Anonymous Communist

Little known fact: In his pre-political days, Abraham Lincoln was an avid mountain biker. I know this because this past Saturday, such a bike trail opened at Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site.

The trail’s Web site describes it as “physically demanding” and one that “will challenge the most seasoned rider.” I wouldn’t consider myself “the most seasoned rider,” but I don’t think I’m bland (to continue the seasoning metaphor), either. I figured that as someone with the legs and lungs to handle the 23 miles of the Wabash and Interurban trails averaging 15 mph on a mountain bike, I could reasonably handle 3 miles among the trees on the same bike.

I was wrong.

Normally, I get a little wistful when a bike ride comes to an end. But this past Saturday was the most grueling experience I’ve ever had on two wheels. I had never been so happy to end a bike ride in my life. “Physically demanding” is something of an understatement; this bike trail thoroughly kicked my ass.

Although the trail’s elevation profile suggests otherwise, it felt like the entire track was uphill. After less than a half-mile in, I was wheezing and gasping for breath. The inclines were tough enough, but the wet weather earlier in the week left the trail surface extremely slippery. After just a couple of minutes, my tires were filled in with mud. The steep grades necessitated very low gearing (no joke; I was in first or second gear the majority of the time). So combine steep grades, a slick track, worthless tires and low gearing and you get a lot of tire-spinning followed by a lot of pushing the bike up to a reasonably flat spot. And even pushing the bike was difficult at times; there were times I wished I had metal cleats instead of the All-Stars I was wearing.

There are a few spots that are actually somewhat dangerous. One place that stands out was a rather steep decline followed by a roughly 100-degree turn to the left. If you’re the type of rider who looks at where you are instead of where you’re going, you could ride right off the trail and down an embankment there. Other parts of the trail hug a shallow stream; lose control of your front tire and you’re falling about six feet into the drink.

While I managed to keep from falling into that stream, I did crash in other spots — a total of eight times, three of which were of the launched-headfirst-over-the-handlebars variety. One crash stands out in particular: On one downhill section, I felt my back tire get squirrelly after squeezing the brake. I continued straight downhill — with a tree directly in my path — as the trail began to veer to the right. I had no choice but to lay the bike down — with me still on it — to avoid hitting the tree.

On the positive side, the trail surface itself was great — mud aside, of course. Compared with the Lick Creek trail off Lake Springfield, the New Salem track was a baby’s ass in terms of exposed roots and trees across the trail. The terrain was varied, too: Lots of twists and turns and switchbacks and whoopty-doos. There were a couple of stream crossings, one of which had to be named Ballbuster Creek after the sensation I got while crossing. And I have to think that traction would be much improved with a bit of dry weather.

And, as the post title suggests, it was quite pretty: