Beaver Dam Adventure

Today Maggie and I hit Beaver Dam's mountain biking trails. Beaver Dam offers 4 different trails: Inner Loop (1.1 miles), Outer Loop (2.2 miles), West Loop (2.3 miles) and South Loop (6.8 miles).

Beaver Dam Trail Head:


Beaver Dam Directional Signs:


I have a great pic of Maggie, but she won't let me post it. :(

So now the story of the ride. I knew going in that Beaver Dam was going to be a little over my skill level and that I'd likely have to walk a bit...I was ok with that. When we got there, the we decided to do the Inner Loop since it's the shortest, and I *thought* would be the simplest. WRONG FAT CHICK BIKER! I'm not very comfortable on downhills as it is, and add in the monstrosities we call roots around these here parts and I was NOT a happy camper. And this was just getting to the actual trail!

About 15 or so minutes into the ride, I stopped and told Maggie that I just didn't feel right...I needed to desperately. So I took my meds, (remember I'm taking a new one, and this is only day 2) hoping that they would "fix" whatever issue I was having. No such luck. I was just feeling off the whole time. It didn't dawn on me until part way through the ride that I was still allowing a personal issue to color my riding.

We got through the trail...finally. And lemme tell ya folks, that is NOT a trail for beginners AT ALL. It's tight, twisty, fast in places...tons of roots on the uphills...stuff you need to either be able to power through or have enough momentum to go over. I walked probably about 1/2 the trail...mostly the uphills and a couple downhills. I did do stuff I wasn't completely comfortable with, and that was cool.

Getting back to the trail head was KILLER. The uphill was INSANE as were all the roots. I walked it. I think Maggie rode it. When we got to the top, she called a friend who said we should have done West Loop. WELL SHIT! We went over there and she did a bit of it, and I started a little, but really just wasn't interested. My head trips were fucking me up and it was time to stop before I got hurt.

My overall feeling of the trail is that, like I indicated, it is NOT for beginners (at least the trail we did). I'm pissed with myself for letting an issue with a friend undermine my confidence in my riding...especially because I was really looking forward to this ride today. It's a LONG way from my house - 40 miles each way. But at least I can say I did it. And I can say with absolute certainty that I will NOT be at the group ride on Saturday. Haha. :P

I'm sure at some point I'll try it again. But for now, I'm going to stick with Harris - nail down the 2nd loop of the intermediate trail over there; and start working on Crabtree a bit, I think.

While I was waiting for Maggie to arrive, I went to take the pictures you see above, and I met a guy coming off the trail. Right before he came out, these 2 HUGE wild turkeys went running through the woods. It was hysterical. And these other huge birds went flying out. Weird.