3rd Annual Chunky Dunk Duathlon Race Report

This is one of my favorite races. I did the Chunky Dunk back in 2011 when it first started. I had an amazing experience due to the awesome event staff and race director, that I knew I’d be back. And I was. I did it last year, but never wrote a race report. I had kind of an off year with blogging.

This year was the 3rd annual Chunky Dunk Duathlon and as a new addition this year, they had a paddle board race and swim as an option. My friend, Alyson came and did the race with me for the 2nd year in a row and we did the usual swim/run race, but it was nice to see them branching out!

In usual race fashion, I set out my stuff the night before and aimed to get a good night’s sleep. And in usual race fashion, I didn’t go to bed until 2 am. Happens all the time. I know I’m not the only one!

After getting checked in and tatted up with my race number, I realized that I had gotten a T-shirt for paddle boarding instead of the Chunky Dunk. So I went over to exchange them. On my way back to the set up area, my posse informed me that I had gotten the wrong race number. Sure enough, I wasn’t Meredith... and I wasn’t number 33 either. That was disappointing. I was kind of excited that I was number 33 because that’s my age! It’s the little things that excite me, I tell you. Instead I was number 65. They had looked at my age instead of my race number when pulling my packet. Since I had already been written on in sharpie, I got block numbers on me to cover up the mistake. I calculated that it would come off in approximately 32 days. Turns out, rubbing alcohol takes of off in about 10 minutes. Maybe 2 for regular numbers. But with half my arm blackened, it was a bit longer. Holly, I’m looking at you on this one.

See? Not me!

As I was getting ready, I realized I was again breaking the cardinal rule of racing by trying out something new on race day. Goggles. I had been having issues with my goggles because they were old and fogged up really bad within seconds of starting a swim. So I bought a new pair. It was the same brand so I figured it would be fine. It wasn’t. I had issues with the straps pulling loose and not fitting into the bracket, resulting in loose fitting goggles. I actually used them for the first time at the Mass State Triathlon  and I had the same issue then too. You’d think I’d learn

They started race announcements and told us that because there were a bunch of different races going on at the same time they were going to have all the swim/run racers start in one wave together instead of in 4 waves as planned. Damn, I was hoping for a head start!  

We headed out on the half-mile swim and I realized I couldn’t see the buoys. So I just followed the hoard of people in front of me and figured I’d see the buoy when I got close enough to it. I was right. And it was fine. Got the swim done, hit the beach with my usual out of water pose and headed to the transition area to get my sneakers on for the run.

Who am I kidding? I didn’t run. This was my first running in a race since 2012 sometime and my first time running in at least a month. I was in no way shape or form ready to run. But I kind of did it anyway. I did a bit of running, or jogging really, but walked most of it.

A few people were behind me in the swim, but passed me on the run, no surprise there, so I was the last finisher of the swim/run. Normally being last place would bother me as it has in the past with my mantra of I don’t care where I finish as long as I finish, and I’m not last. But when I realized I could still feel accomplished even when I finish last, like I did at the Mass State Triathlon, I wasn’t so bothered.

I was however disappointed with myself for not training at all. I certainly had the time do some training swims and runs before this race, but I got lazy and just didn’t challenge myself. I like the fun of the races, but none of the fun of the training. All that does is build me up for disappointment at a race when I know I could have done better. Last year in the race, I shaved 4 minutes off my time from the year before. This year I added 3 minutes. I know I can do better. And I know I’ll do this race again next year, so I know what I need to do to swim and run a better race.

After the race, they were doing the awards for the top finishers in each age group. Instead of medals they were giving beer mugs with the Chunky Dunk logo on it. I jokingly asked the race director, Holly, where my award for last place was. She grabbed a mug and handed it to me. I told her I was only kidding!! Then said “Wait!” and grabbed a second mug then said, “You get two because you’re so awesome”. Well, THAT I can agree with! I went back to our transition area with my trophies and gave one to Alyson, because in my book, we’re both awesome!

