Today I had planned on doing our group ride. The logistics of getting into the city with the Philadelphia Marathon going on kind of killed that. I left too late and couldn't get anywhere near the start of the ride in time. So I tried something else.
I went home, dropped of my road bike, and picked up my mountain bike, then went out to Tyler State Park. It's actually a lot closer to my new place. I got out there and realized it's a lot different than I'm used to.
First off, it's a network of trails. I'm used to a simple out-and-back, so I had to pay a little more attention to where I was. On those trails, there are a LOT of people with dogs. They don't pay attention and they don't even all walk to the same side of the trail. So I had to pass them pretty slowly and call out my approach a lot sooner.
Most of all, it's freaking hilly. I'm not a climber. Not even remotely. I'm way too muscular and still have too much fat left on me. Not to mention, my road bike, fully loaded with drinks and tools, is 24 pounds. My mountain bike, also fully loaded, is 41 pounds. So not only did I have to climb some pretty steep hills, I had to carry an extra 17 pounds with of bike up them. This was NOT an easy ride.
It was fun though. It felt good to be outside on a cool fall day and get in a ride, even if it's not the ride I really wanted to do.
My weight is not really moving. I'm still 175 pounds.
UPDATE: Now on Monday, my arms are KILLING me from the added vibration and shock from being off-road. It's pathetic, really. I was on a paved trail most of the time and was on a gravel/packed dirt trail for 15 minutes. Ugh!
