Wednesday, May 13, 2009

West Bend Trails

Last night Jon and I drove up from work to meet Cale, Gunnar and Jake at the West Bend Trails. Maybe they have a more official name, but I'd say this name does nicely, as they're trails in West Bend. We rode around and posed with our mountain bikes- a skill that is woefully overlooked in most training plans. I'm not going to wind up regretting not honing that skill this year.





Overall, I'd say I like the trails. I think after riding them a bit more, I'd really warm to them. Most of the time I just really wanted to hunt down a rake and some clippers and do a little maintenance. There were so many leaves covering the trail in some parts that I couldn't make out what was going on (roots, rocks, etc), and there was always whip-like foliage covered in thorns snagging clothing and skin.

Pesky nature aside :), they could really help me learn better cornering and descending. There's some great practice for climbing, as well. There was one hill I did that made my whole body burn with lactic acid. Arms, and even fingers! I think I tasted my soul trying to evacuate, too. While it burned, I was spurred on by a motivators- impressing the guys and proving to myself that I could do it. I don't know about the guys, but at least I'm convinced some of those hills are climbable.

4 comments:

Fish said...

Funny, I have a similar shot in the same place among all of those green shoots. It's a unique spot.

I'm glad to hear that some of those 75 degree hills at Blue Hills (the official name of the park) have the same effect on a twenty-something person that they do on my 30-something ass. I thought I was starting to get old.

Where did you start the ride, right in the park, or did you start from the hill behind Culver's on 33? riding is allowed on the Ice Age trail between Culver's and Blue Hills, and it makes for a good warm-up.

Snacks said...

Yeah, we were joking that we could tell everyone we took a vacation in Cambodia or some other exotic locale, since those plants/reeds were so strange looking.

A couple of those hills are no joke. We started at the Culver's parking lot, and a ways back, maybe past the pond, there's a long, terrible climb on the way back. I don't know the trails well enough to describe the location better, but I bet it has a wicked nickname because it took everything I had to get up it.

Fish said...

The Wash County folks probably have a name for it. Come to think of it, I've never ridden Blue Hills with anyone-always solo, so I don't know any of the local parlance.

There's a few hills in the area that make me question my will to live. Are you talking about the ascent that splits off from the double-track at the north end of the park, that just keeps going up?

Snacks said...

Yep, that's the one. It does indeed just keep going up. And up and up.