This was super fun!!! And it was actually 6.5 miles - the Garmin turned itself off a mile in.

A couple of things for perspective:

1. The Watershed has the most technical trails in the region. Full stop. It’s famous for its downhills (one of those downhills has been ranked as #5 best MTB trail in the world!) and notorious for its climbs. The climbs are steep, rocky, covered in tree roots. It’s not uncommon to have to hop the front tire over rather large boulders. Sometimes you’re climbing or going down very loose, very chunky gravel. It can be VERY slow going unless you have a death wish, are super experienced, and/or are flying downhill. It is more apt for full suspension bikes. The stuff I’m doing on my hardtail out there is nothing short of impressive.

2. Carlos is fantastic on a mountain bike. He’s a natural. He doesn’t do crazy/stupid shit, but he’s bold enough that he has tons of try and won’t quit. He’s been going to the gym 4-5x/week, running 3x/week, and cycling with me for almost 4 months now, so his fitness levels are on a whole other spectrum nowadays. MTB is something he’s been wanting to do for forever, and he finally has the bike for it. He’s been obsessing over MTB technique videos the way I obsess over everything road cycling. He usually leads on trails, often even disappearing out of sight (which I’m fine with.) I’ll catch up at an intersections. (Roles are reversed on the road bikes…I’m the stronger rider there.) It works for me: I get to disconnect on the trails and just have fun, and be a roaring goals monster on the road bike.

I love that mountain and those woods so very much. I love how feral it all is, how it’s its own separate ecosystem up there (I’ll get to that in a minute!), that the trails are unmarked, and the fact that it’s so close to home I can see it from the apartment complex.

I elected what used to be our favorite hiking trail back in 2020 - hadn’t been up there in 5 years, and we’d never ridden it before, neither on horse nor bikes. There are 3 really beautiful lakes along the route, which is what made it our favorite loop for hiking.

As a newer rider, I have to have the right mindset for riding the Shed. Today I didn’t care about distance nor speed; I just wanted to be in the present. I unabashedly hiked some technical sections, but also went down rubble sections that a couple of months ago would have given me pause, climbed boulders, and hopped off steps for the first time. There’s one uphill section of narrow switchbacks covered in tree roots and rocks. I know every rock and root on that trail from hiking it so much. I took the lead here, snarling (literally 😆) my way up some of the more technical stuff, but I cruised all the way up at speed.

“Wow,” Carlos said once we were at the top.
“Why?”
“I was going to stop and hike some of those sections but then realized I needed to both continue AND keep up!”

Heck yeah! That meant something coming from him. :)

Apparently I’m turning into a climber on bikes. Downhills are a conscious effort to not white-knuckle the brakes, but uphills are this beautiful challenge (both road and MTB.) And those super technical uphills on trail…it’s such a power trip to be able to push my way up rocks and tree roots around hairpin turns…I have the strength and endurance for it now, but also the appropriate bike! I feel invincible.

We paused at the frozen lake for a quick snack. I looked up at the clouds rolling in above the treetops. “Hmmm that looks like snow.” Then laughed because I felt just like I would when hiking El Yunque and trying to decide if I could continue before it poured.

It did start to snow on the way back to the parking lot. (Like I said: the Shed is its own ecosystem!) We took the shorter route back because it had gotten SO COLD in the last 15 minutes. Once at the truck we confirmed that temps had dropped 10 degrees…the truck thermostat read 27 degrees.

It was awesome. I’m dying to go out on the road bike for longer rides, but we’ve had 20+ mph winds every day I’ve been off! I am so happy to have this cycling alternative for the winter! And the trails were perfect: frozen enough to be firm but not icy!

All the little “all time” medals made me laugh…they truly describe how challenging this ride was.

This is an intermediate loop posted by someone else…note the distance and time it took them. This is the average for the Watershed.

https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/88100805/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAOoy9FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeXK-IQ0eSQH5y8z40HDAGUZqSyrPY1gAwUL2mQSONcOR3GzpmzgeUY6I8rN4_aem_23Z4Og8oVnEEs0FAqat98A