Thought and Freedom

Today, Jessica and I went mountain biking in Murphy Hanrehan park with a couple of friends of mine (Samar Upadhyay and Adam Bavier). It was a great ride, just like most of the MORC trails.

Jessica rode the beginner and intermediate loops with us, and to my surprise Adam and Samar were up for the expert loop.  The total length of the trail is about 10 miles with about 60% of this being on the expert loop. You can find a copy of the map here.

Here is Jessica doing the great job she always does on these trails!

On the expert trail, there are several obstacles. Some are natural, but the most challenging ones are man-made. For example, there is an amazingly long 1 foot wide pull bridge. It curves and twists while staying about four feet off the ground for most of it. At the end, it has a teeter-totter to get you off the bridge.

I tried it first and could not ride straight enough to make it to the higher sections.

Adam Bavier had an awesome fall, which is definitely worth watching. That’s what he gets for starting in the middle.

Samar Upadhyay also tried it, and he did pretty good at it:

Finally, we saw some guys come by who must have had no fear of death or dismemberment. One of them was able to do the bridge in parts. He made it look just easy enough to encourage us to come back and try it again on another day:

Just about six miles in to the trail, I took a banked curve a little too far. When the bank ended I tried to quickly turn to follow the trail. Unfortunately, there was a slippery spot. My front tire turned sideways and I flew over my handlebars.

The next thing I knew I was on the ground spitting out blood and feeling very sore. I yelled a couple times for help, but eventually rolled off the trail and laid there until Samar came by. He was a little shocked, and came over to help (and document the moment!).

All in all, it was a fun time. I can’t wait to get back on some of the other trails around the Twin Cities in the near future.