BPW and Hojack

I took vacation from work this morning to ride at Bay Park West. When I started it was under 60°F. Nice and cool. I was able to recreate the hill climbs I accomplished last time I was there without much problem, including the climb from the parking lot near the Fish and Game Club, and the climb out to Homewood Lane. Actually, come to think of it, there wasn't any climb I didn't succeed at. Oh wait, there's a little 5 foot section coming out of an old creek crossing that gets me every time. I don't think I even try very seriously because it's just not happening, but I should work on it.

The logs are the biggest challenge for me.  Some day I'll learn to hop them.

Because of the roller-coaster of hills at BPW, I accumulate mileage very slowly. And because of the route I like to take, at about the 4 mile point I find myself deciding whether to commit to nearly doubling that of just heading out. Not wanting to push things, I decided to head out.

Instead, I decided to ride the Hojack Trail in Webster before calling it a day. As an old railroad bed, this trail is flat and tame. I was able to ride my high gear the whole way with no problem. I did shift to low gear at several road crossings. Last time I rode there was after the winter thaw, and the trail surface was a mess. At this point it's back to normal.

Looking at the stats of both rides really shows how different these trails are:

Bay Park West	Hojack Trail
5 miles in about 1.5 hours Average speed: 3.4mph	6.8 miles in about 45 minutes Average speed: 9mph

Halfway through the Hojack, my left knee was starting to bother me as usual.  Before turning around for the return trip, I sat down and stretched it out.  After that it felt 100%!  It got sore again before I was done, but I was amazed at how much the stretch helped.  I'm still hopeful that I'll completely rid myself of any pain during a reasonable ride, say 20 miles or less.  But until then, I hope I can use stretching to push on.

Muni at Hojack Trail - 2011-09-14

Muni at Bay Park West - 2011-09-14