Back in the Forest

Man, the second half of 2012 was tough for us. We both underwent pretty serious surgeries, and are both finally recovering to the point where we can be pretty active again. If you've followed this blog, you know that I put in a lot of volunteer hours in the Bracken Mountain Trail project, which is pretty much right in our back yard. The trail officially opened in July, but I had just had my ACL replaced in June, and I was able to barely hobble my way up to the grand opening.

Well a couple of weekends ago, we finally were able to witness the final product, on a nice hike from our back door.

 



 

We were pretty impressed with the trail system and our 5 mile hike. I can't wait until I can start riding it. The next weekend (last weekend), we went for a little gravel road ride at Dupont. My knee didn't feel great this day, but we still got a nice ride in.



The next day, we planned a hike to the top of Mt. Pisgah, but when we got to the BRP, they were closing the gates in anticipation of winter weather we were supposed to get that evening, so we turned around and drove up 477 to Bennett Gap trailhead for a short hike to the overlooks and back.





Today, I went for another gravel road ride at Dupont, since the high temp was ~70*. I sold my road bike, which was a Bianchi Vigorelli, and bought two cheaper cross bikes for Heather and I. I found her a nice steel Jamis Nova, and bought myself a Voodoo Wazoo. We've really enjoyed the cross bikes and prefer gravel roads over real roads by far.

 





My knee felt really good on today's ride, and I made some climbs that I never thought I'd be able to top at this point. I was very pleased. We should be hiking again tomorrow, so hopefully, I'll have some more photos to post.