Wine and Mud – But Beware of the Pines and the Posts

I installed new Schwalbe Marathon tires on my Las Cruces cyclecross bike yesterday along with shifter and brake cables. For a shake down, I rode over to Trailside in Lake Carroll to pick up December's vino del mese – a bottle of 09 Pine & Post Merlot from Washington State. I arrived round 3:15PM, stuffed the bottle of vino in my backpack and headed out hoping to get home before dark.

On my way back, I decided to detour around the west and north side of the lake and hopped on Lake Carroll’s trail hoping to link up with Koch Road. Ron Mattson at Freeport Bicycle Company told me that Koch Road runs into the north end of Lake Carroll and links up with the trail. Before leaving home, I checked Google Earth and could just about make out that intersection.

Now, I’m on that trail, and the next thing I know, I'm riding down a super steep hill into the deep woods on a muddy rut with rocks as big as your fist. At the bottom was a creek, so I dismounted and hauled the bike over cyclocross style mud and all. I jumped back on and continued up the trail on the other side.

“Wait a minute,” said I to myself! “Was that farmer's lane I saw down there by the creek Koch Road?” Back down the hill I go through more mud, and up the lane. Now I'm pedaling through more ruts of soft greasy grass up a long hill for about a half mile.

At the top, I could see a house and prayed for a road. Praise the Lord! Koch Road! Needless to say I arrived home at 5PM with a big satisfied smile on my face. Wine & Mud are a great mix. Mountain bikes have their place too I’m sure, but not in my playbook.