We headed back to the house to change and take some pictures with our shirts, mugs and of course the infamous “We don’t skinny dip, we chunky dunk” sign before heading back into town to grab some lunch.

And the next day we celebrated with some wine with frozen grapes in our mugs.

If you live in the area, you definitely need to check out this race next year. It’s one of the good ones. I promise! Plus, I'm listed on their site as a "success story". If I can do it, you can do it!

Chunky Dunk Duathlon Race Report

I’m tired, sore and I had a headache all day yesterday. That can only mean one thing. I did a duathlon! I’m exhausted! I can only imagine what the triathlon will do to me! I might be crawling across the finish!

I chose this race back in May because of the name. We have a sign on our fridge that says, We don’t skinny dip, we chunky dunk. It is just hilarious to me. So, when I was perusing sites for 5Ks to do this summer and I came across this, I just had to sign up. Plus, who doesn’t want a t-shirt that says CHUNKY DUNK on it?

One of my triathlon-training buddies came up Friday night to stay at my place to avoid the 3 hours drive the morning of the race. We got to the race site at about 7:30am and got in line to register.

Then a lot of things happened all at once that is better explained in pictures:

Since it was a swim/run race, we had to get our numbers written on us in sharpie.

I was the 14th crazy person to sign up for the race!

I look way too excited with way too much stuff in my hands! 

Trying to figure out where to pin everything. Shirt or no shirt?
I went with a shirt. No one needs to see a shirtless me running!

This was my transition area all set up. Too much stuff?

The pride and joy of the race! I love it!

As we got everything situated and organized at our transition area, which seemed like it took forever because I kept moving things around nervously, we decided to get into the water to get a feel for the temp and do a quick warm up swim. I also needed to test out my new earplugs. I can NOT swim without earplugs. Water gets in my ears and distracts me to no end. I won’t wait until I get out of the water to shake the water out, I’ll do it with every stroke, meaning I will be picking my head out of the water every 2 seconds to prevent the water from getting in my ears. It just bugs me. Recreational swimming (i.e. lounging around in the water) is fine for me without earplugs, but swimming laps or anything of the sort, I NEED earplugs. There’s a point, to this tangent, I promise. I was afraid that I’d lose my earplugs after the swim portion as I was frantically trying to get myself dried off and ready for the run. Now I guess that’s not so much of a big deal since I wouldn’t be swimming soon thereafter the race and I could easily go buy new ones, but I wanted to be prepared ahead of time and possible have a pair that had a string holding them together to help me keep track of them. While I was in Rite-Aid the day before the race, I looked at their earplug selection and figured all I’d find were the foam ones for sleeping or concerts. But lo and behold, they had swimming earplugs AND they had strings attaching them AND it was a 2 pack! Score!

See my way cool earplugs? And how awesome do we look in our swim caps?

Testing out the water

Doing a warm up swim. Savor this; it's the only picture of me in the water, swimming. Maybe.

We got out of the water and made sure everything was ready for the transition (again) and then just milled around until the start of the race. It all kind of happened fast. I knew the start time was 8:30 and we were organizing our stuff at about 8 and testing out the water around 8:15, but it just happened so fast!  We started the race in waves. I was in wave one. I figured at least if I got a head start, I would be finishing the swim as the faster guys were just about to finish and I wouldn’t get as trampled, so I was happy about my wave assignment. Not to mention it gave me a head start so I might not be last! (HA!)

It was an in water start and we had to cross the chip mats before we entered the water. I don’t understand how they did the chip timing if we crossed the mat a full 10-15 seconds before the race actually started, but I used my trusty Garmin, G-Cube, to keep track of things for me. Yes, in the swim too. He was under my swim cap – sneaky devil!

If you look closely, I'm out there somewhere.
Probably just finished rounding the buoys at the time this picture was taken.

