Trail Showcase - Hines Park

As folks are eager to get out and divorce attorneys are getting prepped for extra business from married folks having to be together a bit too long in one place, a good time to utilize the helmet cam to showcase the local mountain bike trails in SE Michigan and maybe save a few marriages in urging folks to get out and enjoy the many parks we have at our disposal in this part of the state.
The helmet cam will feature other local trails in the upcoming weeks.
Today's trail showcase is Hines Park in Wayne County, specifically the Lakeview and Riverview trails within the park.

trailhead

There are two that I know of, one off of Hines Drive just east after the I-275 underpass. The Lakeview trailhead marker is there with the trail heading east towards the Riverview trail.
The other is at the intersection of Newburgh and Ann Arbor Rd, kitty corner from the Lake Pointe Yacht Club (good food there). This is where the Riverview trailhead resides. The trail heads east from there.

positives

The views for one. I made an attempt to get the video in before the trees bloomed as the lake/river views are quite beautiful. Everyone harps on the Rouge River and yes, it has it's flaws (check out the LeDuff Rouge River canoe trip on YouTube if you get a chance), but the contained lake that was created from the river that became Newburgh Lake was cleaned up and is quite an asset to the park now.
Other positives are for the beginner riders as it's not a back breaker and not very long. Those looking to put in the miles can loop it twice and enjoy the views even more.

negatives

It's a beautifully designed trail with the limited territory available along the lake and river, however,  with the limited territory, parts of the trail are two way traffic so HEADS UP!!!  I see a beginner rider  with A.D.D. enjoying the views while hardcore, spandex-addicted rider barrels into them.

Trail Head

beard attempt - a sad one at that

In 50+ years on this wacky earth, besides week long backpacking trips, this scribe has never went longer than a week without shaving. It wasn't needed as the shave process for me normally occurs every other day to smooth over the stubble and an errant gray whisker. With the current home situation we're under (a fun one at that), I went longer than a week and the attached picture debunks the myth that Reeves blood can't grow beards. It came in quite thicker than I expected. It itches a bit but think I might keep it and purchase a trimmer to make it neat and clean. (DISCLAIMER: fake news/fake picture)

Seriously though, I am making the attempt but after what I believe has been about a month, it's currently a series of brown, dark brown and gray patches of hair on my face with no continuity. It's not in the family genes to grow facial hair I was always told although I've seen pictures of my mom's brother with a beard. He has no hair up top so I don't believe I have his beard gene (thankfully). I have no memory of my dad even having a 5 o'clock shadow so believe the trait might be true. I'll pass on a photo once I make the decision to shed but until then, as Shaggy (whom my current beard resembles) would say, Zoinks! 

Trail Head

Ode to the Kicker

The kicking community lost a member this past week as former NFL record holder for the longest field goal, Tom Dempsey, passed. Why do I care? In addition to getting my bell rung playing other positions in my youth, somebody had to kick. I wasn't the best but enjoyed it. More on that in a minute but first to Mr. Dempsey. 

Queue the way back machine to the 1970's when A.D.D. schoolboy Tim was perusing the library for some books with short blurbs and many pictures; sports-related preferably. I want to say it was 'Time Life' or some name like that but there was a set of 10 or so of these large hardcover black books that had short biographies (the Wikipedia before the Internet I guess you could say) of about 100 athletes per volume. They were awesome and are probably for sale somewhere on here (checked, no luck). One of the athletes covered was Dempsey and they had a shot of his half foot/boot which just freaked me out at that age. I had not seen a missing part before and the 'Tip and Mitten' books made no reference that some folks had missing limbs. He made the best of it though.  

Dempsey wasn't the reason I kicked but was one of the first kickers in my memory (besides the Lions Benny Ricardo). Again, somebody had to kick and besides attempting to do it after getting your bell rung on the play before, it was fun. I was part of the inaugural youth soccer league in the area in the late 70's, long before ladies were showing their sport bras to the public after scoring, so I had some experience taking out aggression on a ball. The field goal process, however, is a whole different beast.  You are relying on 10 other people for the process, two with extreme responsibilities, the snapper and the holder. I had a good group in high school with Al, Jim and Rob as my team. Gus even has an extra point in the stat sheet as he filled in for me one game. Al threw me a few wild snaps on punts but he gets perfect grades on field goal/extra point attempts. Jim probably wished he had yelled "fire" (call when the field goal is aborted) a few more times seeing me wobble to set up to kick. He and Rob were solid holders though. I think the funnest part of kicking was we got to head out for pre-game long before everyone else so we didn't have to deal with all that "get your pilot light lit" bullshi* the coaches tried to throw at us in the locker room. Everyone gets motivated differently. 

I didn't set any records although my longest field goal seems to gain a yard each year as I tell it. We're up to 72 yards this year. Quite a kick.

