Dirt Church. Let’s make this a thing for realz.

For the last four weeks or so, some PAX and some other dudes have been meeting Sunday mornings to make Pocahontas State Park’s newest trail system their collective b*tch.   Meeting at the Courthouse Church of Christ before their first service, we put ourselves in a spot to warm up (1.7 miles of gravel before hitting the trailhead) and to save on parking fees.

The Thang:

Fendley Station Trail and Loop A (gravel) to Sunsetter (a rad flow trail) to Bell Lap Return (also… rad) to Blueberry Hill downhill (even radder).  Escape out to fill bottles and then up to the Morgan Green Trail (old school leaf-covered single track) and then back to finish Blueberry Hill Return.  Then a single lap of the wackiness that is Freight Line, and then more gravel to the car.    18-20 miles depending on whether you had to turn around to find your friends or not.   900 or so feet of climbing.

Notes:

Sure is a lot of fun being on the Pocahontas trails these days… we are truly blessed to have access to the MTB resources we have!  YHC has ridden many of the Commonwealth’s trail systems, and gladly stays close to home.

Very glad these guys came out to continue the month-or-so-old tradition that is “Dirt Church”.  We’ve been kinda doing this every Sunday for a while… Mr. Roper and his homie and I started it one week, and then add Mongoose joined us for another… Then Lab Rat came with a friend, and Wheelie was there once and Johnsonville was there…  you get the idea, and I forget the details.

This week, we prepped via group text, and rolled out at 0800.  We warmed up with gravel.   I think everyone dug Sunsetter (YHC’s fave in the system).   We picked up BT’s homie, Nate, up the hill (these days, you can almost ALWAYS find someone you know at the top of the Swift Creek Trails) and dragged his ass around with us.  We went down the hill, over the creek, through the woods, and back up.   Good stuff.   I think BT has a little MTBer in him… we will see.  Best part of today’s ride:  NO ONE DIED.

We all know we all have limits.  The best part about riding mountain bike trails with friends is that we can always push ourselves to these limits, or beyond them, and become better riders, regardless of fitness and skill level. Ride your bike.  Just ride.

Dirt Church should be continuing going forward.  Sundays at 0730 or 0800.  Two hours of trails with bailouts available for the time-constrained.  YHC is always glad to Q anytime.