My exit out of the water wasn’t captured, but don’t worry, you don’t want to see that anyway. I was shocked and very happy to see that my swim time was

23:49

I have been averaging a swim time of 27-28 minutes per half mile for my open water swims, so this 4-minute reduction was exciting! I’m sure it was the adrenaline of a race that pushed me to go faster, but also I gained a lot of self-esteem by passing people. Yes, me, passing people. I know my time isn’t that fast compared to a lot of people, but swimming is my strongest area of the three triathlon sports, so to see myself get better and pass people in the swimming portion, where I actually feel good about things, was great. I don’t pass people in any of the other 2 areas, so I needed this to reassure myself. Just a personal thing. Don’t judge.

And let me add a side note here about my earplugs. They worked great, however, I need to adjust the length of the string because it kept getting caught under my arm because it was so long and I came close to yanking them out of my ears (by accident) because of this. I guess this is why we don't try new things on race day, huh?

My transition time was 3:29. I’ve never done a transition to anything before, so I’m happy with this time. I also knew I wasn’t going to run in just a bathing suit, yet I didn’t have time (or the guts) to yank it off in front of God and everybody to change clothes. So I threw on my running capris and a t-shirt. I had planned ahead and wore my sports bra underneath my bathing suit so I didn’t have to worry about that. Could you imagine seeing that in transition?

Off to the races!

I headed off for a 5K through the woods along the Cotton Valley Rail Trail, yes the very same path that I bike most weekends when I’m up here in New Hampshire. I was very familiar with it having ridden it several times and having completed the Dog Days of Summer on it a few weekends ago. My complaint about it last time was the amount of tiny pebbles and rocks that I got into my shoes while running. Luckily this time, it rained the night before. And by rain, I mean torrential downpour. It kept the path wet enough so that there wasn’t much dust to fly around and get caught in the sneakers. There were a few puddles along the way that took up the entire path and caused runners to either run through them or step off the path completely to go around them. I went around them. I was wet enough from the swim and my bathing suit soaking my pants and t-shirt. I didn’t need my feet wet too!

I tried something new with this race, and it might be why I’m still sore a day later. It’s no secret that I’m struggling with running. The last time I complained talked about it someone commented and mentioned that she just kept going with the running and didn’t take walk breaks. I scoffed at that idea, because it’s impossible for me to not take walk breaks while running. In fact, it’s mostly walking, and bits of running here and there. Someone else had mentioned the same thing to me earlier this year. She said she did a shuffle-jog thing and although it was kind of the same pace as her running/walking intervals, she felt that it allowed her body to think she was running and she was able to get that shuffle-jog to a faster pace and it was easier for her than doing the running/walking interval workouts. I decided to try it, because lord knows I need all the help I can get in the running department.

Guess what. I ran the entire 5K. Let me explain. The word “run” here means a shuffle-jog, but it was a huge milestone. Because I did the entire race like that. A few times where I checked my pace and saw that my “running” was starting to get close to my regular walking pace, I’d walk for a little but to give those muscles a rest, then start the running again. It worked! I am sore in areas that I didn’t know had the capability to be sore. I’m guessing that means those are the runner’s muscles. Because I sure haven’t used those things before!

Overall my pace was about the same as my run/walk interval time, but I maintained that pace the entire time instead of having a slow walking pace and then and minimal and only slightly faster running pace.

The 5K was an out and back so I was able to see a lot of people coming back as I was still going out. Almost every single one of them had a positive thing to say to me. I’m sure I looked like a hot mess out there doing my shuffle-jog, but I was doing it. And I was proud of myself for doing it, the entire time. I’ve heard people say that they don’t like the “encouragement” or “good job, you’re almost there” from other people during a race, but I love it. It keeps me motivated and makes me feel like we are all in this together. Even though I might be last or close to last, I greet every passerby (yes, even if they are ahead of me) with a huge smile when they say “Good job”, and I always say “Thanks”. Because I mean it. One day (hopefully) I’ll be on the other end of that and I hope I can give someone else encouragement too.

