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08-04-04, 01:50 PM
Time for another ride report. The usual suspects from the last report I posted, plus a few more were gearing up in the trailhead lot at Highland http://content.mtbr.com/pscTrails/United,States,Trails/Michigan/,Highland/PRD_168552_4555crx.aspx at 8 am on Sunday morning. All told, 19 brave souls started out on this three hour cruise – no, wrong (hits side of head with palm), this 9 hour bike ride. We had a good turnout and a lot of these guys (and gal) were just plain old fast. By the time everyone had introduced themselves to people they didn’t know and hobnobbed with those they did, it was 8:30. The guy who posted/organized the ride told us to saddle up, and off we went. The first part of the ride http://www.leikert.com/hip100/ was a backroads affair, and was well planned. The traffic was light for this neck of the woods, and people gave us plenty of room, probably more because there were a whole bunch of us than because they were nice motorists. One stretch of especially rough road was commented on by one of the resident wits; “Probably the only ride I’ll do this year where the roads getting to the trails are rougher than the trails!”. I thought that was pretty funny. We were cranking these road stretches out, probably maintaining around a 16-17 mph pace.
We rolled on into Pontiac Lake State Park, and hit the trail. http://content.mtbr.com/pscTrails/United,States,Trails/Michigan/,Pontiac,Lake,Trail/PRD_168600_4555crx.aspx This is the kind of trail you can really get hurt in, I know, because I did once (that’s another tale). It’s fast, rocky and rooty. The gang started to really get stretched out along the trail here, and while the only mishaps were a couple flats and a broken chain, it took a while for the entire gagn to regroup at the rally point. I felt really good and fast on this trail, as well I should, I can ride my bike from my house to the trailhead in about 15 minutes. The only beef I had was that it was a little muddy, but what trail hasn’t been this summer, right? While we were waiting for everyone to regroup, I was looking at an Orbea one guy was riding, man, these are really nice bikes!
Once we all regrouped and caught our breath, we hit the road to back track the same route we came in on. I’m not sure what the pace was, but I know I was working it, so I’m sure we were still clipping right along. We got back to Highland, and after catching our collective breath, hit this trail. This thing is a real grind. It is all off-camber, rocks, roots, and switchbacks. I don’t think there are three turns in the whole thing that aren’t hairpins. There is no stretch where you can pick up any real speed, and the trees are close. Real close. I ticked a tree with my bar, and into the brush I went. Once I sorted out where the trees and picker bushes stopped and my bike and myself began, I got back onto the trail. I was gonna have to hammer to catch the group, and I started off, but a big branch was jammed in my spokes, so I burned off another couple of minutes sorting that mess out. I didn’t realize it yet, but one of the cartridges in my fork was losing air…
I finally caught up to the group at the spot where B and C loop cross, they were waiting there for stragglers, and just shooting the breeze. I was talking to Dan about my bike and how I set it up to just be a fun trailbike. When I said it was all about having fun he went off: “Fun?!?!! You think this is about having fun?! This isn’t about fun, it’s about riding as hard as you can, as fast as you can, till you puke, then you swallow it and hammer those pedals some more!” I told him I was with him up till the swallowing part, it was good for a laugh. If you read my other ride report http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=58859 , you will recall that the weather was pretty harsh, lightening, rain, LOTS of mud…
What a huge difference weather makes on a ride. Even though I was suffering keeping up with the A group here (there wasn’t really a B), I was having a great time. It was sunny with a light breeze, and probably around 78 degrees or so.
So we were all back together again as a cohesive group, and we pointed our bikes toward Island Lake. http://content.mtbr.com/pscTrails/United,States,Trails/Michigan/,Island,Lake/PRD_168562_4555crx.aspx
Island Lake is adjacent to Kensington Metropark, you know the kind of park this is, beaches with lifeguards, bikinis all over the place (I’m married, not dead), snack stands with nice picnic tables… So we all roll into one of the snackstands and people are staring like we’re wearing Hell’s Angels colors and riding Harleys. I got a real kick out of it. It was obvious we had been riding trails, and hard, because we were all flecked with mud and sweaty, and we all ordered a ton of food. I had noticed on the road ride down there that my fork was going flat, and I knew that I was out of the ride after the break. My neighbor Lynn and I made a no-drop pact, so he accompanied me back to the Highland trailhead. All told I clocked around 60 miles.
We rolled on into Pontiac Lake State Park, and hit the trail. http://content.mtbr.com/pscTrails/United,States,Trails/Michigan/,Pontiac,Lake,Trail/PRD_168600_4555crx.aspx This is the kind of trail you can really get hurt in, I know, because I did once (that’s another tale). It’s fast, rocky and rooty. The gang started to really get stretched out along the trail here, and while the only mishaps were a couple flats and a broken chain, it took a while for the entire gagn to regroup at the rally point. I felt really good and fast on this trail, as well I should, I can ride my bike from my house to the trailhead in about 15 minutes. The only beef I had was that it was a little muddy, but what trail hasn’t been this summer, right? While we were waiting for everyone to regroup, I was looking at an Orbea one guy was riding, man, these are really nice bikes!
Once we all regrouped and caught our breath, we hit the road to back track the same route we came in on. I’m not sure what the pace was, but I know I was working it, so I’m sure we were still clipping right along. We got back to Highland, and after catching our collective breath, hit this trail. This thing is a real grind. It is all off-camber, rocks, roots, and switchbacks. I don’t think there are three turns in the whole thing that aren’t hairpins. There is no stretch where you can pick up any real speed, and the trees are close. Real close. I ticked a tree with my bar, and into the brush I went. Once I sorted out where the trees and picker bushes stopped and my bike and myself began, I got back onto the trail. I was gonna have to hammer to catch the group, and I started off, but a big branch was jammed in my spokes, so I burned off another couple of minutes sorting that mess out. I didn’t realize it yet, but one of the cartridges in my fork was losing air…
I finally caught up to the group at the spot where B and C loop cross, they were waiting there for stragglers, and just shooting the breeze. I was talking to Dan about my bike and how I set it up to just be a fun trailbike. When I said it was all about having fun he went off: “Fun?!?!! You think this is about having fun?! This isn’t about fun, it’s about riding as hard as you can, as fast as you can, till you puke, then you swallow it and hammer those pedals some more!” I told him I was with him up till the swallowing part, it was good for a laugh. If you read my other ride report http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=58859 , you will recall that the weather was pretty harsh, lightening, rain, LOTS of mud…
What a huge difference weather makes on a ride. Even though I was suffering keeping up with the A group here (there wasn’t really a B), I was having a great time. It was sunny with a light breeze, and probably around 78 degrees or so.
So we were all back together again as a cohesive group, and we pointed our bikes toward Island Lake. http://content.mtbr.com/pscTrails/United,States,Trails/Michigan/,Island,Lake/PRD_168562_4555crx.aspx
Island Lake is adjacent to Kensington Metropark, you know the kind of park this is, beaches with lifeguards, bikinis all over the place (I’m married, not dead), snack stands with nice picnic tables… So we all roll into one of the snackstands and people are staring like we’re wearing Hell’s Angels colors and riding Harleys. I got a real kick out of it. It was obvious we had been riding trails, and hard, because we were all flecked with mud and sweaty, and we all ordered a ton of food. I had noticed on the road ride down there that my fork was going flat, and I knew that I was out of the ride after the break. My neighbor Lynn and I made a no-drop pact, so he accompanied me back to the Highland trailhead. All told I clocked around 60 miles.