Saturday, May 14, 2011

May 8, 2011 Back In The Saddle Again

Sweet Woods, Cook County Forest Preserve, Thornton, IL


I've been riding my bike on the paved trails for over a month but today was different. Today I rode the single track trails at Sweet Woods and the horse trail at Jurgensen Woods. I rode with my sister-in-law Kimmie. We took the paved trail from Lansing Woods to Sweet Woods, then took the horse trail toward the train tracks. I was feeling pretty good so I started taking the single track trail loops back. We ended up doing all the single track trails. I even rode past the ravine where I ruptured my artery in my leg last October. There is a small bridge there now making the transition from downhill to uphill a little easier. I was tired but in a good way. It felt great to be riding again. I was content on riding the paved trail the five miles back home but Kimmie brought up the horse trail through Jurgensen. This trail is notoriously muddy until July but we decided to take it anyway. It was dry enough to ride at first. But deep in the woods it was disaster. My tired legs were completely drained by the time we got back to Stoney Island Ave. The combination of two months of nearly non stop rain, the deep horse hoof marks in the soft mud and the two tons of horse shit left on the trail made for extremely tough riding conditions. I could barely walk when I got home but it felt damn good.

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