But, on a more serious note, don’t say, “you’re almost there” if it’s not true. I heard “almost there” about 57 times and I was most certainly not “almost there”. Liars.

Coming into the home stretch: when I really was "almost there".

Crossing the finish line, so happy.

I finished the 5K in a time of 51:36 (according to my Garmin, because the race results only show my swim & transition times).

My goal was to finish this race in 1:30.

Race time total: 1:18:59. That’s an 11-minute goal buster.

High Five. And I'm not gonna lie, I teared up a little bit. This was a big thing for me! I did it and I did it better than I thought I would. That's cause for happy tears.

I also had to share my finish picture zoomed out because what I love about it is the volunteer with her hands up in the air, just like mine. She was just as excited for me as I was for me!

That's the kind of support I'm talking about!!

WE DID IT!

And my favorite support system: my mom. She drove us to the race, guarded our things in the transition area, took pictures and hooped and hollered when I was coming out of the water and coming back in from the 5K. I couldn’t ask for a better supporter.

Thanks mom!

This race was the first annual and it was very well organized. This is the second event (in one month, no less!) that I've attended that has been hosted by The Nick. The organizers were great, the location was great, the volunteers were amazing. The sponsors were great too. We got this bag of swag. 

Coupons galore!

It was an overall fun, happy, and encouraging atmosphere. I will most definitely do this race again next year. Who's with me??

Dog Days of Summer 5K Race Report

My family has had a house in Wolfeboro, NH since I was 6 years old. So, naturally when I saw this race being held in Wolfeboro, I signed right up. A weekend at the beach and a 10-minute drive to the race start in the morning was definitely an incentive.

The Dog Days of Summer 5K was sponsored by the Lakes Region Humane Society and they are a very lovely group of people! I don’t know if all of the volunteers were from the Humane Society, but everyone was very nice. I saw one guy with a volunteer shirt on taking pictures of people milling around the registration area, and then later taking pictures of the racers. He got a swell one of me nearing the finish line. I can’t wait to see that gem.

The race started at “The Nick”; otherwise know as The Nicholas J. Pernokas Recreation Park. The course went around the track once, through outer perimeter of the parking lot, down the street, ACROSS Route 28, down another street and onto the Cotton Valley Rail Trail. It was an out and back, so it was the exact opposite for the last half of the race. Running on the track was like running on the moon. I need to find me a track to run on it was magical. Maybe it can be a stepping-stone for me to transition to outside running (on pavement).

This was the second time that I’ve done a race on a trail. And it’s the second time that I got tiny rocks in my shoes. During the last race it was on a true trail through the woods, and it was packed dirt. I only got one small rock in my shoe, but it was big enough to rub the entire race and I got a blister from it. This race along the Cotton Valley Rail Trail was on packed gravel. This meant WAY MORE tiny rocks. Luckily I didn’t get any blisters, but it was annoying enough that it made me not want to run as much. And I didn’t want to stop and dump the rocks out because I had already done that before the start of the race, and I knew more rocks would get in, so it was pointless. I also had to pee. The bouncing didn’t help.

My mom and my friend Alyson did the race with me.

We are a colorful bunch

They decided to walk and I was going to do my walk/run thing. Even though the race was on a trail and soft enough that I didn’t have any shin pain (YAY!), I still had trouble running the longer intervals that I can do on the treadmill. It’s like a huge mental block that I can’t see to get over. I got over my 3-minute interval block, why can’t I get over this? I’m determined though. It’s ridiculous and I will do it. I have to! I don’t know of any races that are held on a treadmill. But hot damn, I’d sign up if I found one!!

I finished with a time of 52:02. Not my best time, but I definitely did more walking that I wanted to. I had big plans to go to the beach and spend the day there after the race, so my mantra became The sooner I’m done, the sooner I swim! It made me go faster. I had a faster walk pace than I usually do, so that’s some improvement right there.

