Dirt Road Ride Report

I’m going to list this one as a success.  Sure, the turnout was very small, but we had us some major fun.

One rider who is extremely new to this kind of thing found out that she could handle it, and actually relaxed and started to enjoy it before we came back off of the dirt.  She said,  “Well, that was a completely different kind of workout!”

Here’s how it all went down:

To begin with, we had about the best weather one could expect from late January.  The sky was mostly sunny, and the temp was 53 degrees at ride time.  I actually saw 59 degrees in the middle of the ride, and temps didn’t begin to fall until after we had finished.

We started out from Bicycles Unlimited, and did a very short section of the city’s paths.  Then we were on paved county roads for about three miles before turning onto the first dirt road section.

That first two miles of dirt road, was pleasant.  The surface was in good condition, not wet, and not too loose.  Of course there was absolutely zero traffic too.  The road did dip and rise a coupe times, but that was not a problem as there are no sharp turns.

After two miles on dirt, we again turned onto paved roads, and resumed traffic riding.  After a stretch on pavement, we hit the dirt again.  This time we started with a sharp downgrade, but then the road straightened out and it was just cruising, with the occasional “washboard” section.  Five miles of this and we were back on pavement and ready to return to the shop.

The total trip was just at 15 miles.  No one was injured.  No one fell.  I was the only one who skidded, and that was a deliberately induced “demonstration slide.”

I’m planning to try this again late in February.  (Watch the Southside Cycling Club Calendar or the Bicycles Unlimited Events Calendar for dates and times.)  I sincerely hope to see more of you out there.  This could be the start of something grand.