Trail of Tears Again

We had a fabulous time again this past weekend. Jason has turned into a bit of a wonderful motivator.   He is really helping me remember to push myself and keeping me motivated and moving. 

Our weekend started off with our normal grocery trip extravaganza. We typically end up going into three stores… Mostly because I’m cheap and we can get different things quite a bit cheaper at some places.  We went early and got all of our stuff purchased  and put away by 10:30 on Saturday morning. We grabbed the bikes and out we went. We decided to head to my favorite park and we decided to also take it easy and not really push ourselves too hard. I still pushed myself really hard.  There was one area that I have never even attempted, and I was determined to do it. I kept my head down and I was really chugging on.  I didn’t even tell Jason I was going to attempt it, I just kept riding toward the section and motioned him with my hand to keep going!  I was killing it until I looked up and forward and saw how much more I had to go to complete it.  At that moment my body just gave up....or rather my mind gave up and my body believed my mind!   No worries, I’ll get that one eventually. I have so many things that I need to conquer… And I will! It was a really good ride… And might I even say, it was a little bit fun!

We went home, and dropped off the bikes and within a very short period of time we were heading back out the door. We decided to walk all around downtown Frederick, the town where we live. 3 1/2 to 4 hours later, and my legs were toast! We moseyed through quite a few stores but the highlight (for me at least) was the open house at one of the old churches in downtown Frederick. The congregation for this church founded in 1784...that’s some age right there!  

Pipe Organ

We got home, showered and we had our weekly picnic… Grilling our dinner. I was one tired girl by the time we went to bed!!

On Sunday, I woke up and actually felt pretty good. I had a little stiffness maybe, but overall I was feeling pretty good. So we grabbed the bikes and out we went. Jason left the final decision of where we were going to bike that day up to me. I was so nervous when I suggested that we go to the trail of tears. Seriously, this trail has chewed me up and spit me out on so many occasions. Like here  Or here .    So, it is always with fear and trepidation that I go to the trail of tears. But, there was also a small amount of idle curiosity within me. You see, we had not been to the trail of tears in over a month. I have been riding religiously throughout that one month though. How would my body do on this trail. (And the trails that I do ride, are pretty difficult… Some of them are even ranked more difficult than the trail of tears… I just have some mental block to the trail of tears) but, I suggested it and off we went. Jason kept telling me that we didn’t have to do the whole thing and to not forget that it’s OK to walk. I hit the trail and I am proud to say that I made it the whole way out to the turnaround point without having to walk my bike over any hill!   I did still walk through the one feature… But I rode every other inch of that trail. There were sections that were hard for sure. But, they were not as hard as they used to be. Yeah, it kind of  shocked me to find it easier this go round!!!  I was so excited at the turnaround mark because I had ridden every section of the trail! I had not walked! I had not stopped to cry! 

  I was worried about the trip back though!   I knew I had at least an hour of riding to get back to the car!  I told Jason that I was worried and he reminded me that I can always stop to rest and I could always walk. I honestly fully expected to have to walk. I started back.  There were some sections that I was slow as molasses on the way back. But I am here to tell you, that other than that one big dip of a feature… I rode every inch of the trail back to the car! Yes, I surely did. So now for the really big announcement about the trail of tears… There were a few fleeting moments of fun-ness that happened. I’m not going to say it was all fun… I’m not even gonna say it was half fun… Because I would never admit something like that!  (Hahaha. Jason says someday I will admit it!).  But there were moments of fun for sure. I was flying on some sections… And I love to go fast! Am I ready to rename this trail to something other than trail of tears? Nope! Honestly, I think it will always be the trail of tears for me… Even though Jason insists that eventually I’ll call the trail of tears easy.

We dropped the bikes off at home at around 2 o’clock at home and since we were already sweaty and hot we figured why not go out for a hike. We didn’t go long or hard. Just an hour in the woods. Just enough to stretch our legs! By the time we were done… I was totally fried. Even Monday morning I was aching  something fierce. My biggest issue is the arthritis in my knees. But that’s OK, I know that I did good for my body this weekend!

We are killing it on the trails!   I just may become a badass mountain biker yet!!!