Offroad Excursion

February 20, 2023

Leaving the pavement (mostly) behind

IT'S MILD OUT TODAY, making me feel like I should go for a ride. It's also cloudy, though, so I'm feeling rather uninspired to get out on the road. What to do? How about getting away from the well-traveled road network and putting a few miles on the mountain bike, to add some variety to life?

I'll put the blame for this idea squarely on Janice Branham: I've been following her 14 Wheels to Tucson journal with interest and pleasure at seeing her stretch her wings and try her hand at the offroad riding world. (You go, lady!) Since Barry just plonked out for a new dirt machine, why not follow in their tire tracks and exercise the very nice mountain bike I've had for nearly 20 years?

First though, it's time to mount up some fresh tires. The tires on the bike ("Quicksilver", a nod to the unpainted titanium that makes up the bike's frame) are at least a decade old, probably more, and are not only pretty well worn but showing signs of having dried out.

There's a new set that's been sitting in the workshop since mid-October when I ordered them after having had a look at the old ones. Since I don't do a lot of offroad riding there's been no urgency to make the swap but I noticed a definite lack of grip when I got into some soft terrain (an eighth of an inch of slightly thawed wet soil/mud on top of still-frozen substrate) last December- the last time I've had this bike off the wall. If I'm going to do nearly 20 miles of mostly trail riding today those old tires need to go away before I set off.

Tire change completed successfully it's time to decide where to go. My first impulse is to ride out to the "Powerline Trail", which is exactly what the name suggests: a fairly open course that follows the easement of a set of high-voltage powerlines that transect the area. But then I look at the map more carefully and decide today's not the day for that. It's a ride of several miles to get to the powerlines, and then the same long on-road ride to get back home from wherever I choose to leave the trail.

Plenty of good (and challenging) offroading options to my west and north. Too much for a single day's ride, though, and definitely more of a challenge than I want for today.

I could shorten the ride and eliminate most of the on-road parts by driving out to a shopping center closer to the powerlines but I just don't feel like it.

Looking in the opposite direction, my eye is caught by a loop of trail that follows the Rock Creek stream valley and utilizes some adjacent parkland. Using Ride With GPS I quickly sketch out a loop that's about 30 miles total, split 17/13 between paved and unpaved surfaces if their source data are to be believed. That's better, but still a bit longer than I want to go.

Better, but still more than I want to commit to.

By driving to Lake Needwood Park I can eliminate the in-town miles and cut the ride to about 20 miles total, split 6/14 between paved and unpaved. That seems more like it.

Better. All I have to do is drive over to the park, and ride from there.

Decision made, it's time to load up and be off. I don't get very far before stopping, though, and I'm not even on the bike yet. Our local grocery chain has a rewards deal with a national gasoline retailer: for every $100 spent at the grocery store you get a $0.10/gallon discount on gas purchases. It's an irresistible trifecta: we're just $11 short of reaching the next step on the discount ladder, I need to stock up on cycling energy bars, and my car's down to about a quarter tank so I need to fill up soon anyhow.

Oh, and I'm hungry too: I need to eat something before setting off for my ride. I select two boxes of energy bars, a brand I've not previously tried but right at the sweet price point: $11/box.

If I were really on top of my game I'd buy one box now to get just over the threshold on the gas discount step scale, go fuel up, then buy a second box of bars later to start building the next discount pool. But that doesn't occur to me until I've already rung up and cashed out, so I waste $11 of purchases toward my next gas discount. Oh well.

Arriving at the ride start I unload and change from my sandals to my cycling shoes, noticing as I do that there's more breeze than I had expected. Hoping it'll be more sheltered in the woods I elect not to stick my windstopper vest in my jersey pockets. I'm wearing two lightweight base layers and a heavier thermal-type outer jersey; it seems like those ought to do the job adequately unless I've really misread the conditions.

After gobbling down two energy bars (they're not bad but like all the other brands I've ever tried there's a certain similarity to compressed, flavored sawdust) I'm on my way. There are more people out than I expected, and it's not until I pass a family of six (two parents, four children obviously spaced closely and regularly apart in age, ranging from what looks like about eight to maybe 14) that it dawns on me that today is President's Day. The schools are likely closed, and lots of people have the day off and are taking advantage of the mild weather to get out for a stretch of their legs in the park.

I'm cycling along the floodplain of Rock Creek, and we had a day-long rain three days back so there's lots of moisture around. The soil on the wooded floodplain doesn't drain especially well, resulting in lots of puddles and pockets of standing water. In a sure sign that spring isn't far away, I can hear myriad frogs chirping all around me. As I look at the still surface of the shallow puddles and small feeder rivulets that drain into the creek proper I can see dozens of frogs, and big rafts of eggs with soon-to-emerge tadpoles inside.

