MORE: Rosaryville
thanks joe foley!
and happy birthtday!
went to rosaryville on sunday afternoon right before the summer storm
we got rained out... but the day was not an entire wash
it is not unusual for me to be slow out of the gate at the start of the day
morning is not my time
there is only so much that coffee can do
there was no set start time and I had not really considered the weather
so I meandered about as I got a family's worth of bikes ready for the day
it was well over an hour of patching flats, cleaning and lubing chains, sliding rear wheels back to tighten chains, collecting helmets and gloves, then packing the car
things took so long that we departed at a time that seemed pretty close to lunch
it is under an hour drive to the trailhead
forty minutes into things the complaints started
dad... I am hungry
the message was clear
I was hungry too
it was important that everyone ate before we got onto the trail
I know what it is to try and ride hungry
I know what it is trying to guide a child's behavior when all they can think about is their empty stomach
I proposed Pizza Hut because the kids love pizza and because there is a Pizza Hut right next to the Rosaryville State Park entrance
the food was fast and inexpensive
the setting was clean and the server was polite
a recap of the tour was playing on a television so blinded by snow like static that it was hardly worth watching
but it was the tour de france recap and I could not look away
the pizza came and dad economized by having everyone hydrate
rather than the soda drink option
everyone filled their bellies
on one of the many intermittent glances to see if the bikes were still on top of the car I noticed the dark clouds collecting in the distance
then at the bottom of the television screen was a severe thunder storm warning
all the places listed were south of our location
not too far south
we paid the check and directed our attention to the trailhead
I had lisa and the boys warm up as I attached the trail-a-bike to my trusty old Surly Karate Monkey
even though grant would be riding the trail-a-bike I brought his two wheeler as well
not for the family
but maybe for sampling some dirt
thought I could run along side of him or get him on flat patch for some back and forth
the warm up was to give everyone a chance to get comfortable on the bikeespecially lisa
it has been a while since lisa has ridden
I was not sure how comfortable she would be with the unfamilar SRAM shifting mechanism and the clipless pedals
lisa was riding a loaner from The Bike Lane
lisa is currently bike shopping
the three of them warmed upwhile I pulled the karate monkey from the roof and the trail-a-bike from the interior
in no great rush not really fearing the clouds I snapped some photos after attaching the mechanism to the bike
meanwhile people were packing up and leaving
people who were finished riding and others who were deciding not to ride
we went riding
it was a hoot a hollar and a screamit took some adjusting to learn that it made most sense for lisa to lead and me to hang back with Dean
but once we got that figured out we had a pretty good flow
Dean crashed a number of times and was not able to clear all of the climbs
but in so many ways this is his first time mountain biking
if nothing else it is his first time mountain biking on this sort of terrain
it is something that needs to be learned
we learn what we are capable of and we learn how to muscle the climbs and flow the tight turns
Grant gave me a complete commentary
it was hillarious
grant could not stop talking about how the trails were like the jack rabbit at kennywood
the play by play about the butterflies in his stomach gave me butterflies
both dean and grant cheered and asked for more after the creek crossing
the storm was brewing around us
wind started along with some rain
the rain was slight
big drops but not yet a steady downpour
the canopy caught a good deal of the starting rain
dean commented on the swaying trees
lisa questioned if we should turn around
lightning is a Power Ball odds
yet there are some things I do not like to leave to chance
we went a little further and then when it seemed like a good place to turn around and things were about to turn up we started heading back
I smiled in the fact that we got to go as far back as we had gotten to come out
the boys impressed me on their ability to antipate things on the reversed trailit was predictable that they were both waiting for the stream crossing
when we got back to the car the rain really picked up
along with the wind
thunder and lightning hammered down
I loaded up the car as everyone else put on their seat belts
the rain continued but never really picked up
some powerlines were down on the main road and then the rain seemed to have stopped
I stopped the wiper blades
we were close enough to turn around but we stayed the course for home
I felt that we had a good day thus far and the wet roots and slippery turns would only taint our awesome experience at Rosaryville State Park
everyone was glowing
instead of going home I dropped Lisa off with the boys and their bikes on Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park
I did not give lisa and excuse
I just dropped her off
but honestly.. my legs were tired from the Liberty Jamboree the day prior
it was several hours of high intensity interval style stages in the woods