I had planned to walk back and finish the race with my mom and Alyson, so after I went to the bathroom and chatted with a few people I knew, I grabbed a couple of cold water bottles and headed back out on the course. I was halfway down to the parking lot when I heard someone yell my name. It was my mom. I was shocked that I hadn’t seen her come in. And I felt bad because I had promised that I was going to go back to meet her and I hadn’t done it. She told me that around the 2-mile marker a race volunteer told her she looked really flushed and offered her a ride back to The Nick. I always tell her to drink more water, but she just doesn’t listen!! She accepted the ride and cooled off in the shade of the pavilion. She said that Alyson was still out on the course and I went back out to walk with her. As I got to the parking lot, Alyson was right there and we walked the final lap around the track to the finish line.

We grabbed some bananas and more water, and then met up with some more people I knew by our cars. Of course, like every 5K gathering, we took pictures.

Yes, I'm using a banana as a phone. Because, that's why.

Then we headed home to spend the rest of the day at the beach. I’m not gonna lie, I definitely fell asleep on the beach and I loved every minute of it. That place is so relaxing and I can’t wait to spend 5 days back at my place in Wolfeboro in a week and a half as I relax and (maybe) do some training before the Chunky Dunk Duathlon on July 30th. Honestly, I only signed up for that one for the t-shirt. It’s gonna be great!

After we got back from the beach, I checked the race results online and realized that they hadn’t recorded them correctly. They had me listed as finishing at 49:45. My Garmin and their display clock at the race said differently. Alyson’s time was off by almost 20 minutes! I e-mailed the guys at 3C Race Productions (because we are on such good terms – they gave me bubbles!!) to let them know about it. I got a response within a few hours thanking me and saying that they had problems with their system and they were working on fixing it. Last I checked they had fixed my time and a few of those that had finished around me (I’m nosy, I keep tabs on people), but Alyson’s was still off by a good 10 minutes. It’s things like this that make me glad I got my Garmin. Even if things go wrong with timing at a race (such as: no chip timing, or equipment failure) I still know how I did.

I believe they are doing the timing for the Chunky Dunk Duathlon as well (since it is advertised on their site), so I’m wondering how they are going to do that without a chip timing system. I guess I’ll find out, eh?

Overall it was a good race. I overheard people complaining about the course, saying there wasn’t enough room and they had a hard time running past or by people, but it wasn’t too bad. I only had one time where a guy was running by me and I went to the side to make room, but he didn’t. He kept running down the middle of the trail. He almost sweat on me, the bastard. Some people never learn manners, and that’s not the race’s fault. I say it was a good job by the Lakes Region Humane Society, and it was for a good cause too!!

Hell on Wheels. Literally.

I biked the mother of all hills this past weekend. I also almost died. You’re lucky I didn’t, otherwise I wouldn’t be here to warn you about it. Also, thank the lord I had my bike shorts. I find that going uphill hurts the lady parts more than flat or downhill. But that’s not what you want to hear about right now, I’m sure.  A few weeks ago, I biked the triathlon bike route in Hopkinton in preparation for my triathlon in September. After completing it in 1:12, I figured I needed more hill training, since it is pretty hilly. I can now say that I’d rather bike that route in Hopkinton 50 times in a row than to ever do what I did on Sunday ever again. In addition to almost dying, I almost puked. In fact, the entire way up the hills, I was trying to decide whether I had to puke, or if I was going to die. And if you think I’m kidding or exaggerating, you are sorely mistaken. It’s all true.

I planned to bike 6 miles from my house to a beach-y area with a grocery store across the street called 19 Mile Bay. I drove the route over the July 4th weekend and saw just how hilly it was and was even commenting at the time that I probably wouldn’t do it because the hills seemed extreme. It was all downhill (minus one big uphill) on the way to 19 Mile Bay and all uphill (minus that one down) on the way back.

