Hammy East and Lock 4 Loops

Yesterday, I did a loop at Hamilton Creek East with Jimmy. Good ride, though my rear brakes mysteriously jammed about half-way through. Thankfully, Carl at Sun & Ski had given me a five-minute brake and derailleur lesson, and I was able to make a quick adjustment and keep riding. We also hit a paved loop east of the trail and zipped over the BMX track a couple of times. That BMX track was a lot of fun. Below is the capture from Jimmy's new Garmin 300 handheld GPS. We rode a little over 6 miles in all.

A quick gear note... For my anniversary, one of my presents was a Lizard Skins tube insulator for my Camelbak reservoir. It works as advertised. I'm thrilled I don't have to suffer the dreaded hot sip of water anymore.

Hamilton Creek 8-27-09 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Travel Community

Today, I rode again with Jimmy and Dan, this time a loop over at Lock 4, my favorite mountain bike trail in the area. It's just a good single track with a lot of stretches that allow for speed, and it offers several challenging climbs for me. I can tell I'm making gradual improvements in my riding. Today, I powered through all the climbs, and I rode most of the trail one to two gears higher than I have in the past. I also cleared obstacles that have forced me to clip out before. Below is my capture of the approximately seven-mile trail.

One place I did clip out and was glad for it involved the highest log jump on the trail. Just down about 25 yards stood a smallish 8-point buck with a pretty good sized rack still covered in velvet. Since I'd gotten off my bike, he didn't spook, and I just eased down the trail toward him, talking the whole time. He let me get within about fifteen feet and just stood there eating and watching me. Like the deer at Radnor, the ones at Lock 4 are so used to humans that they're basically big pets. Saw four more deer over the course of the loop, one of them a spotted fawn who defiantly blocked the trail until I said something.

Lock 4 Ride at EveryTrail

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