I TOLD You It Was A Whole New World...

First is the worst
With the family out of town, beginning the deposit of kids at their various camps, I had open days ahead of me. I wanted to ride my newest bike, the green Univega that I picked up on the cheap. The forecast reported scattered thunderstorms throughout the day and, with the expectation of rain, I wanted to get out and ride as soon as possible.
It was time to christen the Univega beater and enter into the world of singletrack riding. There are two places in the area I had wanted to ride, but had found it difficult to do on the Steelman. So, I knew that I wanted to hit one of those trails now.
I've ridden two of the three trails at Tanglewood Park and even raced CX there two years ago, but I'd found the third trail nearly impassible with the Steelman steed. So, it was there I headed.

So, it began. I entered the trail, which sloped downward and dropped a series of rooted stairsteps. I was calibrating the differences -- riding position, seat height, grip shift setting -- when I realized something wasn't right. I was only about 100 yards in when the thunking sound was getting louder and louder.

I got off the bike and looked the beater over. I knew it rode well enough when I bought it, so I figured that it was something I did wrong when I cleaned and played with the wheels. Sure enough, the diagnosis was quick -- the rear wheel was insufficiently tightened and would need to be adjusted. As a result, the wheel was rubbing against the frame, but only when weight was applied. The harder the pedaling, the heavier the pressure, the more the slant and the harsher the contact.

The fix would have to be done at home and, with lunchtime approaching, the trip would take long enough for the pending storm to come and ruin all chance of the first day out. Ugh.

Once More, but with Feeling
The fix was simple, lunch quick enough and the sun was still shining, so I decided to take the 20 minute trip back to Tanglewood and attack the singletrack once again.
It was hot to the tune of mid-90's and humid. The thunderstorms were out there, just not in sight yet.
I started out timidly into the trail this time around, but there was no resistance and the ride got underway. I had some mid-to-late 80's R.E.M. jangling through the earbuds and was excited by the ride. The sun shining through the trees, the new bike, the chance to finally ride the elusive singletrack were all aligned for a great ride.

The track twisted and turned. At times, the tree cover was so thick that it looked like evening.  I have to admit, I had a worry of Poison Ivy. Turns out that my fear was appropriately founded, but that would be dealt with later with Calamine. For the moment, the ride was all fun and smiles.

The ride itself was challenging, but enjoyable. However, with the heat, I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed -- sweating too much and starting to itch on one leg, above the knee. Still, I was having fun riding on the trails and bridges nonetheless, but was starting to wonder how long the trail would go before I got to its end. I knew I wasn't too far from anywhere accessible to the park, but I really had no idea of where I was. Safe and daring all at the same time.

Before too long, I was overheated and had to stop altogether and catch my breath. To make it more interesting, my water was running low. At one point, I thought it better to pour water over my head than to drink it. I was drenched, out-of-breath and knew it would be easier to continue than to go backward. I was still having fun, just 'I'm too fat to be doing what I'm doing' fun.

I was exhausted and the trail was seeming endless. I felt like I was as much in a cycling trance where all I could do was pedal and was starting to curse it all when I came across two interesting sights. First, I saw both a mother deer and her fawn. The fawn stopped and stared at me. It was lovely. Outright majestic. Cool.
The second thing that impressed me on the back of the trail was a cool series of bridges. Despite my trance, I stayed on it and even stopped long enough to snap a pic. I haven't ridden on too many of those type of surfaces and dug it plenty.

Okay, that was cool to ride on.

However, while those sights made for a more enjoyable ride, I had really start to feel the ride taking me out, so you can imaging my joy at finding the parking lot. I'd finished the trail and not taken any tumbles. Not been whupped and the the bike and done well. 

I stopped and just looked at the dirt-ridden monster. It is a heck of a bike and I'm pleased to have it to ride on the trail. Maybe, I'll just not ride in the oppressive heat. And where was that storm? I would've loved that rain...

Well done.

All that is grand and my head was filled with sugar plums of future rides, however I was desperately thirsty. So, I loaded the bike and drove out of the park. There is a grocery just down the road from the park. I walked in and purchased two large, cold bottles of Gatorade. I finished one before I ever got out of the store.