Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Vince and I were able to get a lot of mountain biking and hiking in the last two weeks. We just returned this week from a vacation in Vermont.
We started our vacation out by hiking up the high point of Maine (Mount Katahdin) near Millinocket--100 miles Northeast of Bangor. At Baxter State Park (http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com), we went up the mountain via the Appalachian Trail from Katahdin Stream Campground. It is a 10.4 mile roundtrip hike with an elevation gain of about 4000 feet. That slope does not seem too bad on papre but some of the areas were quite steep involving a lot of Class 2 rock scrambling. It took us about 9 hours to do the entire hike including about 3 rest stops. We had some weather near the top (hail, rain, and snow) on the way down but no lightning, thankfully. It took us about two days to fully recover from this hike. Vince was a real trooper because he made this climb four days after stepping on a barnacle at Cape Cod and receiving 6 stitches on the ball of his foot! Well, Mom was not there to tell him he could not hike so we pushed up the mountain relentlessly. It was not an easy hike but all the stitches held--or Dad would be in the doghouse now!
For the next three days Vince and I went mountain biking on the Kingdom Trails (http://www.kingdomtrails.org/) near East Burke in Northeast Vermont. What a great system of well-maintained bike trails through the beautiful hills, forests, and pastures of the area! I never thought I would enjoy mountain biking this much! Out of hundreds of miles of trails on the first day we picked about 25 miles of what looked like good trails and then ended up riding on the same trails for the next two days because we could not imagine better conditions. At the end of each day we were exhausted and headed back to our room at the Comfort Inn in Saint Johnsbury for a cool swim, hot jacuzzi, and some fun on the video arcade games.
During the last three days of the week we were at Killington, Vermont (http://www.killington.com/summer/mtn_bike.php) where we rented full-suspension, dual-disc braked, Kona mountain bikes and spent two days flying down ski trails and logging trails going as fast as one can without careening off into the trees. I could not keep up with Vince. I slowed down every time I imagined my body trying to recover from a broken leg--and missing the PPTC Century Ride on September 17. Vince was a true daredevil. He crashed a couple of times, once leaving a huge bruise on his upper thigh (my femur would have broken). During the last run of the last day, we saw the medics patching up a woman with gauze bandages on her bleeding knees and one arm in a sling.
All in all, we had a great time and a great father/son adventure. The only regret that I have about doing so much mountain biking lately is that now I am bored with road biking. When one is hurtling one's body down the side of a mountain or along a trail with large trees flashing by one's skull, there is no time for a mental lapse. The downhill at Killington did not do much to condition my quadraceps but my forearms and shoulders were certainly sore from all of those "white knuckle" runs down steep mountains. It also gave me a much better sense of how to control my bicycle on gravel and dirt which are good skills to have when road biking too. Vince was in his element at Killington. If he has wheels and speed he is happy. (Hopefully he will out grow this before he starts driving a car.)
We are both looking forward to the Century Ride in Berryville on September 17th.
Merton
We started our vacation out by hiking up the high point of Maine (Mount Katahdin) near Millinocket--100 miles Northeast of Bangor. At Baxter State Park (http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com), we went up the mountain via the Appalachian Trail from Katahdin Stream Campground. It is a 10.4 mile roundtrip hike with an elevation gain of about 4000 feet. That slope does not seem too bad on papre but some of the areas were quite steep involving a lot of Class 2 rock scrambling. It took us about 9 hours to do the entire hike including about 3 rest stops. We had some weather near the top (hail, rain, and snow) on the way down but no lightning, thankfully. It took us about two days to fully recover from this hike. Vince was a real trooper because he made this climb four days after stepping on a barnacle at Cape Cod and receiving 6 stitches on the ball of his foot! Well, Mom was not there to tell him he could not hike so we pushed up the mountain relentlessly. It was not an easy hike but all the stitches held--or Dad would be in the doghouse now!
For the next three days Vince and I went mountain biking on the Kingdom Trails (http://www.kingdomtrails.org/) near East Burke in Northeast Vermont. What a great system of well-maintained bike trails through the beautiful hills, forests, and pastures of the area! I never thought I would enjoy mountain biking this much! Out of hundreds of miles of trails on the first day we picked about 25 miles of what looked like good trails and then ended up riding on the same trails for the next two days because we could not imagine better conditions. At the end of each day we were exhausted and headed back to our room at the Comfort Inn in Saint Johnsbury for a cool swim, hot jacuzzi, and some fun on the video arcade games.
During the last three days of the week we were at Killington, Vermont (http://www.killington.com/summer/mtn_bike.php) where we rented full-suspension, dual-disc braked, Kona mountain bikes and spent two days flying down ski trails and logging trails going as fast as one can without careening off into the trees. I could not keep up with Vince. I slowed down every time I imagined my body trying to recover from a broken leg--and missing the PPTC Century Ride on September 17. Vince was a true daredevil. He crashed a couple of times, once leaving a huge bruise on his upper thigh (my femur would have broken). During the last run of the last day, we saw the medics patching up a woman with gauze bandages on her bleeding knees and one arm in a sling.
All in all, we had a great time and a great father/son adventure. The only regret that I have about doing so much mountain biking lately is that now I am bored with road biking. When one is hurtling one's body down the side of a mountain or along a trail with large trees flashing by one's skull, there is no time for a mental lapse. The downhill at Killington did not do much to condition my quadraceps but my forearms and shoulders were certainly sore from all of those "white knuckle" runs down steep mountains. It also gave me a much better sense of how to control my bicycle on gravel and dirt which are good skills to have when road biking too. Vince was in his element at Killington. If he has wheels and speed he is happy. (Hopefully he will out grow this before he starts driving a car.)
We are both looking forward to the Century Ride in Berryville on September 17th.
Merton
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
This last weekend sent me around my usual 20 mile training loop twice on Saturday:
Capital Crescent Trail to Rock Creek, then down to Georgetown under the Whitehurst Freeway, and then back out the C & O Canal trail back to Bethesda
I know every inch of the way, having ridden that route probably 200 times in the last 3 years. During the second trip around this loop I was accompanied by 12-year-old son, Vince. He has gotten very speedy especially compared to the first time he completed this loop when he was six years old.
On Sunday both of us went out to Shaeffer Farms in Germantown for some mountain biking--Vince's favorite activity these days. Shaeffer Farms has a wonderful 2-3 mile loop that goes through the forest and along bean fields with many challenging ups and downs and trail obstacles such as overhanging trees and log jumps. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a decent mountain biking venue that is close-in to Washington.
Vince and I are busy planning a week-long vacation to Maine and Vermont later this month to do some more mountain biking and hiking. This will get us in better condition for the September Century Ride with Potomac Pedalers near Berryville, Virginia. And hopefully it will be a little cooler by that time! Everyone needs to keep hydrated in the kind of weather we have been having for the last few days. More about the New England trip later.
Merton