For some reason, this weekend I decided to “Git R Done”. Only because I like Larry the Cable Guy.

Upon leaving my driveway, I had the option to go downhill then turn left for a very short flat area, then turn right and meet an uphill; Or, I could go uphill for a short period, then turn right downhill, then another right and go downhill until I met the uphill. I figured I’d get more momentum into the uphill if I started out doing the latter. So I turned left and went uphill to start. Do you know how hard it is to start out on a steep incline? Your heart rate shoots up and your legs cramp up with no appropriate warm up. A.) Not smart. B.) Legs hurt. C.) Lungs burn. D.) Never doing that again.

Once I hit the first uphill, I realized that I had made a huge mistake, but I was only 5 minutes in and I knew I couldn’t just quit. I’m not a quitter and I knew I’d do more damage to my own mental state by quitting. So I kept going. I hated myself at that moment, but I kept going.

Then I looked up and saw the view. It was gorgeous. Biking in the mountains has one perk and one perk only. During the downhill parts, you get some crazy nice views.

Okay, so you see more pavement than anything.
But there is a view there, and where the road disappears...
that's a HUGE downhill right there.

The rest of the way out was downhill and my max speed was 30mph. Funny how I wasn’t contemplating death while hurdling myself down a mountain at 30mph on a bike. Trust me, going up was worse. It took me 0:33 to get to 19 Mile Bay. It was close to 6 miles. The return time? Yeah, that was 1:08. That’s how bad it was.

On the way back, the gradual inclines were doable. I could spin in a lower gear and maintain about 8-10 mph. It was the steep hills that were torture. For those I was in the lowest gear possible and during one hill (coming back up that hill in the picture that you can't really see, but it's there!), I had to stop at every telephone pole on the way up. But I Did. Not. Walk. With each pedal I had a mantra going on in my head:  “Walking isn’t an option. Walking isn’t an option.” It worked. After the one downhill on the way back, I hit the hill I had busted out my 30 mph on. I realized then why I was able to hit 30 mph on it. It was almost as steep as my mantra hill. This time, though, I didn’t have anything left in me. I stopped at the bottom of it to text my mom and let her know that I was still alive since I was running behind schedule and didn’t want her to panic. She has a thing for panicking. My text read: Almost home. Still alive. Barely. Might puke.

This is what a near death experience looks like.

I made it 3/4 up the final hill and just didn’t have anything left in me. So I walked. Once back on even ground, I got back on and rode the final few feet of downhill. At this point I wanted to get off the bike so bad, I was cursing the downhill for being so steep that I had to ride my brakes. I didn’t want to ride my brakes because that meant I was slowing down and I wanted to be off the bike FAST.

I was greeted with cheers from the house of “Yay! You did it!”, “You survived it!” and “Congrats!”. It took all I had in me to not reply “Bite me”. But I’m mature. Kinda.

I can now add this to the list of things I’m never doing again.

Biking 101: The photo companion

The helpful photo guide for the previous blog post:  Biking 101: Don't bike by yourself in a secluded area. Imagination is a killer.

And, go.

The beginning of the Cotton Valley Trail

So it looks like I go across the tracks...

...and onto this path. 

Nope. I had to get onto the tracks.

But then it turned into this and stayed mostly like this. Very nice.

This was where I had no clue where to go.
Off to the left are rocks.
To the right are the tracks, but no path. WTF?

My leprechaun led me down this path.

And then through this fence, where I was sure I was going to
hit my handle bars and go ass over tea kettle.

And then there was this beauty.
Water on each side.

Nice view, eh?

The end of the trail in downtown Wolfeboro

Then I biked back. For that visual, just scroll up and look at the pictures in the reverse order.

This is the Fernald station. Guarding the entrance to Creepyville

Signs informing where to go and how long it takes to get there.

