Cross Country Mountain Bike - 6/15/18

We are getting down to our last few events!  L1 has been cleared for activity after having her baby and we had to wait out some spring weather, but we are now determined to wrap up this adventure!  While we continue to try and schedule our last sailing events, we decided to get out and finally do our Cross Country Mountain Bike event.  We've had this scheduled several times before and it kept getting rained out.  So on a hot Friday morning, we headed out to Lake Mineral Wells State Park where they have a great back country hiking/biking/riding trail. 


CCMB is generally run on a combination of track surfaces - from dirt to pavement - of varying widths - from narrow "single-track" to wider "double-track".  For Olympic CCMB, riders complete laps around a shorter track.  In Rio, the women rode 6 laps around a 4.85km course (totaling around 18 miles).  A couple of us had ridden off road before, but the other two had not, so reading that this location was "good for beginners" had us feeling confident.  It consists of 4 wide (double-track) loops that can be combined together into one larger one.  Initially, the plan had been to do a few laps around the first loop, but...  Well, plans change.


Once we geared up, we rode off along the trail, water and emergency supplies in tow.  Nice large gravel.  Easy!

J and L1 start the ride

Then we quickly found one thing that makes riding bikes very, very hard.  Or should I say soft?  SAND.  We had to ride off to the side or in the grass - and even walk at times.  Then we hit some pretty hefty rocks which we rode over when we felt it was safe to do so, but ended up walking again. 

Taking the safe way down

By the time we hit the decision to continue the first loop or move on the second, we were debating.  We chose to take the risk and start the second loop.  Luckily, the terrain became better.  More packed dirt or grass.  We also rode the third loop, but decided against the fourth, which was listed as the "most difficult".

L2 glad to be on dirt

We enjoyed some nice scenery and even though it was hot and sunny, there was enough tree cover to keep us mostly shaded.  By the time we got back to finishing the end of that first loop (back to the sand), a couple of us managed to power through, but walking was needed again - at least for me.


In total, the ride was just over 5 miles, in around 80 minutes.  Definitely a work out and it became quite obvious why they call CCMB "technical".  Just riding on such ground is hard work, but racing on it???

Event #108 complete!