I decided on going to South Run Park about 10 miles to the North of us. The website indicated that there were a connected system of loops from 3 different adjacent parks. It listed them as good for "cycling" and didn't make a particularly clear distinction as to what was paved and unpaved. Even on the trail map there were overlapping sections of various markers for the paths, so I figured I would just ride over and check it out. Of note, the top of the webpage shows a "hybrid/mtb" style bike on a smooth, clear, paved pathway riding along but is otherwise very sparse on information.

I arrived at the park in pretty quick time in spite of this areas terrible traffic. Immediately upon my arrival I noted a complete lack of signage indicating where the path was, or how to get there. I drove through the whole park and finally had to stop a park patron to ask them. The third person I asked actually knew what I was talking about and pointed me in the right direction. The trail head is located at the back of the park and is marked with a small sign located off the road a bit in the woods. I stopped and looked over the sign, which does clearly indicate what they "say" is paved and shows the routes to the two lakes (parks) on either side of the one I parked in.

I took off down the trail and was immediately struck with how rough and in poor condition the paved section was. As with most trails this time of year it was covered in leaves and visibility of the path surface was very limited. I found this aspect to be particularly troubling riding my road bike and really would have liked the park to make these conditions more apparent. What was much worse was the fact that there were squirrels everywhere. They would not be frightened away easily due to the amount of traffic these trails see, and commonly would wait to the last second to panic and run between your tires and/or spokes. I had four instances of this happening and although I realize that animals are a part of every ride, I was quickly convinced that if the trail DIDN'T kill me, the squirrels would.

The scenery was beautiful all through the area. Some of the trails backed up to neighborhoods and the best part of the ride actually happened much by accident. As I traveled down one side of the lake loop I came upon an area where they had the path closed due to construction. There were no signs or notes indicating this was going on, just come upon a closed road sign. There was a pathway back into an adjacent neighborhood, so I figured I would jump across to see if I could reconnect with the path on the other side. That didn't turn out to be the case. It was a beautiful neighborhood with lots of really nice homes all decorated for the upcoming Halloween, so that was really nice to see. The road in the neighborhood was wide, smooth, and lightly traveled...something that is hard to find in this area without knowing it better. I looped through it for a couple of miles and came back upon the trailhead I had entered from, so I went back the direction I started from in order to take the other loop.

After passing the area where I parked the trail diverged in several directions. There were markers in place for a South and North loop. I found this a bit surprising given the lack of signage elsewhere. The South loop trail was not paved, but smooth gravel, and the North was paved so I decided to go that way. There were several areas along this that were quite steep. The leaf cover made seeing the trail nearly impossible in some spots and created a hazard when braking and cornering. It became quite narrow in a few places as well and passing other trail users was pretty dangerous even at the very low speed I was maintaining. On a positive note, the scenery continued to amaze, and I was soon at the lake end of this loop. The lake was gorgeous as were the changing leaves, prime watcher season here at the moment.

I continued around the North loop trail and much to my dismay the trail just ended abruptly. There was a mud foot path that continued straight on and down a little wash was a maintenance road that led the direction I wanted to go. I rode down it for a half mile to find the road just ended in the culdesac of a neighborhood. No signage or indication of where I needed to go. After some investigation on foot I found a small and rough foot path leading off the direction I wanted to go, but certainly unsuitable for riding on my road bike. I turned back the way I came. Soon I came across a pedestrian walking the dog and inquired about the trail and they confirmed that it would be unsuitable for my bike and likely unsafe for me to walk with my prosthesis and it was rocky and uneven. They advised that I turn back the way I came.

I looped back the way I had come, and thankfully the ground frequently traveled effect came into play and in short order I was back to the truck. I am convinced that I will not ride in this area again without some better planning or a guide. My friends husband, who is also a cyclist, is out of town so we were unable to ride together as we had planned. Honestly, I should have given stronger consideration to the Prince William suggestions, but was detered by the sheer amount of traffic you have to deal with going that way at almost any time of day from this area.
I will say this, in my adventures taking the bike along on vacation, the experience has made me much more thankful for the good roads and exceptional riding conditions in my home state. GA is a good place to ride comparatively speaking and conditions are prime compared to the likes of the Woodbridge area as well as my prior experience in Detroit. All the same, I am glad I was able to check it out from the saddle.