Adventure of the Day: Mountain Biking near Strasburg, VA

Last Saturday T-Rav* and I took off and went mountain biking near Strasburg, VA. It was pretty amazing.

First of all, where is Strasburg?  Here it is:

It was about an hour drive from our homes here in Arlington.  We got out there with this idea, "Hey, lets go mountain biking..." and we were kinda thinking of going to West Virginia, but Trav had gone hiking in this area before so we decided to give it a shot.

First we stopped in at the nearby Front Royal visitor's center and asked where some good mountain biking could be had.  They gave us some directions, and we took off for the nearby National Forest.

So we're driving through this wooded area, see a couple parking lots/turnoffs, and finally pick this one.  We get out, get changed into our biking gear, say hi to this dude and his family in the parking lot, then start riding.  Basically we rode straight uphill on a fire road for 2-3 miles, then we hit this cool little trail that crossed some creeks.  Eventually, made it to the far side of the ridge, rode uphill a little more, then hit the Strasburg Reservoir.

We met this couple there, who told us that if we went up the fireroad it would eventually get us back to our car.  Well, it didn't.  We just kept going up, and up, and up.  Eventually I called uncle and we started pushing, at which point it got even steeper.  We finally got to 'the top' of the road at this old tower, and met a Philmont Scout Ranch t-shirt wearing BoyScout leader who told us which way to go. 

So we take off, and its a rough rough trail.  We basically carried our bikes for ~ 2 miles over boulders.  As we kept going uphill.  Oh, and it started to rain.  Finally, we started going downhill.

I don't, however, have Travis' balance, and fell several times.  I got ripped out of my seat by a root that grabbed by pedal.  My front tire locked up once on a rock and I went over the handle bars, resulting in the very first time ever that I've dented a bike helmet (I'm still debating if its bad enough to justify buying a new one).  Then, as we're creeping down the mountain, finally able to ride, we meet this hardcore mountain bike girl, who cruises by us like its just another day.  We'd been biking/hiking about 3 1/2 hours (12 miles ish) at this point, and were exhausted.  Still, she said we were almost there, and the trail got way better just ahead. She was right, although she sailed past us even when we were moving at a decent pace.

Back to the car, we downed some gatorade, got changed, and headed to Front Royal for some Roy Rodger's (a fast food chain we'd never heard of) and back to DC.

All told it was a pretty great trip, but it tore Travis and I up plenty.  I passed out for a couple hours when we got back, and found all sorts of cuts, bruises, etc. I hadn't known about.

A little competition

So on Saturday I participated in my first in-person Crossfit competition.  Back in February I had done a competition, but that was over the Internet kinda sorta.  This was in person against other guys that were physically present.

These kinda competitions are pretty frequent these days in Crossfit, but most of them are 2 day (Saturday-Sunday) events, and most of them are at least geared toward the 'best of the best'.  This was not.  It was supposed to be kinda an intro style event, and it was only on Saturday, so I was game to try it out.

It was up in Baltimore, and consisted of 3 events.  The first event was a 2000 meter row on a rowing machine.  The second was a maximum deadlift in 10 minutes.  The third event was as many rounds as you could do in 10 minutes of (10 burpees, 20 pullups, 30 situps, 40 kettlebell swings using a 53# kettlebell, 50 air squats, and 100 double unders on a jump rope).

My brother Matt, my sister-in-law Raquel, and my nephews drove up to Baltimore to watch me compete in the first 2 events, which was pretty cool.  Matt snagged some pretty cool photos/video of me competing.  Although I was nowhere near the top guys in the Row/Deadlift events, I hit personal bests in both, so I was pretty happy.

Here's a video my brother made of me on my final deadlift, setting a personal best of 365 pounds.  You'll see me give the 'I'm done' wave at the end right before the fist pump.  I figure, I set a PR, I'm calling it quits rather than going further and failing a lift.  Failing is where you can get hurt, and I think (especially in a competition) can be hard psychologically because it sets up a wall instead of a stepping stone later on.

The third event, I did the 20 pullups unbroken, slowed down a little on the KB swings, but then I couldn't get my jump rope going, and wasn't super happy about how I finished.

All told, it was a fun day.  I don't think I'll be doing too many of these in the future, mainly because they seem to focus on Saturday-Sunday competitions.  Also, I enjoy exercising to better myself, not necessarily to beat other people.  While sometimes its good to know where you are, and see what possibilities exist, I'm not sure I need it that often.