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Laurel Hill MTB Exploration

Coming Out of Slaughterhouse
I know that my friend Cyndi is both a Facebook lurker and a wing paddle aficionado and so it was no surprise when my recent mention of having purchased a wing paddle drew an immediate comment from her. This led to some emails and somehow to a plan to go explore the mountain bike trails at Laurel Hill Park.

Dave, Cyndi and I met at the main parking lot. Cyndi arrived, as warned, sick as a dog, coughing, wheezing, and looking a little less than her usual robust self. "Great," I thought, "I might actually be able to keep up with them today." For you see, Cyndi is a gifted athlete who can humble most people in any number of activities, and Dave is not far behind (see the photo above - Dave is not far behind Cyndi). For better or for worse, any hopes of speed equity I might of had were dashed as soon as we started moving. I'm still something of a mountain biking newbie and as I tentatively started down the single-track Cyndi disappeared off ahead of me. Dave and Cyndi are, however, gracious and patient with those of us who lack super powers and so we generally hung together as we explored the trails. 

We headed out from the main parking lot and did the Giles Run Meadow loop then continued on the Cross-Country Trail to the Workhouse loop. From there we connected to the Dairy Barn, Pasture and Apple Orchard loops. That's pretty much the whole park except for the extra challenging Slaughterhouse and Power Station loops. We actually poked into the Slaughterhouse loop a little, exploring some log jumps and such but when the trail turned to vertical uphill twisties we decided to reverse course and leave the tough stuff for another day. Laurel Hill Park is carved out of part of the old Lorton prison complex and so the ride takes you not only through pastures and woods but also past abandoned guard towers and dormitories.

My ride was without incident despite bombing along at a much faster pace than usual, until near the very end when I inexplicably wiped out on a fairly straight, flat piece of trail. Fortunately, no harm done.

 It was great to see the elusive Dave & Cyndi (they've both been traveling a lot), enjoy a (finally!) warm spring day and stretch my MTB skills a little. 

At the end of the ride


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