Feeling Like a Kid Again!

I have spent the last three days playing around on my mountain bike and doing the things I did when I was a kid. It has been refreshing and a pile of fun. Yesterday I went a few houses down the road and entered the woods behind our house. The past few years people on four wheelers have been creating trails and noise back there. It is very technical, at least for me, with short steep uphills and downhills and constant corners. It is not cleared out from downed branches and trees. I spent about 15 minutes back there before heading out back to the trails off Gilson Road. I guess these trails have a name and they are called the Southwest Park Trail-Yuddicky Farms. I biked through there both yesterday and again today.

Today I brought my camera to take some pictures to show my family. They will need to know where to come when I crash and need to be recovered! There is a lot of variety of trails for such a small area. I have yet to cross 111A where I hear there are more trails set up for mountain bikers.

This is where I enter (at the kiosk) off Gilson Road.


There are a variety of trails to ride on and the trails and scenery change quite frequently.


There is a very sandy section.


There are wooded sections,


grassy sections,


a little stream crossing,


and dirt trails.


Here is my bike.


This path was grassy at first,


but turned muddy quickly. It is funny that I have run down Gilson Road hundreds of times, running parallel to this section (the road is about 10 yards away) but I didn't really know exactly what a treasure was back here!


This is the start of the Rail Trail from Nashua to Ayer, Ma. off of Gilson Road and another place to park and access the trails to the left.


This is another entrance I found at the back of the Yudicky Farms playing fields off of 101A. You follow a paved path for a while before hitting the trails.



I have wanted a mountain bike for over 20 years, even though I had never ridden one. It is even more fun then I thought it would be. Put me on a road bike and I just like to go fast, put me on a mountain bike and I get to explore places.

I still haven't run since Thursday night. My right heel still feels funny and the bottoms of both feet still feel tight, but I am enjoying myself trying something new. It is nice not having to figure out why I can't run correctly for a change. My legs are feeling refreshed, but after about 5 hours in the saddle over the past 3 days, my butt is a little more than sore!