And....an outhouse. I don't know if it's in working order. I didn't check.

I'll leave you with this one bit of helpful information. If a sign tells you to get off your bike and walk across the platform, you should probably listen. Especially if the railroad tracks aren't even with the path.

Like this...

Because something might happen...

Someone didn't read the sign.

Biking 101: Don't bike by yourself in a secluded area. Imagination is a killer.

I’ve been excited to bike the Cotton Valley Rail Trail in Wolfeboro, NH ever since I heard of it about 2 weeks ago. That’s a lie, I knew it existed before 2 weeks ago, but I have never been on it and I didn’t know anything about it. It was described to me as flat, paved & easy. I figured it would be a nice leisurely bike ride and that I could convince people to bike with me on it. I also have an upcoming 5K and duathlon that will be running along the same trail, so I wanted to check it out and see for myself how it looked.

I checked it out on Google maps and figured out where it started and ended so I had an idea of how long it was and how many miles I’d get out of it. It showed me that it was about 3 miles long, one way. So I knew that if I wanted to get any good mileage on it, I’d have to do an out and back at least twice.

Yesterday, I headed down to one end of the trail and became dinner for 472,389 mosquitos as I unloaded my bike. I kept telling myself that all I had to do was get moving and they wouldn’t be able to keep up with me and buzz in my ears (HATE that).

I started off and was a little surprised that it wasn’t paved. It was dirt and gravel. I figured that it would start off a dirt path, then turn into paved for the majority. Nope. Not one inch of the trail was paved. Luckily I have a hybrid bike and not a road bike. I don’t think I’d have been able to bike it if it was a road bike. About a 3rd of a mile down the path, it went across the railroad tracks. There was a sign that said, “Walk across the wooden bridge” for bikers, but then the path ended. Kinda. I could either bike down the middle of the tracks or cross over it and go into a wooded path. There was a sign pointing me towards the wooded path, so I figured that I should follow it and maybe it would even out and become paved at some point. I followed that for about 20 seconds before it became impossible to ride. There were roots everywhere and there was no way I could stay on the bike and make it out alive. I got off my bike and started walking. After about 2 minutes of walking and constant thoughts of, “This cannot be right”, I decided to go back to the car and head to the other end of the path in downtown Wolfeboro and start from there. When I got back to the railroad tracks, I looked up the tracks and saw the path continue further down the tracks. I thought maybe I was supposed to ride down the middle of the tracks and meet up with the path on the other side. That was exactly what I was supposed to do. So I continued on the trail.

It was strange to be riding on dirt and not pavement. I was worried that maybe I’d pop a tire on a stray rock of something, but everything held up okay. I was riding behind houses and along the water. It was a nice ride and there were some beautiful parts of the trail. But only as it headed towards downtown Wolfeboro. The other way? No. More on that later.

I got to one point on the trail where I was a little confused as to which way to go. Right at that moment, I heard a bell and someone informing me that they were “passing on the left”. It was a little old man with a big basket attached to the front of his bike.  As he passed I said, “I’m not sure where the trail goes from here, do you know?” No answer. He peddled off towards a trail that I wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for him. So I said “Oh, this way? Ok yeah, sure I’ll follow you”. It was a bit of an Alice in Wonderland moment and I was following the crazy white rabbit. Or a leprechaun. Either way, it was odd. I had no idea where I was and it looked like it might have been the right path. Maybe. This part of the trail wound back and forth, whereas the rest of the path was straight. With each bend of the path, my little leprechaun man disappeared and I had to hurry to catch up with him. Then as soon as the path straightened out again and started looking like it had earlier, he pulled over to take a rest on a bench and I kept going. I definitely had a “did that just happen?” moment.

I got to the end of the trail in downtown Wolfeboro and stopped for a moment to check out the map. It was there that I realized that the trail wasn’t just 3 miles. It was 3 miles from where I started to where I was at the moment, but if I had gone the other way, it was another 3 miles. I guess Google maps didn’t get that memo.

