BLORA

So some friends and I went to BLORA today, just outside of Killeen, TX. Not a bad run at all.

There are Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert Trails there. We took all the Intermediate ones since this was the first time for all of us. I was expecting to have to pay an entrance fee to get in but apparently since I'm military I got in for free. Looks like I just found my new hang out. Took us about 3 hours to make it all the way through the 8 or so miles of trails. We were moving pretty slow, due to lack of experience and well to be honest, I have the flu and have no business even being outside right now. I've been planning this run all week and didn't want to dip out due to a little touch of the flu. There were some really great downhill sections we encountered. Pretty much the first 6 to 7 miles of the intermediate trails were very slight elevation changes, which brings me to the last couple of miles. It was pretty much straight up and switchbacks every 20 feet or so. It was a real smoker. The ground on these steep uphill sections was very soft and allowed for a lot of spinning tires. I ended up walking most of the way up. Hopefully here soon I'll be able to do the whole 8 miles without touching the ground on foot. At least its a goal I have in mind anyway. The vast majority of the trails were pretty rocky and some relatively nice drop offs. Nothing too crazy. There were several sections that looked like it was a wash out area that was just all rock. Those sections made for some interesting stuff. The trail as a whole was very well maintained just the occasional low hanging tree branch or stump in the way, but easy enough to get through. This was my first experience on actual single track mountain bike trails. It was an absolute blast. I'm sure the more I ride it the more my skill level will improve and I'll be ready to move on to some more interesting places. I'm completely exhausted but it was so worth it, and its pretty close to home too so that makes it even better. I highly suggest checking this place out if you are close to the Killeen, TX area.