Posted on July 14, 2018 in Cycling Mountain Biking
Today I felt a little lazy and didn't have a planned ride with my people to a destination outside of town. We rode from home up the Chain of Lakes multi-use trail and onto the Flipside. Lots of kms on the bike, although on the pavement, before heading into the woods in what needs some work still. This used to be a prime destination for mountain biking in the city for many years. park behind the Burger King in Bayers Lake, and ride! The trails were, unfortunately, sanctions like most in Nova Scotia, and so the area has been clearcut and threatened for years of more box stores being built, then a stadium, then a hospital, the more box stores. The development threat has gone on and on and so most trail maintenance has stopped. A few years back a few local folks made a new trail entrance on the opposite side away from the planned development. This trail links up to the all the Whopper trails but also includes some new trails and the older Flipside trail which also links you on a trail in an adjacent protected Wilderness area where bikes are illegal to ride. Nobody has ever seen enforcement. Currently, a hospital is being built, but Flipside and Suzy Q are safe at this time.
We rode Flipside today, then I came down hard on the side of a rock which rolled my tire bead off just enough to catch some pebbles in there. I lost air. I tried to fill the tire back up with my CO2 without realizing my bead was compromised. I fixed the bead but didn't have any air left to fill the tire with. I had enough air ride with, but barely. We continued to ride but did skip Suzie Q.