Been riding close to home lately...mostly the Colt's Neck (Colvin Run/Difficult Run) loop. Dr.P (my riding buddy) and I have been getting back into the swing of things after taking some time off from riding and wanted to ride somewhere fast and familiar. The other day, we decided to head over to Fox Mill instead of Colt's Neck as we were getting bored of the same old trail.
The trouble is that we have gotten so used to the fast pace at Colt's Neck that we expected that same feeling at Fox Mill. Fox Mill is a trail that is meant to be explored. It is much more twisty then most of the trails in the area and there are only short sections which allow you to get up to full speed.
I have ridden here a lot, but it wasn't until this most recent ride that I fully appreciated the trail for what it is. This park is very dense. Ferns and other growth creeps in to the side of the trail leaving only a thin swath the width of your pedals. This makes for a different kind of ride as you cannot always see the terrain ahead and you are forced to be more reactive than proactive.
On this day, we explored a stretch of trail that we had not been on before. (I think there were always large trees down in front of this trail and therefore we assumed it was a dead end). Anyway, if you are familiar with the park, the trail I am referring to is an offshoot of them main Northeast trail which leads to Lawyers Road. If you take a look at this map you'll notice the trail to which I am referring. It starts near point 15 and heads to the right to meet up with Soapstone Drive. Dr.P and I followed the trail and came across a fun little creek crossing. The crossing looked challenging yet doable and recently Dr.P has found a daring streak in him so we could not leave the area without trying it.
We stopped to discuss the line we would take..."I'm thinking you go straight over this root, over the hump in the ground and take the steeper drop off onto the creek bed. Then over the plank, a quick right and power it up the other side..." We bantered like this for a minute and Dr.P decided to go for it. He made it down the one side fine but jumped off his bike after losing momentum on the other side..."This is definitely doable...you have to let the bike loose and let it carry you across the other side...just don't lose your momentum and let the bike do the work."
So I tried to heed this advice, yet ended up doing the same thing. Next Dr.P tried again...a little better this time but still not there. It was time for my second attempt...I held the brake a little too long and didn't let the bike go...I got partway up the other side when I did a reverse endo...I tried to twist out and off the bike, but I ended up in with one foot and my elbow in the creek...but everything checked out, just a little gash on the elbow.
After nearly doing an endo again on another small stream crossing we decided to head back to the main trail. We did a couple of loops in some of the faster sections. There are several nasty rooty sections and a few bridge crossings that make this park interesting and fun.
Anyway, all this to say that this trail is one where it is great to just stop and work on some skills or try some new things you wouldn't ordinarily try. There is a lot of variety in this park and it's worth checking out when you don't have time for an "epic" ride. Check out my full review.