Trail Head 

freshman year

referee caption: "no way this is fu**ing making it"

Everyone gets a ribbon - apology to the Millennials

Everyone gets a ribbon. The syndrome is everywhere recently as we can't have anyone feeling bad. All fingers for said syndrome always seem to point at the phone/social media-addicted population, the Millennials. 

I'm here today to offer an apology to the group. While being cooped up in this fun time of hibernation, I dug up some artifacts from my youth and have proof that everyone was getting a ribbon well before the Millennials were even a gleam in their mother's eyes. Some sad ribbons at that.

Trail Head

not 1st, 2nd or 3rd place
but a 'special' award - yikes

I ruled in math but an 'A' on the report card will suffice

nice team name for a pack of 6th graders....

not a ribbon but a 3rd place....sticker

believe this was for a paper weight

the birth of my writing career in 5th grade

everyone will work a little harder
when only the best gets the award

Sweet Sandia

The bike tour headed to the southwest earlier this week as while pretty much everything is closed, the parks/trails are not. With that, with no flu symptoms, the cleanest hands out there, social distancing whenever possible (my friends can attest to my social distancing as I was doing it even before it was prescribed), extended leg room and no one sitting next to me on the plane as the airports were a bit on the lean side, this scribe headed to Albuquerque Sunday to pedal the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. The local area had not put any social restrictions when I got into town Sunday so it was business as usual but Monday was another story. You can take your beverage out on the patio (Route 66 viewing was outstanding) but no indoor sitting at the bar. Check. My biggest worry of the trip was hearing that all domestic flights would be cancelled immediately and I would be a local for the near distant future. If it happened, it would suck but there could be worse places to be. If the call came through, I was ready to have my work computer shipped over, find a place with temporary lodging and deal with it. It did not happen but by the time I left town yesterday, it was becoming a ghost town.

All illness talking aside, the intention of the trip, the mountain biking, was outstanding. The folks at the bike store supplied some great recommendations for an old rider like myself, well past his hardcore days (don't think I ever reached hardcore status). The foothills of the Sandia Mountains supplied some beautiful views west into the city without having to bust your ass climbing a hill to see said views. Attached below is a short clip of the trail views.  

Get out and enjoy the parks all you hermits out there. 

Thank you New Mexico!

Trail Head

Fat Tire Slalom - New Olympic Sport

That's right, the next Winter Olympics will have a new sport on a trial basis, fat tire downhill slalom racing. 

Olympic sport kidding aside, that was the scene this past Sunday at the Pine Knob Winter Carnival as I got an offer from my mountain bike patroller group to give downhill fat tire riding a try. The resort owner was looking for alternative ways of getting more moo-la and our group got some nice exposure at no cost. We were only on the bunny hill and not breaking any land speed records but what a thrill. No hike-a-bike either as you could pedal along the motorized track up with little effort. I attached a short video below from the helmet cam of my slow speed and a few other riders making the effort.   

U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Trail Head 

Too Young for Demolition

Tis the season to tear down stadiums as Joe Louis Arena just needs a fierce south breeze off the river for that current erector set view to come down.

The second arena, one much too young to be put to rest, The Palace; a name I honestly thought was a joke when they first announced it. Not my money though. There must be some money in the property in tearing it down so soon but how valuable can property be where you have to utilize never-ending I-75 construction to get there? Again, not my money. Good timing at the arena's opening as the hoops team was at its peak (versus the bad timing of the current crappy team opening the current arena). Tickets were in high demand as my old man bought a partial season ticket package with a friend in the second year the arena was open and he was WAYYYYY up there. The product was good so you brought the binoculars. I saw a handful of concerts there; Seger two nights in a row and was not disappointed.

My lasting memory of the place though will be in 2004 when friends and I were at the Piston-Pacer game. We had seats where you could see the players run out of the tunnel; pretty cool. It was the year after their championship and was a very early season match up (meaning some of the players were on auto pilot). The home team that night looked like they still had the championship hangover as they played like shi* and looked disinterested. With about six minutes left and the team down 20+, we made the call to head for the exit rather than wait to see if Darko would make an appearance (only Piston fans will get that reference). We weren't the only ones heading out as others followed. So we make it to the car, turn the game on the radio and the announcers are in disbelief describing an uneducated player first laying down on the scorer's table crying about a foul, an uneducated/inebriated fan throwing a beer cup at said player (and nailed it from a good distance away) and then all shi* breaking loose between said fan and player before more fans and players got involved. Chairs were thrown and not too far from where we were sitting.  

A bummer I didn't get to see mankind beating each other up (Idiocracy is getting close) but I would have left early had I did it all over again as the product before the brawl sucked.

Timmy Leaves

RIP JLA and Palace

Trail Head 

HAD GOOD SEATS THAT NIGHT