This past Sunday morning Dr. P stopped by to coordinate a ride. He had some chores to do in the morning so we decided on a ride in the afternoon. Thank goodness, as I was still recovering from a late night out the night before. We debated between riding Fountainhead or Schaeffer Farms in Maryland (a full review to follow shortly), and settled on Schaeffer as neither of us had been there before.
We knew Schaeffer was a popular mtb destination, but were amazed at the number of riders in the small parking lot when we arrived. I would say there were nearly as many riders starting their rides (around 2:30 pm) as had ended. There was even a group that was tailgating after their ride.
After a few laps around the lot to make sure the bike was ok we checked out the map to orient ourselves and come up with a game plan. We decided to start to the left around the white trail; do nearly a full loop and connect up with the yellow trail.
The trail was in great condition and was a fast ride. We remarked repeatedly on the flowing nature of the trails with many log-hops thrown in for good measure. Dr. P has become a regular Paul Bunyan as it seems no logs will stand in his way.
At the end of the white loop we stopped frequently at each trail intersection to compare with the map to make sure we knew where we were. It was at this point that we ran into a couple (Emil and Kate) riding together that seemed to be doing the same thing. They joined up with us and we rode the remaining two thirds of the trail together with them.
When we started off Dr. P took the lead, I was next, Emil, and then Kate. In no time Emil was riding my ass and I realized that he was a better biker than he let on and that I was probably holding him up. We crossed the wide-open fields and really flew that section, the whole time with Emil breathing down my neck. At one point we were going so fast that I nearly bit it from the sheer speed along with the ruts in the field. Well, it turns out that Emil actually did bite it hard, but none of us knew it because he was right back on our asses by the time we met up again at the entrance to the woods.
At one point we stopped to catch our breath and talk a bit. We learned that both Emil and Kate are budding attorneys each in their third year of law school. Emil had been riding for several years, while Kate had only begun to ride within the last year.
The group concluded that Emil should take the lead as we were all holding him back. He set a strong pace for the rest of the ride. At times he would break out far ahead of the group and we threatened to sue him for conduct unbecoming of a mountain biker if he didn't wait up. Meanwhile Kate, despite being a beginner, was clearly holding her own with the group; strong on the climbs and steady on the technical sections.
We also ran into a single-speeding bio-chemist named Steve. We learned that he is a regular at Schaeffer and he offered up several tips about the trail. He rode with us for a while rounding out this well credentialed group (a biochemist, a Ph.D, two would-be JDs, and an M.S.) Steve also warned us that there were many ticks in this park and that we should check ourselves thoroughly after the ride. Sure enough on the drive home I found a tick burrowing into my leg.
All in all this was a great ride that was made better by the people we met on the trail. Dr. P and I declared that Schaeffer Park would now become a regular part of the rotation.
(Oh, and if Emil, Kate, and/or Steve want to ride again shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment.)
