Not Talking About It

No, I'm not going to mention my horrific crash. There will be no gruesome injury pictures (even though I could provide some). I will not recount my childish display of temper as I rolled around on the ground in almost inhuman pain. I know I called up the bad mojo by mentioning earlier that day that I just didn't push hard enough to crash. Anyhoo I'm not talking about it so on to other things.

After last Tuesday's "incident" I felt compelled to take it easy for a couple of days. So when Sunday rolled around I still hadn't set up an afternoon ride. I had been wanting to go back to the Lines Tract Trails on the Gadsden Co. side of Lake Talquin for some time but for some reason most of my regular crew is afraid to leave Leon County to ride. It was such a perfect day I just had to get out, so after church I loaded up by myself, grabbed my music, and headed toward Quincy.

I wasn't surprised that there was nobody else at the trail head. I do question the logic of putting this system way out here, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the DOF building and maintaining the trail, but it appears to be very underused. The covered picnic tables, the grill, and the chemical toilet (I didn't really look at the toilet I just assumed) all looked like they hadn't been used in a while.

Yes the trail is there somewhere

The beginning of the trail is across a sandy hill that reminds me of the old Munson. I saw little evidence of bike tracks and in places the vegetation had grown across the path. After it dropped off the hill into the pines it was a little easier to follow until it started down into the hardwood hammock along the lake. I could see the blue blazes every now and then so I never really got lost but I admit I had to stop every once in a while to make sure I hadn't started bushwhacking by mistake. The views of the lake and the huge hardwoods made this my favorite section. If the trail had been beaten in it could have been a fun ride as well as scenic.

I was (am) still a little skittish from the "incident that I'm not talking about" plus being by myself made me ride even more conservative. But that was alright. I had good tunes, the sky was blue, and the woods were free of other people. After 9 miles I was back at the truck. It had taken me a little over an hour and I was wishing there was more to ride. After I downloaded the route onto Goggle Earth I could see plenty of room to expand the trail, the mileage could easily be double what it currently is. But why put in more of what nobody rides. It's a shame. There is so much underutilized state land on that side of the lake, if it were all tied together it could make epic trail system. But I don't know, maybe it's better this way.