Great Ride Under Greay Skies (Pic Heavy)
 

I was originally going to put this in the "Where did you ride today" thread, but it would only allow 10 pictures and I didn't want to take up two posts in the sticky. So...

I just finished a ride from Big Rapids, MI to Reed City and back on the White Pine Trail. It was my first time riding this area and I had a lot of fun stopping to snap pictures along the way. Here they are:

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These signs marked the trail. I cheated a bit as this was taken on my way home, but it seemed like a good opener.

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A good portion of the trail ran parallel to the Muskegon River.

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I barely saw any other people all day, so I could get away with blocking the whole trail for pictures like this.

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My helmet made a good makeshift tripod.

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Yup, it's fall. Does anybody remember the recent thread on riding through leaves? I had to be very careful on this section of trail. Luckily there were no spills the entire trip.

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I arrived at Reed City and discovered that it was necessary to reduce my speed.

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Why is there a picture outside a bank? Well, I planned this ride to get lunch in Reed City. About three quarters of the way there I realized that I forgot my wallet. Luckily I was able to withdraw from my account with only my smile as ID.

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I love pizza pie almost as much as cycling, which made this a great day. Pompeii's gets a two thumbs up. As a mushroom munchin' guy, all places are judged on quality of fungi, among other things. Pompeii's mushrooms were NOT from a can. A+

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I had to carry my steel steed over this section of trail because of maintenance.

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Goofing around. As long as I was going slow and the heart rate was low, I thought I'd stop for a fun shot. This time I had to add my left glove to my helmet to get the right angle.

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Harvesting corn. The farmer, not me, I'm just snapping photos.

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Oh, you ain't too far. Only don't go that way, come this way.

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Yeah, ok. If you say so.

The rest of the trip was state highway and fast food joints between the end of the trail and my apartment. All in all it was a great day.

Looks like a blast. I wish that our trails and "congested areas" looked yours!

Thanks for sharing the photos; makes me want to get out for a ride.

lol

Is it that cold in Michigan already? I'm originally from Northeastern Pennsylvania, and we've had a blessed fall here in Arkansas so far. This has inspired me to get out this weekend and take some pictures.

How long is that trail? It seems very nice. We have a trail system that starts about 4 blocks from my place and is about 7.5 miles out, 7.5 miles back. It makes for a nice, short day ride when I want to encounter people.

Nice report! Looks like a great day was had!

Great ride!
Almost like I was with you.

Sounds like you had fun!

(and, darn, I miss the days/places that you can withdraw money from the bank with just your smile as an ID...)

Excellent ride report! Bike, scenery, trails, pizza, leaves, heavy equipment, sounds like a great day out.

Couldn't decide whether to spell it grey or gray, huh? :P

Yeah, it's in the 40s here, but I was still sweating by the end. The forum was an inspiration to me as well. Seeing posts here made me take my camera on a day that I otherwise would've just ridden. It really added to the fun.

The trail is just under 100 miles long. I rode a 12 mile stretch of it between the two cities. I normally stay off the trails as I like to go pretty fast, but I guessed it would not be crowded today and luckily was right. The scenery definitely beat the roads I normally ride on.

I definitely lucked out at the bank! I thought for sure I was going to walk away empty handed. I was going to ask the teller to take a picture of me holding my empty pockets inside out.

Haha, why couldn't they just pick one and stick with it? I never know which one to use! It probably didn't help typing "great" in the same line.

You have to post that in A&S, simply to rile the natives :D

-Kurt

I haven't spent much (any) time in A&S. What's their expected take on this? When I first started riding I used to post in the road sub forum and I know the general consensus there was that you shouldn't go much over 5 MPH on trails because of the babies all over the place. I'm guessing A&S would be about the same.

Looks like the trail is paved rather than a compressed limestone like the Katy Trail here in MO.

I used to travel the roads (by car) from Grand Rapids up to Houghton Lake and passed through Reed City....never knew there was a trail there. Do you ever do the Michigan ride that culminates with a ride over Big Mac?

great pics I am glad you got away from that menacing backhoe! not to steal your thread but this may not warrant it's own. I had fabulous suprise on a little ride here in So Jersey today. I saw a Bald Eagle! I was enjoying the scenery and as I started out from a light I saw a big bird gliding low over a freshly plowed feild. it looked odd for some reason. I am used to seeing all types of Hawks and buzzards but this bird looked odd. as it got closer I slowed down and as it passed about 30 or 50 ft off the ground I could clearly see the white head and neck. I truly unique and beautiful site.

A big flamewar with lots of self-absorbed bombast. Very entertaining to watch.

-Kurt

I haven't managed to get on that ride yet. It sounds like fun though.

That is quite a surprise. The only time I ever saw a bald eagle in the wild I was swimming in the middle of Lake Florance and South Manitou Island. Quite a site.

There's a fair population of them along the Delaware river and on both sides (Pennsylvania and N.J.). Still not a common sight though - and quite inspiring.

Looks like a fun ride on a really nice trail. Is that an 80's Schwinn you're riding? Can't quite make it out from the pictures.

Trail radar? Are they serious?

It's a Miyata 912. The frame is a 79, but it wasn't built up and sold until 1982.

My guess is the radar enforcement is for snow mobiles--- not bicycles. They like to go fast. A section of our Rail Trail is posted at 45mph, which is less then half of the top speed for most modern snow mobiles.

I like your paved trail. My closest paved trail (that I know about) is on Cape Cod, well over 3 hours away (by car, not snow mobile).

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...llDSCF0469.jpg

That makes a lot more sense