It’s mid-October and I actually had to turn the heat on in the house. That means it’s getting cold outside. While that doesn’t really stop me from mountain biking, it certainly does slow me down. I did my usual day off from work ride at Cherry Plain State Park, but this time it was 43 degrees according to the car thermometer. With a base layer, long sleeve jersey and cool weather tights, I headed up the dirt road to the first trailhead. In a previous post I had said that fall is my favorite time of year for mountain biking because it is so quiet and there is no one else on the trails. Well, I think some others feel the same way. When I pulled up the the Park entrance, three horse trailers were blocking a side road/parking area. I didn’t come across the horses and riders, but while I was finishing up my last two miles, I did encounter a hunter. He wasn’t hunting, but he was sighting in his rifle. He wasn’t some back hills yahoo just shooting, he was actually a park employee in a very remote area shooting away from the trails. That is one indication that the mountain bike season is just about over in the northeast or, at least in my part of New York. With the hunting season coming, I normally take November completely off from mountain biking.

One more mountain bike race for the season, the NYS MTB Series Finally at Riedlebaur’s Resort in Round Top, NY, and then five or six more cyclocross races.