Spinning at Curt's

Took a bike ride today to a place I don't go much. Curt Gowdy State Park. It's nice, has nice trails (more for hiking IMHO) a reservoir, camping, etc. It's closer than some of the other places I go, but not real large. And usually kind of busy.

Here's a shot from along the trail. At least the weather cooperated. Lack-of-rain wise. The wind was blowing so hard sometimes it was pushing me off the trail! This view is looking towards Granite reservoir in the distance.

A shot of the serious biker. With his 'ancient' mountain bike. This thing is really punishing me on rough trails. No suspension, low bottom bracket, long crank arms and a semi-skilled, tired rider equals a lot of scraping and bouncing off rocks. This trail has too many of them!

Another along the trail shot. It is pretty good in some places. In others, it's get off and walk. Which I did a LOT of today. Kinda frustrating. The trail is often no more than a foot wide, with too many rocks trying to snag me. And cactus cactus everywhere, right along the edges. I've never seen so much cactus. The little clumpy ones, with the big long spines. Overall, not my favorite kind of riding. Maybe my opinion will change if I ever get a new, full-suspension mountain bike. But the scenery is nice!

The Stone Temple. That's what it's called. A rock feature along the Stone Temple circuit. What a coincidence! That trail is 'intermediate' difficulty. Some of it I'd say. A fair amout should be considered Advanced. I went on several Advanced and Expert trails today also. How? You guessed it - mostly on foot pushing the bike! Not ridable. Not by me. Didn't feel like breaking any bones. Though I managed a few minor wipeouts anyway. Tough ride day.

Hey, did that rock just move???

A nice waterfall just a short way off one of the main trails.

So how'd I do for the day? Somebody must want to know

• Ride time of 2 hrs, 40 minutes. But I was there for close to 6 hours
• Average speed of 5.4 mph. Blistering!
• Distance of 14.7 miles.
• Max speed of 25 mph! There were a few clear downhill areas, apparently!

Nice area, many good views of scenery. But more a hiking destination that a biking one for me. After the pounding on the trail, the wind and the rest I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day.