Trail: Susquehanna State Park; Harford County, MD

So I had a few hours while the padres watched the little ones so I had to stay close to Bel Air. Susquehanna Park was about 20 minutes away so I took a little ride. Wasn't really prepared for the hills, this place was either straight up or straight down 70% of the time. However... it has some really, really fun spots that I think if you figured out the right loop could be a challenging and fun trail. Got lost some because of constructions which wasn't really fun, but overall a reasonable place to go.

First Road Ride

Went on my first rode ride on Sunday (4/22) with the Potomac Peddler Group. It was a 40 mile loop in the CC class. Was a little anxious about it in the beginning having never been on a rode ride, but I had no problem with the ride and stayed with some of the guys that set a good pace. Ended up taking 2 1/2 hours. It was a good training ride though since my legs were pretty beat afterwards. The route we took is below but basically was from Riley's Lock on the Potomac to Sugarloaf mountain and back.

Bike: Specialized Allez

So I finally picked up a road bike to get some better training in and to have something to ride while the trails are muddy. Got this off e-bay. Supposedly the guy bought it for his wife and then promptly got hit by a car so his wife never rode it since. Its got a few rides on it, but it seems basically new.

All Shimano 105 parts which is what I was looking for. Aluminum frame and carbon fork.

Trail: Little Bennett; Clarksburg, MD

This was a Friday night ride, my first time on Little Bennett. I have to say that I wasn't thinking that the trails were going to be any good based on how little you hear about them. The trails themselves weren't spectacular, but much better than expected and I had a really good time. This place has lots of potential for sure. I'd go again for sure. The route we took was 8.0 miles and about 800 feet of climbing. Took us about 75 minutes at a casual pace.

Trails: St. Helena; Woodford, Australia

Day two of riding was overshadowed by what looked like rain at any time. This promised to be more technical than yesterdays ride and contain some single track. The ride itself was great, the only issue that on the way out its all downhill which of course means the way home is all uphill. About 1000' difference in elevation. Some nice single track and some good views. I have to say, after four trails in Australia, they just don't have as good of riding as we have at home.

Trail:


These are the circles, lots of these supposedly made by the natives in Australia. I didn't get it, but it was a good marker to know I was going the right way:


And I guess I'm afraid of dieing. I really wanted to go out on this ledge and get a picture, but I just couldn't do it. I didn't even get close. It was only about a 1000 foot drop.

Trails: Narrow Neck, Katoomba Australia

So I have a weekend to waste in Australia for a work trip. I made my way up to the Blue Mountains about an hour west of Sydney. On Saturday morning I went and rode Narrow Neck fire road which is south of Katoomba where I stayed. Its all fire roads, but the view is suppose to be great. All together not a bad ride, about 20 miles round trip with plenty of hills.

Some pictures of the view http://picasaweb.google.com/jmcgonigle/NarrowNeckTrailAustralia

Trail map:

Been a while...

Its been a while since I posted, but what can I say. The weather sucks and about all I've done is work, house/kid stuff and go to the gym. Nothing exciting about that. Good news is I get to go to Australia for work and I'm going to have a weekend in Sydney. I'm going to go up to the Blue Mountains which is about an hour west and do two days of mountain biking. Going to do Narrow Neck for sure, not sure what to do the second day.