trying new things

After being harassed by my family for sometime I have finally started an account with facebook. I'm not sure why I did it because I can see where you can waste alot of time sitting in front of a computer. The website actually seems to work pretty slow and it takes forever to do anything on your profile. I will admit I've had the opportunity to talk to a long lost friend from my home state of Texas and I was amazed at how many of my friends that have accounts.

I feel like all of my rides here lately have consisted of taking beginners out to the trails for rides. Don't get me wrong I enjoy riding with other people and it's great to introduce people to riding but I really need a good hard ride with my friends who already know how to ride. Maybe I'll make it out to Steeles Creek and the TNR ride with everyone this week. I have seen a huge interest spawn from the guys I work with in riding bikes all of the sudden. I'm not sure what started it but in the past 2 weeks I've led 3 rides all with people who have never experienced singletrack. This week I'm going with a group from work to the VA. Creeper Trail. Most of the group is planning on taking the shuttle from Damascus to the top and riding the downhill. Not me I plan on riding the entire route round trip, all 67 miles on my mtn bike. I did it last year by myself on my cross bike in about 4 hours. I have a feeling this trip is going to be alot slower with all the newbies in tow but thankfully they're not attempting the whole ride with me or I would be having to tow them out of there. Just a couple of months ago they were making fun of me and now everyone one is getting my opinion on what would be a good bike to buy. Who knew?

Friday on one of my beginner rides I was cruising through one of the more technical sections at Warrior's and I was really focused on the rock garden I was riding through and I didn't even notice the dead deer laying just a foot from the trails edge. My buddy that was behind me stalled out on the rocks and stopped long enough to notice the carcass and the smell. It was pretty fresh so the smell wasn't bad until you got right up on it. It appears someone shot it but our trail system is in a state park so it kinda worries me. The deer was really too big to be moved off the trail and now I've heard the smell has gotten alot worse. I'm not sure what's going to be done about it but I hope it happens soon. I can't imagine trying to ride through there especially if your breathing hard.
Between all of the group rides going on this week and the beginner ride I'm leading it's looking like it's going to be a busy week. Have a good one!

Later