Fifty x check

I haven't been riding much due to injury and heat and feeling discouraged by the knee thing today was the day,excited to ride solo and wander about.I took the cross check (http://www.surlybikes.com/) out been a while and I've missed riding it. We rode together last week for the first time in months and it was a sweet reunion. I"ve decided to ride it more being my only geared bike, my knee thanks me. I should have ridden it more but the QuickBeam(http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/index.html) and the ss.m.t.b took priority.I feel a little guilty, she's been so good to me.
Off we went heading to the sometimes mundane,methodical N.C.R trail http://www.dnr.state.md.us/greenways/ncrt_trail.html in White Hall. I new I wanted to head north, Glen Rock seemed like a good distance, it's like eighteen or so from my straw shack.
Its all climbing from White Hall to New Freedom then she descends like nobody's business, well it feels good when you get over the hump, like fresh legs and smooth sailing,a section before G-Rock I was rolling twenty five-six millsperher, I am by no means bragging numbers today, It just felt really good to be riding , I wore a big grin the entire time.
I reached destination and wanted more,I think it was in the back of my head before I threw a leg over that I wanted to waste myself,not the brightest thing to do when your out of shape, but that bike and trail are pretty forgiving.
So I figured twenty five was a good place to turn around.
I have ridden to G-Rock a number of times, but only once before had I gone farther,(I went to Lake Redman) so I felt all adventurous and junk,saw some cool bike sculptures that were really big and soaked up the unfamiliar scenery,back yard gardens busting, streams wet and graceful, hit 25 on the computer coasted to a tenth and turned around,knowing that this is when the work begins. Climbing and there is a head wind,aha, that's why I was rolling so fast. Whatever its still a rail trail and its what I want to do.I ride through a rain shower ,It doesn't cool things down but its fun to be in the elements.
I 'm happy to arrive in New Freedom and start the decent, and again it's like a fresh start,sort of. Blow back to W-Hall you can haul asss on that trail! But I'm feeling it, the leg cramps are beckoning,so I coast a bit and try to work them out,it helps but they end up doing me in,had to stop twice on the road climb home and regroup. So be it, I knew it would happen when I walked out the door, weird I didn't feel bonked just my legs had enough.

That was a super fun ride on the N.C.R.