First obstacle of the day: just a quarter mile into my ride there's a tree down across the path. Were I an adept, confident, skilled mountain bike rider I'm sure this would've presented hardly even a momentary disruption in my ride. As it was, however, I dismounted and portaged across.

Loads and loads of frogs were out today.

A large raft of frog's eggs blankets the surface of a puddle.

Tadpoles can already be seen forming in the eggs.

With my momentary amphibian diversion complete it's time to continue in my quest for dirt. Another few miles on I'm successful, or at least the pavement runs out and transitions to a surface of coarse gravel pressed into the dirt. It's still easy riding, and thanks to the shelter I expected I'm beginning to feel that I'm actually slightly overdressed.

Two-way traffic on the gravel section of the trail. Not a problem.

A bit further on the gravel runs out and I'm down to packed dirt studded with tree roots and partially-buried rocks. The rocks project out at odd angles and random intervals; it's time to look sharp and pay close attention to my line or I'll be riding for a fall. Overall, though on a difficulty scale of 1 to 5 it's no more than a 2 at most, probably really just a 1+.

Coming to a feeder stream it's time to pause and ponder how best to cross. Hell-for-leather riders would doubtless gear down a bit, charge into and across the shallow watercourse, and emerge triumphant (if perhaps a trifle wet and muddy) on the far side. Not me. There are two nice large rocks ten feet upstream that look like a promising way to cross with dry feet, but when I reach the edge of the first on the gap to the next is larger than I'm comfortable with, especially carrying my bike.

Right at the trail crossing there's a more subtle but still clearly-evident string of stepping stones. A few of them are right at or slightly below the water's surface so the soles of my shoes are going to get wet, and I'm vaguely concerned about slick, moss-covered surfaces leading to an unwanted ducking. All goes well, though and I'm easily home and dry on the far side.

Stream crossing. Not exactly a raging torrent but just enough to give me pause.

Another couple hundred yards down the trail I pause to watch a family cross at a different location; they're crossing Rock Creek proper and not the little drainage tributary I have just negotiated. Striking up a conversation with them I learn that there's a large, well-established bald eagle nest a bit down the trail in the direction from which I've just come. The fellow offers to point it out if I'd care to return with them.

Eager to see it, that takes me back where I've just come from. No matter- I'm out and riding and that's all that counts. As we move along he comments on my camera then shares a series of very well-taken bird photos of his own. They're impressive and worth being proud of.

Reaching the vantage point where the eagle's nest comes into view I dismount my camera, turn it on, and discover... the battery's dead. Dang. It never even dawned on me to check the state of charge before I set off, but it spells the end of playing with the LUMIX for the rest of the day.

Ah well, I'm still getting a ride and exploring a place I've never previously been so it's all good. Turning back to my original direction of travel I re-retrace my path and continue onward. I re-recross that small feeder stream and reach my previous high-water mark. I had stopped there earlier- this is where I encountered the family crossing Rock Creek- to consider the information on the trailside signpost.

Somehow I think that "Wet Crossing" thing is a descriptor, not a name.

Sure enough there's a wet crossing another few hundred yards ahead but it's no real problem. Still, it's more than I am willing to tackle while mounted so I dismount and step across. It's simple but beyond my comfort limit to try to ride through / across.

Reaching Muncaster Mill Road the trail switches from one side of the creek to the other. There's no gap in the guardrail along the road, however, and I can see a signpost below that clearly indicates that the trail is hikers only, at least going back the direction I just came from. I'm not certain whether it's also restricted to hikers only if I were to continue in the direction I've been going but why risk it?

What I had planned on riding. In hindsight the full loop was probably a bit ambitious anyhow.

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Consulting Ride With GPS I can see that there's an easy way to cut across my planned loop and connect with it again, not too far from where I'm standing. As a bonus there are paved bike paths along Muncaster Mill Road, which is busy and with limited shoulders.

Picking up the bike path I soon join the path that parallels the Intercounty Connector, a four-lane limited-access divided highway. This takes me over to the western side of my loop and positions me to rejoin the route and head back to the car.

My voyage of discovery's not quite ended, though. On my way back toward the park I discover a lovely old home and a large (commercial) solar panel array tucked away out of sight between the highway and the edges of the park boundary. I'm glad to see it, because it means the site won't be developed into McMansions anytime soon, and that there's just that much less need for fossil fuel-powered generation.

I've never previously noticed this lovely old house, but it's also true I seldom travel this way.

It's an easy mile or so through Lake Needwood Park back to the car. Satisfied, I dismount, load up and head home. It's been a pleasant outing and confirms that, while not every experiment ends exactly as planned, they mostly are successful at generating fresh data for the future. I'll have to poke around a bit more sometime and see what the northern end of this loop looks like, but not today.

What I actually rode.

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Today's ride: 9 miles (14 km)
Total: 197 miles (317 km)

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