Accotink Trail

One of Kevin's favorite local bike trails is the Accotink trail. There's a 4 mile loop around Lake Accotink, which is about 8 miles south of our house. The ride ends up being about 20 miles total. Kevin was waiting patiently to take me on this ride, and on Saturday I decided I was ready.

I ended up not being quite as ready as I had though. Kevin warned me that the trail is more packed dirt and gravel than asphalt. I looked up my bike's specs to make sure it would be alright. There were several reviews on the site where I'd bought it from people successfully taking it on the Accotink trail, so I knew the bike at least would be fine. And there's a short gravel path near my house, so I assumed I knew what I was getting in to.

Unfortunately the trail was much bumpier than I was prepared for. There was a section of really old asphalt during that caused enough bouncing around for my boobs to hurt. It's probably not entirely fair to call the trail poorly maintained, since it is maintained to the expected standards. But I got used to my nice asphalt trails, and the bumpy, jittery trail was a lot for me to handle.

That said, the trail itself was gorgeous. There's a small section that runs along the highway, but the rest is in the woods. Although it follows a stream down to a lake, the entire thing is surprisingly flat. It's just barely downhill on the way to the lake and just barely uphill on the way home. There were some hills around the lake, but only one of them really caused me problems. I had to get off my bike and walk it up the hill. Then I opted to walk it back down the other side instead of attempt the steep and narrow trail down.

I'm glad I did this ride. I just won't be doing it again any time soon. Though I could cut out the part that really gave me trouble. And now that I know what to expect in terms of bumpy trails it might be better in the future. Even the shoddy asphalt was easier to ride over on the way home than on the way out. Maybe once I get more advanced I can become more familiar with the trail. Knowing what to expect makes it easier. But in the meantime I'll be sticking to my well-maintained asphalt trails. There's certainly no shortage of them.