On the way back, it was still light out, but the sun had gone down considerably and there was a lot of cover from the trees, so I didn’t need my sunglasses. But I noticed that there were swarms of mosquitos (or black flies, either way, not a good time) in the middle of the path, just hovering, waiting for someone to come by. Since I was moving, they couldn’t swarm me, but they sure as hell could swarm together and wait for me to run into them. I put my sunglasses back on as protection. A little later, I passed a woman on her bike and we smiled at each other. A bug flew into my mouth and I almost died. Not really, I just spit it out but, gross. From then on, anyone I passed got a closed mouth smile, which probably looked like a creepy grimace. But, no bugs!

By the time I made it back to my car, I was curious about the other side of the trail, so I decided to check it out. The easiest way for me to say this is: It. Was. Scary. It was secluded and mostly woods with a few houses and warehouses spread out along the trail. I had an uneasy feeling the entire time. It might have started when I saw a man sitting in his car in the parking lot to the trail. My imagination might have started to play games with me. Let’s just say I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being followed. About a mile in I came across a jogger, and then another biker, both women, so I felt a little better, but I still was a little nervous about my surroundings. I saw a warehouse that looked sketchy with a brand new SUV sitting out front and I immediately thought, “Why is there such a nice car parked at an old warehouse? That’s probably where they take people to torture them, then kill them”. I pedaled a little bit faster. Then I saw a rundown house and thought, “They probably keep a lookout for people on this path and come out here and kill them as they pass by”. For some reason, I kept going. My imagination had already taken a trip somewhere bad and there was apparently no talking myself out of it. As I continued on, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pair of jeans slung over a fence of some sort. I turned to look and realized it was a barbed wire fence. There was nothing around this area. No house, no road, no nothing. Just woods. So of course I thought, “Holy sh!t. There is a guy living in that house up there that took a woman off this trail and killed her and hung her jeans up over that barbed wire fence as a warning to all other people. And he might get me! But I’m not wearing jeans. Maybe he won’t want me”. Remember, I said there was no house anywhere? In my imagination, there was. Then I started singing to myself. You know like those little kids in movies when they are scared in the dark and they sing to themselves to make everything less scary? Yes, that was me.

As if all that wasn’t enough, I started seeing weird marks on the trail, like the dirt was darker in some places than it was for the majority of the trail. I’m sure it was from the recent rain in the area and the puddles hadn’t fully gone away, making the dirt darker, or you know, mud. But this crazy, insane, scary place that I was in at that moment had me convinced that they were bloodstains from people who were killed out on the trail in the past few months. That was the final straw. I turned around and hightailed it out of there. I tried not to look at the jeans on the barbed wire, the sketchy house or the warehouse with the new SUV in front of it, but I couldn’t help it. I needed to be sure no one was coming for me.

On my way back, I saw another jogger coming toward me. I muttered to her, “Good luck out there”. She smiled and said “Thanks”. She had no idea.

I made it back to my car and saw at the station that the sign said 3.1 miles to Wolfeboro and 7.8 miles to Route 16. Both via the trail. I had only ridden about 2 miles toward Route 16 before I freaked myself out enough to turn around. I can’t imagine almost 6 more miles of mental torture!  I’ll ride the 3.1 miles over and over. That part of the trail was nice. No way in hell am I riding 7.8 miles along that death trap the other way!

Of course for this adventure, I forgot my camera, and my phone. So, no pictures. However, I will try this trail again. Hopefully tomorrow and I’ll bring a camera to capture the picturesque views and oddities of the Cotton Valley Trail. I know you can hardly wait so I’ll try to be quick about it. For now, here’s a picture of the trail headquarters right near where I parked, AKA, entrance to CreepyVille.

Right behind that red building is the entrance to CreepyVille

Update: Check out the photo companion for this adventure!