The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Rollin' Coal, Shinnston WVA Recap.

The Good: went with two other ladies and stayed at an Airbnb RV on the host's property; complete with two pygmy goats, Hazel and Daisy; chickens, and dogs. Great place and wish we had had more time to enjoy it. Each of us were doing a different mileage, 37, 63, or 100, with staggered starts. Wendy started first on the 100; I did the 63 and Heather did the 37. Weather decent, we're all tired, but going to be a nice day.

The Bad: The route started out with ATV trails, double track for most of the first 19 miles; see pictures below. Some were muddy, all were rocky, rutted, overgrown and steep in places. I have never walked my bike so much on a ride in my life. This was way past my comfort zone and to not end up with a broken bone, I walked. I did fall over 3 times; Wendy went down 7 times, Heather stayed upright on her mountain bike. I couldn't have stayed upright on any bike. When we did get to a normal looking road, it seemed they had all just been dumped on with deep stone. All downhills were taken seriously because there were horrible ruts and stones everywhere. My body is more sore than my legs today. So technical; and not being a mt biker and an average bike handler, lots of stress.

The Ugly: the last 10 miles are as brutal as the previous miles. You leave the last aid station feeling good and start up a climb that keeps on going. Then you do the second climb and third; you get to the bike path, crushed gravel, and know you are close. But wait, the route goes onto a mt bike trail off the nice path, to get to the finish. My front gear hit on two of the humps once I pushed up the steep hill to get to a flatter section. Finally done, mud covered, sweaty and tired, I head to get my sandwich, pre ordered, and find that the food truck has left! I have to say there was some cursing involved. Eventually we were able to eat some pulled pork that was for the volunteers, who were wonderful. Tough day!

More good: no broken bones or bikes for any of us. Met some nice riders along the way. Accomplished something I didn't think possible. Met some great volunteers. 90% sure I won't go back to do this again; too much adventure for me, but some may love it.

Side note: we all three won our groups for the day! Not a lot of women on the ride, but we'll take it.