Pictureseque Evening Mountain Bike Ride

Thursday night rides at Schaeffer Farms with MORE are great. This week 4 of the 15 of us rode the Hoyles Mill connector path between Schaeffer and Black Hills Regional Park. This path connects Schaeffer Farms to Black Hills Regional Park. It is about 5.8 miles long and was built by MORE four or five years ago. Every Wednesday I go to work around 6:30am so I can leave at 4pm to go ride with them and it has become the highlight of my week.

This week I decided to take back roads from Silver Spring to the trail head in Germantown because the beltway is always so congested. It took a little less time and the drive was much more pleasant. Usually I sit stopped on a highway for 30 minutes, travel over 50mph for 10 minutes and travel less then 30mph for another 40 minutes. It is only a 20 minute drive total when it is not rush hour. Taking back roads around here means 4 lanes most of the time, but it only took me an hour so I think I will incorporate this into my daily commute to cycling nirvana.

The Hoyles Mill Connector was a more journey oriented bike ride. There were two wooded sections that provided a multitude of obstacles like rock gardens, log hops and stream crossings. These wonderful little challenges were interspersed with nice smooth winding single track. Connecting them were a series of scenic vistas with rolling meadows, corn fields and horse farms. All in all it was a very picturesque ride that I thoroughly enjoyed.

My favorite section was near the black hills park area. We had just gotten done riding a small loop in that park, rode past the large man made lake, and re-entered the Hoyles Mill trail on the way home. It was a mostly rolling downhill through a lightly wooded area that felt more like a pump track then single track. On a couple of the rollers I was able to comfortably get some satisfying air. I hadn't gotten my wheels that high in quite a few years. I am not sure if Dennis who was riding ahead of me heard me but on the third time I had gotten a nice feel for the bike and yelled out a nice loud "Yaaaahooooo". The best part of these rollers was that they had great landings. I am a big fan of landings. The landing makes the jump and I hate jumping to flat ground.

The ride back was fast paced. Tania's allergies were bothering her and Bob lead her back via the road. That left bike breaking super speed Denis and I to tear it up on the way home. By the end, I was all tore up. Every hill I climbed, every obstacle I conquered left my legs cramped. This is something I have to address before this week. I will tackle this from two fronts; diet and a electrolyte supplement by Hammer called "endurolytes.

Of course every ride ends with good great food and beer at the Dog Fish Head Alehouse.

Looking forward to this Thursday.

Words and Photos by Raymond J Heinsman