First Trip to Lake Lurleen

I wanted to get a ride in today, and I noticed BUMP was having their monthly trail ride at Lake Lurleen in Tuscaloosa. I met them at McDonalds this morning and we headed down to the trail. Once there we got ready and hit the trail. I believe we went Clockwise and the trail started off pretty flat. After a run in with a jogger that would not get out of the way we finally all regrouped at the dam. Heading on we went down a hill and had a decent climb back up the other side. I was led to believe this trail was pretty flat, but I was pleasently impressed. It is definately easier than Oak Mtn, but it had some uphills and downhills that made it a fun ride. Me and Doug (the guy who writes the bike column in the paper) rode ahead and took the long trail at the wye. This section had really good flow and we were scooting through it pretty good (for a trail neither of us had ridden before). We made it back to where the trail joins together. After waiting for about 5 minutes we decided to circle back and ride this short (2.5) mile loop again. We figured it would put us in the back and we could try to catch everone else. We looped around again, this time attacking the trail a bit more agressively than last time. After this the trail had a couple interesting bridges and really good flowing sections. There were a couple whoopties that you could easlily hop and get a bit of air. There were a few small down and ups that reminded me of Swayback as well as a good down and up about 10 feet deep that led into a fun fast downhill. The trail came out on the road for the last bit and we met everone back at the vehicles. We sat around for a few minutes and had a beer as well as some Sushi that Mickey brought. I also tried a wasabi peanut and I am not really sure I liked it. I enjoyed the ride with these guys (and Girl) and will probably join them in the future for more rides.

Moran had been mentioning joining BUMP for a while, but with my busy schedule I kept putting it off. There are some things I would like to see at Oak Mountain to make it a bit more difficult and the best way to offer these suggestions is if I am helping with the changes. I am probably going to join shortly.