail leading into piney woods, but "The Pine Maze" itself was indiscernible.

And, finally, closer to home, I discovered an old road, with an old ATV maze at one end, and an old house, barn, shed, and so on at the other.

I guess that last thing was for loading/unloading a flatbed truck. Maybe?

Stuff everywhere. I'm sure I'll run into even more stuff this winter when the leaves are gone and the woods is open.

Back at It

Don't break your ribs kids.

Goodness.

It took a week to be able to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time, two before I wasn't forced awake every morning by searing pain, three before I could put any weight on that side, and four before I felt safe twisting my torso very much. I forget how long it takes. I always think 3 weeks, but it's more like 4. And then you still feel a little fragile. It's right about 5 now and I felt well enough yesterday to try to get back into the habit of riding every day.

It helped that I have a brand new bike to ride.

I guess it's not brand new in the standard sense. I've been collecting parts for it for like 3 months, but this past week, I managed to get them all together, get Glen to assemble them...

...and Eddie to fit me. And, Monday afternoon it was time to get in some miles.

It felt super, super awkward. Like 10+ years of new technology, all at once. The most notable things were as follows. On flat ground, the wheels seemed super light, despite being bigger and having fatter tires. The fork actually works, so when I stand and pedal, it bobs, unless I lock it out. The tires have 22 psi in them, but it feels like 30. And, somehow they're still really squirmy when I stand and pedal on pavement, even with the fork locked out. I feel like a trucker with those wide bars. The bars are slightly higher, so the front jumps up off of the ground, despite the larger wheels. The wheelbase is slightly longer though, so the back wheel isn't where I expect if I try to drop off of something. Fortunately, I've only tried to drop off of curbs so far. It's fast, but doesn't feel fast. I just find myself spun out, unexpectedly. The slightly higher bars make climbing noticeably awkward. I may need to put a dropper stem on it if I don't get used to it soon. My hands both went numb almost immediately and would do so over and over until I adjusted the left grip, at which point neither hand went numb again. The seat feels like I'm sitting on a board, despite being squishier than the old seat. This may just be because I've been off the bike for 5 weeks. I usually grab the seat tube bottle, but I have no seat tube bottle any more. It's super, super quiet. The drivetrain feels super, super solid. Shifting is a million times better than on that 11-52 cassette I had on the old bike.

I'm not really comfortable on it yet. Some of that will require adjustments. Some of it is just newness.

I mostly stayed on pavement and gravel, but I did hit about 100 feet of singletrack between the Silver Comet and the not-yet-paved connector.

I apparently ran into a turtle at one point.

So, yeah, awkward as hell. Don't break your ribs, take a month off, then try to ride a completely new bike, if you can avoid it.

If you can't, well, make the best of it!