New Riders In The Pack!

Had a fun ride today with some new friends at Gateway Park in Fort Worth today!  Kim Hayden and her son Mark, joined us for the first time this morning.  Kim works with me at ATX, and it was  her first time for off-road riding single-track trails.  We've only known each other a few weeks, but she was so easy to make friends with, and has such a bright and positive personality, we got along well right from the start.  And, after getting acquainted and trading information on favorite hobbies, of course, cycling with my pack mates came up.  Next thing I know, Kim asked if she can come ride with us, and shortly after she's bought a brand new Schwinn and all the equipment she needs to go with it. 

Kim  & her Schwinn 

I have to tell you, for her first time out, she chewed it up and her Schwinn did great!  Mark's bike is a Jeep Cherokee (yes, you read that correctly), and wow!  Hot bike!  No kidding, it really is - right down to the disc brakes!  I didn't even know Jeep made cycles, but after seeing his, and how it performs, I'm nearly ready to cheat on Schwinn.  I won't, but the Jeep cycle is some impressive competition.
 
We kept to the beginner and intermediate trails on today's ride.  Kim had been worried we might ride too fast for her to keep up.  As it turned out, it was us having to keep reminding her to slow down, lol.

Mark's Jeep Cherokee with disc brake system

 But, try as we might to keep her safe, she still managed to succumb to her first wipe out.  It was a truly impressive one!  I reallllly wanted to take a pic, but she might have smacked me, and Mark and I had our hands full trying to disentangle her from the tree stumps and her cycle just to get her back on her feet.

Last time we rode this park, Jared and Luke Skywalker took center stage with wipe outs.  Jared made it through his uninjured, but Luke Skywalker came home banged up, scratched up and nursing a fractured hand.  Thankfully, though Kim's crash was sizable, nothing was broken on her or her cycle.  It always makes for a much better outing when no one gets hurt.

We also found some new spots to explore today.  The 'park police' have opened up some areas that have been closed since we first started riding there. One of them is an area that would be a marsh, if Fort Worth wasn't still enduring a massive drought.  Still, it was new territory for us to investigate, so we parked our wheels on a descending bridge, and hiked our way to the river bank.  I was so relieved that no bugs tried to hitch a ride on me, and I didn't see any snakes.

We haven't ridden this park enough to be overly familiar with it.  Luke Skywalker and I pretty much failed in excellence as tour guides.  We remembered enough to be able to warn our new friends about the steeper dips and climbs, and tight spots where the trail runs tight between trees, but we had trouble remembering where to find the trail entrances. 

With the first relief from triple digit weather in months, the park was overflowing with visitors today.  Luckily, most of them were playing in the dog park with their pets, and the leftovers were playing soccer.  We saw a few others cyclists, but most of them were heading into the advanced riding area, leaving the intermediate trails unclogged. 

Jared and Torres didn't ride with us today.  Jared had a bout of insomnia last night and was just too fatigued to make the trip.  Torres being AWOL was my fault.  I forgot to text her to let her know about the ride.  She wasn't happy with me about it either, but thankfully, she's the forgiving sort, lol.
Hopefully, I'll get my interview done early tomorrow, and finish up a couple of articles in time for us to get in a ride with her when she finishes her shift at Laurel Land. 

When we finished this morning's ride, Luke Skywalker and I had to make a shop-run, to find a replacement bladder for his new hydro-pack.    When we finished, and got back to our neighborhood, Lukas re-outfitted my Sidewinder with some upgraded equipment that I've had for weeks, but haven't had the time or the know-how to put on yet. 

My sidewinder is now outfitted with a new saddle and bull-horns.  I took it for a short spin to check for seat adjustment, and wow .... it felt like I was riding someone else's bike, lol.  The new bars are wonderful, and the new saddle is much more comfortable and way less bulky than the standard Schwinn saddle it came with.  The new one is a Schwinn clear gel with a more narrow back and horn.  The new gear made for such a nice change, I was ready to pack the bikes back in The Dually Beast and head back to the park.  But by then, I'd been awake for pushing 30 hours so decided I should probably call it quits for the day and get some sleep.  I'll wait until tomorrow to try out the new stuff where it counts.

The spectacular weather had cyclists of all types and ages out for rides today.  A couple of them were kind enough to let me snap some pics of them while Lukas and I were running errands.

Touring bike  - pretty ride

A Dad and his girls out for lunch at Fuzzy's

 This one I found parked in front of Henry's store.  I'm pretty certain it's antique.  Whoever rides it takes good care of it.  Not a single rust spot, tires in good shape, and no tears or cracking in the saddle or on the handle bar grips.  The paint didn't have any scratches on it either.

That was it for today's pack ride.  If you'd like to see the entire photo collection of our outings, you're welcome to view them at facebook.com/femmeflashpoint in the Pack Rides photo album.  It's an ever developing collection with some great ride shots in it.

TempoJunkee beat our pack to the helmet cam video footage of riding Gateway.  Click his nic to watch the video.  He did a great job on it, and hopefully, you won't feel motion sick while viewing the footage.

Thanks for reading, happy trails and stay safe!