A Novice XC Rider Discovering the Trails of Brandon

There are some good trails near Brandon at Brandon Hills that I have been enjoying starting last summer and continuing into this summer. I probably am not cycling regularly enough to achieve significant adaptation to the stress of cycling, but I am enjoying it just the same. (Most weeks I only cycle once and don't do a lot of endurance activity otherwise.)

I am not setting any world records, but it is an interesting skill to develop.

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Above is my most recent ride up at Brandon Hills where I decided that since the route I was taking only took at most 51 min, I might as well skip the rest stops and just go. I am slowly learning how the bike handles on the trail and how to manage turns and the ups and downs a little more fluidly. I felt like I was getting pretty good. But, reality has come along today to rectify my delusion.

I was reminded later that day about a trail on the North Hill in Brandon (Hanbury Bike & Hike Trail / North Hill Loop). It was posted as a trail on trailforks and I thought I should try it out. It is marked as Green/Easy. I did not find it so.

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I do believe I will have to practice harder to be able to handle this course. I have just today learned the value of a helmet by personal experience. I was misled onto a faux path that led to a bridge to nowhere and my front wheel caught fast in a rut that was deep enough and terminated abruptly enough that the wheel did not bump over the edge. The front wheel decided it would no longer make forward progress and my momentum pulled the bike into rotational motion around the ridge of dirt that stopped the bike from moving forward. I went over the handle bars and ended up with the seat of the bike landing on my helmeted head. Pretty soft landing, considering.

I went down the tobogganing hill and didn't fall there, but did catch some air. When I landed, my handle bars did a bit of a jerky left turn which I reflexively turned back straight. Maintaining pedal contact was a bit sketchy too. Certainly a highlight for me.

The other tumble was a bit more complicated, but suffice to say that after some failed maneuvering about some rocks I lost control of the bike and tried every trick in the book to avoid a fall but ultimately lay on the ground somewhat removed from my bike but nevertheless unharmed. More of a side dismount, I believe.

Later on I got to the smiley face that is visible from 18th Street. I had to do some walking to get there.

"Come See Again." ...I'll think about it.

There is plenty of interesting terrain on this course and I hope to try again some day. I will likely still have to walk through portions of the trail, but I would like to have a proper completion of the trail without any missed sections. I may want to do a confidence builder or two before I go back.