Did some work at the lake house, new shades on windows, new flag out front and changed the battery in my motorcycle. Had some extra time on my hands and thought I would grab my mountain bike – an old girl from the 90’s but a bike I still love – and hit some of the trails.
Of course not knowing where the trails were, I walked into one of the buildings at the mountain about 10 minutes before they closed and a very nice gentleman helped me out. He explained how the trails were open (I figured I might have had to pay) to anyone. Basically their winter cross country skiing trails turn into summer mountain biking trails.
I read some reviews online before showing up and most of the reviews talked about how easy the trails were. Well, I got the map here in front of me, and I even hit the trails and I really beg to differ. Similar to any ski mountain you have your easy trails, intermediate, and difficult to navigate trails.
With the mountain in front of me I headed out…
and made it about 1000 feet up the trail before my chain snapped in half…
Luckily I only rode uphill so was able to coast back down the trail and to my truck.
Also luckily there is an amazing sports / bike shop right down the road called Piches. My new chain was one link too long and the master link was incorrectly sized. I wasn’t going to climb anything that day with that chain. At least now I know where to go for proper bike maintenance. A $5.00 master link later, the bike was fixed. After all their assistance, I grabbed a camelbak water bottle just to bring up what I owed to them. I was very grateful for the help.
So my first try was a bust in one way – but looking on the positive side, my bike is now proper and ready for a more serious ride and hopefully won’t leave me stranded far out in the woods.
Ready to go for next time around! Maybe tomorrow.
